Thread 54 - Summer 25 - Graduations after Uni Year 3

[Oblomov25]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.
Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp
Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had.
Previous thread 53:
Thread53

Thanks, she’s signed up to two cancellation apps so fingers crossed. She did this test in Coventry which is a horrible place to drive and apparently only has a 33% pass rate so hoping for somewhere nearer and easier next time!

I remember a few of us on here (parents) passed in Sheldon @crazycrofter, but I moved away from the Midlands in 1987 so can’t vouch for it these days.

I didn't realise a few here were Brummies! I was born in Marston Green Hospital back in the day.

Hehe @sansou, in the day most Brummies would get a nose bleed going south beyond Newport Pagnell 😂

We lived in Brum up until 2 years ago @sansou - my kids were born there and are definitely Brummies!

I expect Sheldon is on the list of test centres being watched @ealingwestmum - she's set up alerts for all the test centres within about an hour and a half of us!

@ealingwestmum @crazycrofter I went to school opposite B'ham Uni (in the 80's). Frequented the Dome in my teens. Left in 1990 for uni elsewhere but return to visit my folks.

Sorry about the test @crazycrofter . DS went for Swindon again second time partly because he knew it but also it has reputedly got the lowest pass rate in the country and he thought it might be easier to get a slot there, which it was.

I'm not a Brummie but DH is from Solihull and most of his family still live in the area so we visit often. Rarely venture out of that corner though because we live in the SE we just go straight there on the M40/M42. I always think of Birmingham as fairly far south in the country as it's only two hours drive from here. When I was at uni I had a bf who came from Lichfield, he took me to visit, his mum made me a cup of tea and asked me if I had ever been up north before. I am rarely lost for words but that completely threw me. I have always lived in the south but my family hail from Yorkshire and that is where the north starts and I'd been there, many, many times. I do know people down here who never venture much beyond London, I was a bit indignant that she assumed I was one of them though.

As a Knaresborough girl I'm pretty sure the world starts and ends in Yorkshire! My DH is Welsh and he rolls his eyes when I cheer every time we pass the Yorkshire signs when we drive home from somewhere.

Such a small world isn’t it? DD always comments how amazingly diverse our accents are for such a small geography across the UK.

I am from the Damsonwood estate @ExtensivelyDecorating so your DH would have been very local to me. The amount of times people would say oh you must have been posh and then take it back once I said which part of Solihull 😂 Sadly, Solihull has changed a lot over the years, not for the better but I think that sadly the demise of town centres is similar in many suburban towns.

@craggyrat you are definitely northern to me. The little cheer when approaching home is very endearing :)

I’m originally from Skipton. And the North only starts once you get to Sheffield. DH is bemused by this. He thinks we practically live in the north, which is ridiculous as we live in Bedford!!

@OublietteBravo Skipton is lovely. That's proper Yorkshire! I'm laughing at the idea that Bedford is the north!

@ealingwestmum I agree with your DD. I love the local words too and pronunciations- i say ginnel, DH says alley. And he's always winding me up with the pronunciation of 'Masham' ....

Ha @ealingwestmum DH gets that too, he's from the Shirley side. It always strikes me as we drive around that you go from huge very wealthy looking houses to much smaller ones that have in many cases seen better days in a very short space. DH's family home is a 30s semi but there are massive mansions about 200m along the road.

Yes to Sheffield being the start of the north. Not Lichfield! I've never actually lived in Yorkshire my parents moved south for work before I was born but most of my relatives still live there or in the NW and I do always feel at home. One of my parents was born in Scotland and I feel an attachment there too. I quite like having roots in several parts of the UK.

I’ve attended art workshops with a lovely local lot in Skipton @OublietteBravo, my brushes are made from a fabulous firm run by Rosemary (& Co). It’s always lovely to finish off in The Craven Arms; good food and service.

@OublietteBravo as someone travelling today from adopted home near Bedford to see parents in proper home in Yorkshire, I will definitely be going 'up North'. Bedford is just outside 'that London' as far as I'm concerned.

@ealingwestmum It is a small world! My folks live walking distance from Land Rover so we probably grew up practically spitting distance from each other!

My back garden used to back onto their test ground @sansou :) Happy days growing up there.

How funny, while I am from London my DH is from west Yorkshire (his family are still there), and we met in Brum at uni! We were there for five years and I still have a soft spot for the place.

@ExtensivelyDecorating The accommodation silence would have put me in a spin. Glad she is all sorted now. Sorry your DF is unwell. Sadly a hospital stay for recovery can often render older people more dependent.

Good luck to all those returning for another year at university. We're getting used to DS being back and I am now back into must keep the fridge full at all times.

