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

Oh, sorry to hear, @Seeline!

It will be October for me. DD will be heading for au-pair work (visa approval permitting; she had her interview for it yesterday), and DS will be off to uni. DW works away from home roughly 50% of the time! Am I allowed to say that I am looking forward just a little to the house staying tidy?

I don’t get much home alone time at the moment either, but it will be more once DD goes back to uni. She sleeps most of the day when she is here, with working late in the pub several nights a week. DS isn’t as busy at the moment either and DH has decided he needs to use some annual leave (he gets more than me) and taken a few days off.

DD and a housemate went to pick up the keys to their second year house and take possession on Tuesday but didn’t stay, they had been planning to but a traveller encampment had set up nearby and the atmosphere was somewhat hostile in the streets surrounding, people yelling abuse at one another, so they came home, hopefully that will be a one-off, it seems like a reasonable area when I’ve walked and driven round there.

Sorry about the job @Seeline , DS got another rejection this week, his all want experience of leading groups of volunteers and as he hasn’t done sports coaching or similar that’s hard to get.

@EffortlesslyDistracted it's so hard - all the entry level jobs seem to require loads of different experiences. I'm not sure where they think entry level applicants are going to acquire experience! DD has actually got a fair amount of different types, but still never ticks all the boxes 🙁

@PhotoDad I'm very jealous of your situation - house to myself 50% of the time? Heaven 😁

@Seeline sorry to hear re job. Oh to have just DH and me in house! Looks like new car will be Mokka. In our price range - just - for 2022 plate, not too big but sturdy for motorway

Our house has turned into a pigsty this summer, DH is really untidy as well as the DCs, but DD being home has tipped things over the edge. She might sleep all day but she comes in from the pub and cooks after midnight and leaves a mess, also empty glasses and cans in the living room. DS doesn't distribute his as much but leaves a right mess when he's been cooking.

I have been on the Flylady threads for 17 years and it is about the only thing that keeps me just about in control of it all. But generally I love having the DCs around, they are lovely kids.

I see Prince Edward's son is off to DS's uni, I wasn't expecting that somehow when I idly clicked on a link this morning.

It is also Far Too Hot To Clean The House.

Joining in the longing for some peace. We have builders in and half the roof off, though that is helping circulate any hint of a breeze.

@Piggywaspushed Totally agree. Can we add cook to that? Salad and melon is as good as it gets here.

Yup, I nearly fainted cooking something on Wednesday!

Feel so sorry for chefs and kitchen workers.

@NCTDN

Im not sure if everyone was invited to the Reception as it was no way all the cohort. ds got a separate email invite as he got a prize - but not everyone there got prizes.

Sorry the ceremony wasn’t great @seline- they all seem to differ a lot. Would’ve been better if it wasn’t 30c - 😰

@EffortlesslyDistracted- I wrote up a ‘chore list’ for the DC and they’ve agreed to it 🙏
it’s not that onerous but they do need to pull their weight.
DD isn’t too bad but DS is in a world of his own half the time.

He had to reply to an work experience email and I got a nudge from my friend who’s company is organising it - DS said ‘oh I haven’t looked at my emails for 3 days’ 😂 Am hoping the experience will help his CV look a bit better as it’s devoid of any relevant work experience in his industry thus far.

They are quite good at chores (vacuuming, laundry, emptying DW, bins etc), they’re just bloody untidy. It’s DH as well, he sits something down and then that’s it forever. Once, pre DCs we came home from a wedding or funeral, he took off his suit jacket and hing it on the knob at the bottom of the bannister, I decided to see how long it would take him to put it away. Well, it was still there 18 months later when he next needed it for a weddingand he wondered why it had a big bump between the shoulders. I should add that our stairs are tucked away inside, if it had been on full view when you came in the front door I couldn’t have tolerated it.

And yes I have to nudge them about emails and other admin. And yes DH is just as bad.

I am also too hot to cooke, we have been living on sandwiches, salads and things that can be heated up quickly in the oven. We have an Everhot range cooker (meant to be always on like an Aga) and normally it is my favourite thing, not right now even though it is mostly off.

I do sympathise with all of that! I'm up north, and the weather seems to have broken today, which is nice as I do enjoy cooking. In my household, I am the one with the lowest threshold for clutter, so I seem to be endless tidying-up after the others. I'm also in charge of the life-admin and am always nudging my DW and DCs about deadlines. I don't know whether I'll miss it when the house is emptier!

DD had her appointment for an au-pair visa at the German Embassy last week, and has now emailed in the inevitable missing documents, so fingers crossed. We saw five art galleries in the three days we were in London! And I think that my whole retirement lump-sum went on an espresso in Belgravia.☕

That made me chuckle about your lump sum going on Belgravia coffee.

We are doing our once-every-five-years grand tour of the UK at the moment. We started from ‘down south’ and went to Lincoln to see a uni friend (and my bridesmaid) then headed up to Scotland via Durham. What a great city! I spent much of my childhood in Northumberland but had never been to Durham.

