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 🎉😘

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@icanbewhatiwant How brilliant that you went and had a great time with all DC!

Good to hear from you @icanbewhatiwant , so pleased you went to Japan with the boys.

Glad you go to go on your Japan trip @icanbewhatiwant . Good to hear from you

icanbe the whole Japan trip sounds incredible.

That is some news @icanbewhatiwant 😆 so pleased you went and enjoyed it. It must have been hRd stepping out if your comfort zone so well done, and sounds like it was well worth it.

Seems quiet again here without DD (went back 10 days ago) but we have got used to it again.
DD had an exam this morning, said it was ok, didn't finish (usual) but was happy with what she had written. Another tomorrow and then Friday.
All this by text as she rarely calls but Ive got used to that now she is in her 3rs year, just how she is. It's all fine and lovely when she is home so all good.
I've got a lot of health issues being investigated at the moment so not exactly on top of the world but nothing serious yet so fingers crossed. Have finally started a diet as put 2 stone on in a year! Was already very overweight so really can't afford the extra extra.

I need to catch up on this new thread too so
Sorry if ive missed any big news.
Here's to Spring...

Hope all your investigative tests result in a manageable way forward to better health @Heifer

Hope the tests are of benefit to you @Heifer . In a similar boat here and having a few issues at the moment. Going for various scans on Friday which hopefully will rule out lots of issues but just hoping for some answers. Have hpt horrendous back/leg pain.

DS been back a week now. Term starts tomorrow. He was up at 5 30 am every day last week for rowing/coxing then working in the pm. This is going to be a v busy term for him.

Yes I'm glad I went. I've not heard from ds2 about coming home yet. I get a feeling he might be considering staying on after all. I think seeing us all in Japan helped too. If we hadn't booked Japan he could have come home for 3 months like most of the students in Australia have done and returned end of Feb. He has found the standard of work much more difficult at the university of Queensland compared to Sussex. He always had good marks at Sussex with a first for most essays. At UOQ he's only just scraping a pass. But then he had the gf so perhaps his mind wasn't on work. He's also sleeping all day, then awake all night chatting/gaming with his mates back here, plus watching Ipswich town matches online. Such a shame to be asleep and missing all that lovely sunshine!

This age is so weary isn't it. I have a week long of stuff, breast screening, 24 hr blood pressure monitoring, full bloods and urine stuff for CKD that seems to want to accelerate. I'm what I call a skinny fat person, typical of south asian women where so much remains hidden from our physical appearance. But I gave up smoking 4 months ago after nearly 45 years on ciggies bar 9 months; 45 years of being a dick but I'm trying to turn stuff around.

Hope all of us on here are getting the medical support needed.

I still have a little longer with DD, though she's well planned some travels, knowing most would have returned back to respective unis by now. She's taken a short trip back to Dublin, and will visit students she met last semester visiting Warsaw, Budapest and Groningen. The next semester in Granada will be a long one from early Feb with no planned return until end of June.

Good to hear from you @icanbewhatiwant and glad you managed the Japan trip.

Well done on the ciggies @ealingwestmum. I can add myself to the list of those undergoing screenings etc. I had my mid-life MOT in November and my BP was on the high side so I have just been asked to do another 4 days of morning and evening readings and submit the results. I have upped my cardio exercise considerably since the last set of readings, and cut salt out to some extent, but I am overweight and that is the main problem and I suspect it's too soon for the exercise etc to have made any difference. Also I am in for full gynae screening next week due to unusual bleeding which is a bit concerning, I think it's hormonal and so does my GP but best to check. Solidarity to all .

Sorry to hear of the health woes. I hate this part of life. I ache everywhere but don't have any specific issues. I too need to loose weight. I lost about 2st during lockdown, just by walking. I've put it all back on and can't motivate myself to walk anywhere.

DS is in week three of his second semester in France. He's going skiing at the weekend with the Erasmus student group. I'm on edge already. He's skiied all his life but I've always been there saying have you got your lift pass, goggles, gloves etc etc. He still managed to leave stuff on busses and lifts most years, or ski ahead and take a different direction to the plan totally oblivious to the rest of us. How I never questioned ADHD I will never know.

DD has rats in her back yard/outbuilding. One of her housemates left an open food waste bin in there over the Christmas break. She is terrified and I'm surprised she hasn't come home. So far, nothing in the house and her landlord is going round tomorrow to see what he can do.
She visited a friend she met in Ghana, at Cardiff uni last weekend. She had a great time but says she much prefers Aber nightlife - cheaper and shorter walks between venues. And the journey across Wales was hell apparently, but worth it.

I love hearing about your boy @mummyinbeds , your daughter has always had a more innate sense of adventure (life in Ghana is not for the faint hearted!) but he sounds like he’s doing really well and no longer on catch up with his sis. French life clearly suits him well.

I can really appreciate how stressful it must be but he will have ADHD for the rest of his life. Whilst meds put some control back, shit still can happen, it’s not completely dictating how he lives his life. And we’re always there as back up (though less and less now?)