Can I join in with the seven degrees thing? DF, DH and DS, so three generations, all Yorkshiremen. I was born 'wrong' side of the Pennines but have lived here almost my entire life. I have a good dollop of Scottish ancestry from Perthshire, which we used to visit regularly when I was a child.
DB was Birmingham born and returned to live there after graduation, now in leafy village nearby. Three nephews born there and two currently live in Solihull. DN2's wife works at Jaguar Land Rover, she's from Mexico. Best offering for a London connection is came a week ago, just for the day, to see Evita and thought it was fantastic.

Speaking of London, DS is one of those impacted by the rearranging of the Coldplay concerts due to the tube strike. He can make the new date but a couple of his friends can't and they've all lost 50% of the three nights accommodation costs. I feel even more sorry for those who were travelling from overseas.

Thanks @EwwSprouts . I saw Evita a couple of weeks ago too, it was amazing. DD did ballet up to about secondary school age and in her last year or so an older boy joined her dance school, when I saw him in their end of year show he blew everyone else out of the water and we could see he was destined for greater things. He was one of the ensemble in Evita

I’m sorry to hear about the tube strike impact on your DS’s friends @EwwSprouts. I don’t know when, if ever these drivers will be happy. Apologies if we have any family members on here who are in the industry but that’s my opinion, being held to ransom year in year out.

I am loving the JLR connections. I don’t go anymore since moving my mum to London 3 years ago but have an old school friend flying in from NZ next week so Solihull will be our rendez-vous.

Thanks @ealingwestmum

@ExtensivelyDecorating He's done well! The power of the ensemble was impressive.

It was a terrific show wasn’t it. I wanted to get back to London to watch the balcony scene from the outside but ran out of time. I’m sorry about the Coldplay thing, that really sucks. I can see shy they had to do it but it is so unfair, I imagine the majority of ticketholders would have been travelling some distance / overnight etc. I got caught after Evita with the Bakerloo line closed and I needed to get back to Waterloo (45 mins walk) ended up getting a black cab as I had been walking all day and just wanted to get home, the trains don’t run as late as they used to so it’s always a bit of a worry getting stuck in London.

Moved DD back into her new house on Friday - so much nicer than her last one and about 15 minutes walk to campus. She managed her first motorway trip fine with DH helping to navigate, and it was so much easier fitting all her stuff into my car with all the seats down! Unfortunately emergency gas works right outside her house made parking impossible so it was a bit of a trek getting every inside.
The only thing needing immediate attention was the WiFi, but the agents had a new router delivered that afternoon!
We stayed overnight and did the supermarket shop the next day before driving home.
The stress before moving up was discovering the two modules she'd chosen for this semester had been timetabled at the same time - they'd only had the choice of 2 from 3, and each involved a 3 hour slot/week..... Luckily after complaining to the course director everything was sorted, but she really wasn't happy for a while 😁

@Seeline glad to hear the new house is a good one. Moving in is always so stressful!

DS is happy with the archaeology job and seems to enjoy the driving after all the worry. He has joined the rowing club which is close to the job in south leeds so was up at 6.15 today heading back there....bit more gratitude for the takeover of my car would be nice.... the school job he applied for over the summer rang him last week to ask if he was interested as was available but that would mean leaving archaeology one. School job would be for the full year and 400 yards up the road - decisions decisions... Having him back full time is pretty stressful for all of us still though...

Glad DD moved in okay and got her modules sorted (rookie mistake from her uni if only 3 to navigate around - she won’t have been the only one affected) @Seeline
Glad the drive up went well for your DD too. DD will be taking her first new (new to her only this summer) car this year too and we’re feeling nervous. DH will drive up with her and catch the 3 trains back home then she’ll have to do it on her own from there as she has a boyfriend at home she’ll want to visit regularly. I think there was someone on here that had a lad doing Law exams - DD boyfriend passed his SQE2 exams last month which we are so relieved about as so hard. You get 3 goes at passing but he said he couldn’t take 4 months off work unpaid again and the studying was so intense so he said he wouldn’t have re-Sat them if he’d failed. Not sure how that would’ve worked as you can’t be a solicitor without passing them.

Eek that is a hard decision for your DS @craggyratesp now he has joined the rowing club near his current job. I find writing up a list of pros and cons for (and another for against) helps see things clearer. I don’t envy him choosing. Are you without a car now then?

Evita sounds amazing. Love a musical and try and go at least once a year. DD saw Back to the Future last month which was fabulous and we all saw Calamity Jane back in May. Heathers is starting a new tour I’ve heard as loved that a few years back.

Good luck to everyone going into last year of uni - there’s a few of us still. DD will have to start applying for her 2 year ECT placement this term then she’ll be fully qualified (5 years in total) She wants to do it in her home town. Will be easier and cheaper for her if so.

Thunder and lightening going on here but no rain. Autumn has definitely arrived.