Thread 53 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Happy New Year 2025 to our fab young people

[Delphigirl]

New thread! Looking forward to traversing 2025 with this fantastic group 🎉😘

@crazycrofter Well, i have 2 sets. Seems to be weekly at the moment, which really is too much. Want some me time!

DS managed to forget his keys. So he’ll have to manage without them for a few days. Hopefully they’ll get to him on Tuesday.

Great to hear more good news. Fingers crossed for junior ED interview.

Go your girl @Zebracat! She must have impressed them. Sorry must have missed about your DGS. I hope that an understanding and competent nursey can be found soon.

@OublietteBravo Clearly you do! Nice that it is someone senior that has been paying attention.

I took DS back for his last term today. Booked seats for graduation in July. He's making lots of mini plans for the summer as 'I'll never get another long summer!'

It’s the week after next @crazycrofter - he will need to do a bit of mugging up as he’s never had an interview for a full time “serious” job before and he is very keen to get it right. However they have sent info about asking for reasonable adjustments which is helpful. He has another one he needs to apply for in the same time frame and is juggling his dissertation and last two other assignments. So a busy few weeks.

What's the job involve @ExpensiveDecoration ? Sounds like he's got a busy few weeks! @EwwSprouts - glad your ds is planning to enjoy his last long summer!

@Zebracat hope you can reduce the granny hours to something more manageable soon!

Dd went back yesterday and has a 3k word essay and her dissertation to get in, plus an exam, and maybe something else? She said she's enjoyed 3rd year and is really glad she moved back to the masters as she's looking forward to it. There's loads of scope in terms of modules she can choose, including from Sociology, Criminology, Theology etc and she gets free rein with the dissertation (this year's project topic was allocated to her).

Ds has confirmed he's coming back from his travels early, in 2 and a half weeks, which is very exciting! Except that we're away in France so he'll come back to an empty house - although dd has said she'll come back for a few days to see him.

Late reply @crazycrofter but my DS did one of those internships in Notts in first year, it was a good experience for him albeit it was mainly remote working. But it was work! Hope your DD is successful in her application.

Thanks @blinkbonny , I'm not sure how we (or dd!) had not heard about them before! They're a really good idea.

Just sharing for interest. Bit depressing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2307p4jjz4o

In other news, DS turns 21 today!

Happy birthday to your son @Piggywaspushed !

Happy Birthday to him!

My ds is back in the UK. He says he prefers Berlin to Paris. Really enjoyed the qwork but the last few days dragged as his actual work was done and he was just on standby for any problems that might occur.

Glad to be back in his uni city. Got several assesments over the next few weeks.

Happy birthday to your DS @Piggywaspushed .

Grabbed a cheeky weekend with DD, she returns towards end of June so a long slog compared to TCD sitting exams now to finish early May. Very much at home there, it is a lovely city, chilled vibe with something for all.

I think my husband is jinxed and brings travel drama, will not bore about the challenges of yesterday as we finally home last night. Granada does not have a direct flight for us so we had the madness of having to return a hire car with traffic lights out as well as navigate an airport with no power. The thing that doesn't hit the news is that with power (especially when they don't know what the major outage is due to or for how long), is that the water also gets switched off. I will not describe the carnage that ensued from each restroom.

First world issue but typically DD had to throw away a 150EUR shop made with her dad full of all the stuff a student does not buy themselves. First world problem though compared to what had happened, she got power at 03.00 last night but oblivious to scale across Spain due to no data connectivity and preservation of phone charge instructed by the Govt. Thank god we had not got the train back to Malaga.

Oh my goodness @ealingwestmum I didn't realise you were in the middle of all the drama as well as your DD! Well I am glad that you had a lovely time with her despite all that. Boak to the loos in the airport (and presumably everywhere else).What was the feeling in spain - putin responsible or something else? I'm so glad your DD has had such a wildly successful and interesting year abroad, and I saw on another thread a mention of an interesting internship this summer - good for her! 😎
Happy birthday to your ds @Piggywaspushed
Great news for those with placements and good luck to all those still looking for them/internships/grad jobs etc. It is a tough environment but somehow I feel like I know all your YP and that they will rise to the challenge and find something that works for them. They are all so resourceful and interesting and have so much to offer, I'm sure that will be identified.
So my DD4 has been doing a bar job in a local not-quite-gastropub to save money for another trip to S America - except they have spotted that she is a great cook and so have put her in the kitchen and made her a commis chef and are training her properly and she is loving it so much that she has decided that she probably won't go to Argentina/Patagonia after all, but work there until uni. She has full whites and is working 12 hours a day and we are calling her 'Chef' which she is pretending to think is lame but actually really enjoys 😂. I have warned her that on no account is she to develop a ketamine habit like the commis chef she has replaced, and she has promised she won't. Fingers crossed.

