Thread 56 – Covid GCSE Cohort – Spring 26 – Yr 4 Uni and Graduates

[crazycrofter]

The old thread has filled up and no one noticed - I think we're missing @oblomov26 sharp eyes!

I've tried to tag in everyone I can think of, but apologies to anyone I've missed!
@shimy @endlessdistraction @justherewithmypopcorn @mummyinbeds @aslockton @oubliettebravo @craggyrat @anothernewname460 @ealingwestmum @ewwsprouts @seeline @piggywaspushed @nctdn @icanbewhatiwant @comefromaway @heifer @kingscotestaff @delphigirl @zebracat @cantonet @socks1107 @blinkbonny @anneofcleavage

And euphonium is correct!

That’s awful re the rejection - was it an AI thing?

@Piggywaspushedwishing you luck w your retired DH - I’m going to encourage mine to work as long as possible!

It's quite common. They are 'ghost jobs' which never really existed or have been filled. DS1 had a few of those!

BBC News - Should more be done to tackle 'ghost jobs', vacancies that don't exist?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzvpp8g3vo

@Lentilcakes she thinks that as the deadline .was midnight and she submitted that evening, they had probably already filled the post, but it just makes it all such a waste of time.
I remember when DS was searching a couple of years ago he applied for a grad job through one of those awful portals. It was a really awkward one to negotiate, but he worked his way though, including a supporting statement, pressed submit, and the portal just said, sorry this post has been filled and shut down! It was well within the closing date, and the portal allowed him to access the vacancy at the beginning.
The whole recruitment process needs sorting out - some regulation about jobs actually existing, closing dates being adhered to and a transparent process.

Goodluck to @Piggy's ds. Come on DC, with all the interview practise our lot have had they should be fighting off job offers soon.. i hope. @Seeline that really does sound awful and yes i agree there needs to be a shake up.

DS hasn’t had the job already filled thing yet, but he takes a long time over applications and I worry it will happen, He had another interview during the week, a job that is an excellent fit for him and he felt it went pretty well so fingers crossed for that. He was able to talk about one of the speakers at his graduation as an example of knowledge about an aspect of the job which was useful.

@Piggywaspushed I dread the day DH retires. I have always taken on the bulk of the household admin including food/general stuff shopping, vets, car maintenance on the basis that I’m better at it than him and I have always worked part time him full time (we are about equal on housework), but when he mentioned he was thinking of reducing his hours and I said I would want a re-balance of household responsibilities he went a bit pale and it hasn’t been mentioned again. I said that I spend about two hours of my day off every week doing things like that plus I do a lot more household stuff in the mornings and evenings than him so it isn’t just an extra day off work, I could see the cogs turning slowly.

DD has also had the ‘job ahead filled’ replies as well as the ‘we’ve decided not to run our graduate scheme this year’ replies more than once 😞 still job hunting.
Graduation day was lovely and made me really proud of her 4 years of hard work 😊

I’m pretty sure that DH won’t be able to afford to retire before I do. He’s only 12 weeks older than me, and I’ve out-earned him for 19 of the past 20 years and been diligent about saving as much as possible into my pension.

DD has just turned 22, so will finally be included in the auto enrolment pension this month. It seems unfair that her employer isn’t obliged to do anything prior to that. It shouldn’t really matter - I’ve been paying into a pension for her since she was 12, so she’s already built up a healthy pot given her age. She’s opted to pay in 9% of her salary (the agreement was that I’d pay her fees, and that she’d put 9% into her pension instead of paying off her student loan).

I wish we'd started pensions for our two but our income has always been erratic due to DH's business and we've probably been overly cautious. DD has a tiny amount in a pension from a part time job that offered it and I nudged her to enrol, DS joined his at 22 a few months ago but with being part time it's not huge.

