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 🎉😘

I think some buried news last week (this government are not very good at getting good news out!) was something to do with a better, clearer definition of care leavers/ care experienced and kinship care.

That's great @Zebracat so glad you've found something that works for you

@Zebracat hmm...MSK problems can be a total maze with various conflicting symptoms and diagnoses. I wouldn't worry about it so long as something IS working like you said and tai chi is good when it comes to strengthening and lengthening and even balance so your whole body will benefit from the re alignment.

@Piggywaspushed I know what you mean about the final exams being a damp squid. I remember coming out of the last of 11 x 3 hour finals, all taken in a two week period, to a barrage of eggs and flour and a bottle of cheap fizzy wine. It was a bit of a ritual at my uni.

We didn't have that! But parties and Balls (well, a low key plate glass uni version) and stuff.

We had a term of partying! Our finals were in Feb then we did our dissertations full time, so days spent in the lab pretending to be PhD students or at the library, writing up at some point and non-stop partying in the evenings. It was a brilliant summer.

Glad to see improvement Zebra.
Loving hearing all the news, of all developing. Glad mummy's ds is thriving, laughing at driving, and crazy's ds .
I am a daredevil, with a pair of bollocks, and love hearing of others similar.
Dead jealous as always of all travelling.

I'm mid GCSE's with ds2, as is icanbe with her youngest. Remember how we were all there, not so long ago? 😉

Ds1 had his 1st of 3 exams today, next Friday, then the 3rd the following Friday, the big massive tax paper they are all dreading.

Good luck with exam stress, whether its GCSE's, A Levels or degrees. I'm stress free as DS finished ages ago and DD had her only exam last week. She's enjoying an unusually sunny West Wales for a few weeks before heading to Ghana. Beach and BBQ's seem to be on the agenda most days but today was a dolphin watching boat trip. DS is spending his days at a swimming lake with a beach whilst supposedly looking for a job back here for the summer.

There seems to be plenty of socialising and parties going on in Nottingham, but dd still has one exam to go! And a house to find for next year.... not that I'm worrying or anything?!

Good news about the back improvement @Zebracat - hope it continues!

Good luck to those with GCSEs ongoing - @icanbewhatiwant @Oblomov24 and I think there are some with A Levels too? @ExpensiveDecoration dd has one subject and maybe @Delphigirl ? Sorry to those I've forgotten!

@crazycrofter yes, DD will be finished this Thursday, her exam dates were early, so that's nice that she hasn't got to wait till after half term.

@Delphigirl I posted on your other thread (different ED name) - Team Portsmouth here.

Driving test advice needed - not sure if anyone has been in this position? DS has a test booked near uni in July, but he is coming home well before that, his instructor has suggested he change it to our local test centre which you can do on the DVLA website, but is it best to get up at 6am on a Monday again to do that to get most choice? Unlikely to get a straight swap on the same day I guess but don't want to have to wait weeks longer.

@ExpensiveDecoration the problem with swapping is that the likely next available date could be some way off. It is worth having a look to see what availability is like.

@ExpensiveDecorationYes we were told that about logging on on a Monday at 6am and I think it’s true. After having tried at more convenient times of different days for weeks, to no avail, we finally managed to secure a test spot - albeit 50 miles and five months away! But I was told that if you have one, it’s easier to change it than it is to secure one afresh. Apparently there is an app available for about £10 which alerts you if there are cancellations, but you have to be quick. We haven’t explored that yet but it’s in DS’s list to do when he finishes his essay and exam. I really resent having to pay some third party to try to book a test but DS is keen to get this life skill under his belt and I’d like that for him too.

Speaking of the muted end to exams etc, are anyone’s DCs going to their uni graduation balls? DS and his house pals have decided to go so have bought tickets for the Notts grad ball. He asked us to post up his A-level grad tux to him to check it still fits. Apparently it does, which surprised me as he is certainly much more muscly than he was at that point - I have a feeling it must have swamped him back then if it fits him now, but don’t recall thinking that at the time!

Mine both used the app. Worked a treat.

@blinkbonny DS is going to an end of term ball in a couple of weeks. Is still doing exams this week. They also have a daytime thing on a different day where they have bouncy castles, fair stalls and burger vans.

Thanls all re driving tests. I thought the app was just for getting a cancellation in the first place rather than changing. I will talk to DS again. He is going to the uni May ball this week, but not sure about a graduation one, graduation isn't till late Sept.

@blinkbonny dd is going to the Notts grad ball too - even though she’s on an integrated masters so not graduating this year!

Good for her, and why not: I imagine she has a lot of friends who are graduating so it’s a good excuse for a different kind of night out! I was pleased DS signed up, he normally wouldn’t have I don’t think, but with his mates going he should have fun. So if your DD sees a young man in a slightly-too-tight tux, that’s my DS! (Though I have a feeling that may not be a unique identifier).

I'm a rather jealous reading about all the fun all of you had at uni. In my 4yrs at uni there was not a single party, not one. It was the most boring time of my life. Everyone came for lectures and just scattered in different directions afterwards, most commuted from home. There was no community at all. Part of why i hate attending local universities.

That sounds rubbish @shimy! Were all your coursemates commuting from home? Was that in the UK? To be honest, one of my brothers commuted to Birmingham Uni and didn't really make any friends.

@blinkbonny I imagine it's a common look - it demonstrates how much working out has been happening!😂

After her last exam on 5th June dd has a week where there's something every night - balls/parties/gigs and then she's going away with her uni friends. Hopefully she might have time during the summer to earn some money.😂

To be honest I had more fun at uni than DS has, which is a shame.

DD's experience at Aber seems a lot like mine way back when. Lots of hanging out with friends, alcohol, parties in the middle of the night, random fun....she's making the most of the beach which Stoke on Trent lacked but we did have a lake. DS seems to have had a lot of memory making in France. It's a shame he struggled in Notts for his first year or so and I worry for him next year when a lot of his friends will have left. Hopefully his new/old confidence will continue and he'll have a final year of a 'proper' uni experience.

I enjoyed uni, but I wasn't a drinker and I'm fairly introverted, so dd has had way more fun than me! But I wouldn't have wanted the amount of fun she's had, it's not in my nature 😂cinema trips and games nights were enough for me!

Sorry ds hasn't had a great experience @Piggywaspushed but maybe he's also quite introverted and has enjoyed it in his own way?

Fingers crossed for a good fourth year in Nottingham for ds @mummyinbeds - hoping he'll maintain his new found confidence and make some new friends.

@Shimy although my last term was brilliant fun my social life through uni was a very mixed bag, I only made two really good friends, we are still in touch but only see each other maybe once every 10 years (they don't know each other). I did have a good social life there but it was definitely a case of everyone rubbing along ok together, more like work colleagues than real friends. My love life was a bit of a car crash too in those years.

No, he isn't introverted and has loved his football and brass band. I think it just wasn't quite what he expected, academically. I have a hunch he would have preferred York. That big fall out with those lads in second year did colour things a bit.

He'd still recommend Birmingham Uni to others.

It's a shame that spoiled his second year @Piggywaspushed . I guess these things can happen anywhere, it's the luck of who you end up living near/on the same course as. And for lots of people, uni isn't the best time of their life. Hopefully he'll really enjoy his masters year.

Despite the rubbish support from the Psych department (excluding her project supervisor who's been excellent), dd has loved Nottingham and ds is really keen to go there too if they're in clearing this year for Politics and Economics (they were last year, but I fear that may be an anomaly!). He's accepted UEA, but I think it may not be a big enough city for him.....