I hope the landlord sorts the rats out, that is not a nice challenge for students to sort!

Thank you @ExpensiveDecoration on the ciggies, I know it will get easier.

Eek rats! @mummyinbeds Hope they get sorted!

Good to hear your updates @heifer and @icanbewhatiwant . I hope all the various tests people are having go well and there's nothing serious going on.

Dd is STILL at home, keeping us company now that ds is abroad! And enjoying eating my meals and being looked after during her exam period. It's so stressful though, I'm sure @mummyinbeds can sympathise, but she's leaving her exam prep til the very last minute and then doing an all-nighter and having a major panic. Today's exam was in person (the others are online) and dh agreed to drive her to Nottingham. He's even worse at time keeping than she is and I could see from dd's iphone tracker that they still hadn't left at 8.30 (10am exam)! So he had to speed apparently and she was a few minutes late.. I'm glad I wasn't there!

Hope dd enjoys her travels @ealingwestmum - handy to have new friends in interesting places!

Dd's online exam last week was disastrous. It was actually just two essays to complete (and they had their notes with them) and they'd been told by the lecturer that they didn't need to include references/footnotes. Then lo and behold the exam paper said they did.. It sounds like everyone else did the sensible thing and thought they'd been told otherwise, so they'd not prepared references and just ignored it. Dd panicked massively and spent most of the time looking for references for her first essay - and didn't even have time to do the second essay. She's submitted a complaint and an extenuating circumstances form, but I'm not sure how they can fairly take this into account. She really needs good marks this year too!

That's a horrible scenario for her to have been caught up in @crazycrofter , I hope the extenuating circumstances is reviewed favourably.

@crazycrofter our experience of EC forms is that the best case scenario is an offer to resit without penalty. Usually in August. Which is not great for final year as it means they can't graduate with their classmates. Just something to be aware of - DD needs lots of time to think about such things and prepare herself for possible outcomes so we consider all scenarios for everything!

That seems so unfair crazy.

Sorry to hear of all health woes. I have similar with 3 things going on, including a refused transfusion because my vit d was so low, having been denied by 2 x Gp's. No wonder I was so run down and knackered.

@ealingwestmum you're quite right - living in France is suiting DS. It's not all plain sailing (I'm still his alarm clock) but he's definitely getting better at admin. DD is in the process of organising trip 4 to Ghana - not bad going for a 19 year old. She's hoping uni will provide some financial support again which will make her plans more realistic.
Sorry to hear of the exam woes @crazycrofter Why do Nottingham always make things so hard? As you know, DS does no prep for exams and doesn't have a clue what is going on, submits with 30 seconds to go etc etc. It somehow always works out but I'm getting greyer by the day.

Thanks @handmademitlove , I suspected that may be the case. Dd is adamant that she wants to graduate with her friends - however she also needs a 2:1 to pursue clinical psychology so she’ll need to think hard about it if she does score badly.

@mummyinbeds sometimes I want to resign as a mum!, I’ve had 25 years of stress with dh being last minute/totally unaware of time as well, and I’m actually dreading Ds going to uni! Dd has always been marginally better at managing life and she can actually keep track of things…

Good to hear all your news. Sorry about health worries. I am another overweight one, with bad back and knees making it difficult to do much about it. I have started a line dance class though which is surprisingly good fun!
I'm taking DD back tomorrow after nearly 6 weeks home! She has no exams for her course so hasn't been back for the assessment period - semester 2 starts on Monday.
Having 4 people full time makes the house feel very crowded.

It’s the other way round here at the moment @Seeline , just me and DD and it is rather nice. DH has gone skiing and DS has been back at uni for a couple of weeks now. He has got a bit of a pause between assignments now so is cracking on with his dissertation and hopefully some job applications. He has also managed to book himself a driving test too, although not for a few months. I have had my last every parents evening for DD this week, which was positive, so that’s the end of an era. After a rocky first year at college with the disastrous A level choice things are going well for her now, she’s doing much better in her new subject, got 4/5 uni offers in and is enjoying her current part time job far better than her previous one.

Sorry so many are struggling with health and general adulting, I sometimes wish to resign from it all too @crazycrofter , I feel pulled in all directions at the moment, as well as supporting the DCs and my parents I am helping out an elderly neighbour and DH is caring for a terminally ill friend and having to sort medical stuff, carers etc as there is no family to do it. Also whilst DD is VERY independent in many ways compared to DS (she has done her UCAS entirely without input from me apart from payment for example) she is still really struggling with organisation, her room is a complete tip, she forgets to clear up after herself in the kitchen all the time unless I remind her (there is no attitude, it is all forgetfulness) and I am worried she could be the housemate from hell at uni. Mind you peer pressure might improve things.

Crazy, aren't we all due a parenting sabbatical soon? I often dream of jumping into bed, under the duvet and hibernating for at least 3 months. Can't be just me?