Are you part time @Piggywaspushed? My dh is at home a lot due to the nature of his role; that’s usually fine unless he’s having a bad time and needs to vent, but before dd started her job, having both of them here whilst I was trying to WFH was too much! I ended up going into the office every day instead! They don’t require me to make lunch though 😂 and now dd is out most days (she seems to be able to WFH on odd days) it’s fine. I expect your dh will find he can cook after all, once the hunger kicks in 😂

I’m impressed at people opening pensions for their kids! We’re just at the point of having a bit of extra money to be able to top up ours, which are a bit inadequate to be honest. We’ll be working til 67 for sure!

No, I'm full time!

Oh that's good then, you can leave him to it! I imagined you being at home and having to make lunches 😂My dh can cook, but he is slightly obsessed with Co-op reductions - he would happily eat a reduced, out of date Co-op sandwich or sub every day, basking in the knowledge that it was a bargain!

Oh no, we have never 'made lunch'. It's just sandwiches. It's the evening I am not looking forward to!

Mine can cook, in the sense that he can get things from raw to cooked, but he is the most boring cook and resorts to a lot of convenience foods. If he does follow a recipe he gets all stressed because he has to follow it to the letter while I will happily substitute ingredients, proportions, cooking times etc. He also cooks very plainly whereas I like lots of sauces, marinades etc, once I had an operation and was off my feet and he proudly presented me with a plate containing a steamed white fish fillet, tinned sweetcorn and boiled pasta, I had to cover it all in ketchup to get it down.

Oh I see! So you don’t usually cook in the evening as he’s had a meal at school? In that case, he’ll have all day every day to practise !

Haha @EffortlesslyDistracted! I absolutely hate plain food! Dh is capable but incredibly slow (as he is in every area of life!). He cooked on my birthday but it took hours so I really wouldn’t want him cooking every day 😂

If I'm ever in the situation of him having to cook regularly we're getting Hello Fresh.

We have Simply Cook @EffortlesslyDistracted - so you get three little pots of pastes/spices and a recipe but not the food. The meals are really nice, but it involves a fair amount of prep/chopping/simmering etc; some of them take me over an hour, so I'd never make dh do one unless I was happy to eat at 10pm!

We just aren't used to eating in the week really. It certainly will change the rhythm of the week.

That does sound better for my DH, he's fine at chopping etc (apart from leaving a mess everywhere) but it is the spices etc that throw him. We use the Spice Tailor sauces fairly often for this reason. The other issue we have is that he sees vegetables as an optional extra and often doesn't bother so we end up with just meat and potatoes or similar. He'd never make a veggie curry <sighs>. His mum was in the school of "salt everything and boil for several hours" with veg and it has put him off.

Congratulations on the degree results to the DC of @Shimy @Decorhate and @Comefromaway

DH would like to retire but I'm sure he can do another 5 years. Neither of our pensions are great.

I dropped off a bit as DM was suddenly quite unwell. However, the NHS was great and three days after admission she had a pacemaker inserted. Now back home and recovering.

We've building works starting for a loft conversion this week. Every room upstairs will be affected as it all needs rewiring. I look forward to 2 months sleeping on a sofa or it gets really bad we'll be putting the tent up in the garden.

@Piggywaspushed My dh also retired recently. He's never done much cooking, mainly because I don't like his cooking as much as my own! He tends to add a lot of chilli to everything....

He has done some baking and during the winter got Hello Fresh a few times (you get good discounts as a new customer) and then just bought the ingredients himself. So he has a small repertoire. Still tries to add extra chilli though!

I'm planning on retiring myself at Christmas. Let's hope we don't murder each other.

I dont eat at all basically so this is for him and the DSs. I may have to grit my teeth a lot...

Side issue but why don’t you eat?! 😮

i think we must be a bit of a food obsessed family 🤣 Even lunches are often cooked affairs if the kids are home - they’ll make sweet chilli chicken and salad, or a full bacon/egg/avocado concoction. And having a cooked lunch has no impact on whether they all also need a cooked meal in the evening. Freezer food wouldn’t cut it either!