Wow @Delphigirl - she must be good! Well done to her!!!

@ealingwestmum that sounds like a nightmare and really gutting about the big shop too. Glad you managed to get back in the end!

Happy 21st to your Ds @Piggywaspushed !

Positive news from dd is that she’s loving working at Nando’s and making lots of new friends, which is handy as lots of her friends are graduating this year!

That may have been the thread I was generally ranting thorugh, unusual for me :))

It's the same internship as she got a while ago, progressing to stage 2 based in Belfast, though some roles mid recruitment for the London office in Strategy+ team have been removed, so we have our fingers crossed! She's done all the onboarding though so that's a relief, but who knows whether it'll still be there by graduation in this climate?

I can't believe the variables on the European outage, even if there is an Iberian grid connection across Portugal, Spain and France. Even weather'd been blamed, and how hot it got quickly was touted, that's like the Brits claiming wrong leaves nonsense, so I think it's dark play from our Eastern friends even if Spain keep saying not to speculate.

I am loving how your DD4 goes with the flow of her opportunities but I hope she is not thrown into the restaurant underworld; I've just finished reading A Waiter in Paris yesterday. Properly dark and yet hasn't put me off French food :)

Ah, good for her @crazycrofter!

Happy 21st to your DS @Piggywaspushed

@ealingwestmum How unlucky to be caught up in all that chaos. Glad the lights are back on now for all concerned. Like you I am amazed such a wide area could all go down in one fell swoop.

@Delphigirl Great news that the gastropub choose to invest in her. She has obviously made a super impression on them. Might take her on culinary travels in years to come!

@crazycrofter Those jobs are all about the mates you make. I remember working in a bar and learning to play pool after hours...long time ago.

Happy belated birthday for your ds @Piggywaspushed.
@Delphigirl ds2 ( youngest of 4) is also working as a chef in a pub. He's really enjoying it too & goes off in his chefs whites. He was planning on doing a mandarin immersive course in Chengdu for 3 months from june before going to uni but I reckon that's way too long ( & intensive) for him.
He's also just got a Bristol offer after being on the waitlist for a long time. Not sure what he's going to do as he was planning on Warwick before this. Dd1 loved Bristol Uni & is returning to do a Vet Internship this year. But ds2 has had such fragile mental health over the years ( but is fine at the moment) I'm not sure what to advise.

Congratulations to him on the offer though @Cantonet, I’m sure he’ll figure it out after some thinking time 🤞

Evening all, that's great to hear about all the chefs, my god daughter worked in a cafe during A levels and has moved to Oz to become a trainee chef as it is on the list of desirable professions for visa purposes, she is loving it.

@Cantonet these late offers are frustrating, DD still hasn't heard from one of hers. Sounds as though your DS has some big decisions to make, maybe the Mandarin might be better in a few years once he's older. Kudos to him for wanting to do it.

I can't keep up with the thread at the moment but @crazycrofter I think you asked about DS's interview, it's for management of stately home gardens. I am a bit worried he won't be prepared enough as he is still up to his eyes in assignments and has another promising sounding job to apply for but I have everything crossed and am bouncing ideas around with him, encouraging him to take notes.

I feel like I’ve lost track of what everyone is up to!
@Cantonetwhat does ds want to study?

That sounds perfect @ExpensiveDecoration - fingers crossed for him!!

Hope your ds2 makes up his mind about unis soon @cantonet and it goes well for him. Congrats on offers from Warwick and Bristol, he's done well!

How was ds' 21st @Piggywaspushed ? What have other dc done for theirs?

Dd's is in June and she's planning one event in Nottingham for around 30/40 uni friends and another with her church friends, and then we're having something here for family and school friends, which is a slightly odd mix.. I'm trying to think of games/entertainment/quizzes that will appeal to all!

DS didn't really do anything for his 21st, just a few beers in the student union I think. I went up and took him out for a meal at a restaurant he had had his eye on the weekend before (spur of the moment and without DH and DD who were otherwise engaged). Neither of mine like any fuss at all for their birthdays. So I'm not much help with suggestions I'm afraid.

DS is 21 today. Woohay!