We have had 3 days staying with DH’s school friend (his best man)in the Borders and a lovely day trip with friend and wife up to Edinburgh. Then 2 days in York and caught up with family friends. We are now in Leeds watching DS do his first Ironman. We had bridesmaid number 2 and husband over for dinner in our Airbnb. A pasta party for DS! DD and her uni friend drove up from London so it was quite a gathering- and the Airbnb had 8 of everything (chairs, plates etc!) Yes @PhotoDad the weather is cooler today. We have even seen our first glimpse of rain in a month. DS is currently 255 out of 1100. He is half way through the 112 mile bike ride up and down the Yorkshire hills. This is followed by a marathon run…eek!

Tomorrow we head into Wales to see my nephew and family. He got married 3 years ago and now has two children. We will see his house and baby number 2 for the first time. Then visiting my old headteacher in the midlands before the heading home from our ‘grand tour’!

It has been wonderful catching up with so many friends and family, and an awful lot cooler than the heat of the SE.

Oh that sounds fabulous @Aslockton my perfect holiday. I love Durham, Lincoln and Edinburgh and love catching up with old friends and family. We are in the SE but my parents are from Yorkshire and Scotland so all my extended family are a long way from us and I try to see them all when I can, would love to do a grand tour like that. But not sure how DH would feel. He’s from Birmingham, and all his family are still in the W. Mids so we do see them more as it’s not so far. Good luck to DS!

@PhotoDad at least it was tax-free!

Ooof. On top of elderly parent woes, DCs needing support here etc DH has broken his (dominant arm) shoulder and is out of action for the foreseeable. Poor DH but it impacts the rest of us too.

Sounds like a terrific trip @Aslockton . Hope your DS has a good iron-man- at least not too hot for it today.

@EffortlesslyDistracted oh your poor DH - and very definitely poor you! That is such a major pain for both of you - in two very different ways...

@Aslockton Envious of your trip. Used to drive to Lincoln for training courses and the timing meant I could almost guarantee the Red Arrows were up and about. Got to know Durham through DS, my DM's family were in Perthshire and DDad was born in Leeds. Could you, @EffortlesslyDistracted and I be linked in a Who Do You Think You are reveal?!
Obviously misread something as I thought ironman was off due to the algae. Hope he gets a fab placing.

@ED Ouch! Hope he recovers well. You'll need a rest when he is better.

Other side of Scotland for me @EwwSprouts but Leeds is the right part of Yorkshire (almost).

@Aslocktoni would love that sort of trip, but don’t have people all over the country to visit! Had to laugh that DDs BF (from Devon) was visiting a friend in Lincoln, then came over to visit while he was ‘up north’ - I don’t think of Lincoln as being north!!
@EffortlesslyDistracted hope things are not too stressful for you.

I had quite a discussion with someone a while back as to whether Lincoln is in The North. I’d day not quite, but close. At uni I had a BF from Staffordshire and went home one holiday to meet his parents, his mum made me a cuppa and asked if I had ever been Up North before (my accent is 100% southern admittedly). Well I am not often completely lost for words but that one got me.

I don't really think of Lincoln as North either . It doesn't take all that long to get there from where I am - equivalent to Nottingham. However. if you look at it on a map , it's almost in line with Sheffield.

I'd say Grimsby is where the accent begins to change to distinctly Northern.

As someone who grew up in Scotland , you're all south to me!!

Hi everyone! Great to catch up of news of graduations, job searches and life. So sorry about your DHs shoulder @EffortlesslyDistracted that sounds incredibly painful and shoulders are a bugger. Has to be rigorous with the physio when that time comes. You don’t say how he did it but I hope it wasn’t too traumatic. Love the sound of the UK tour @Aslockton but I have to admit to a double-take at Lincoln being “down south” 🤣. Lovely to hear of your retirement and kids plans/travels @PhotoDad . Somehow I feel your retirement will be busier and more full of stories than your working life… I look forward to hearing them!

DS2 had a lovely graduation at Plymouth on a 30c++ day. Very happy and relaxed and Plymouth/the hoe looking glorious. DS1 took a day off dissertation writing for his masters to come, which ds1 was touched by. DS 2 was neither offered a job nor rejected from the place on the south coast he interviewed for - he has been kept on ice it seems “pending future vconttscy negotiations” which I think means that they are waiting to see if they need him for jobs not yet won. Bugger that for a game of soldiers. So he has applied for 2 more jobs in Liverpool and Glasgow and has got to second interview next stage on the Liverpool one! Excited about that. It’s next week. No word from the Scottish one yet.

dS1 knocked it out of the park by applying for about 3 jobs, hearing back from 1, and has been offered a fantastic job in political journalism/campaigning for a political publisher starting 1 Sept, 5 days after he turns his dissertation in! Good salary too. He is totally thrilled. Particularly amuses him that he will be based in Millbank tower which is also Reform HQ.

dd2 is loving her chef job. She has just been promoted to Demi chef de cuisine and when dh and I ate there last week the voluble, Belgian head chef came out to our table and spent 20 minutes telling us how fantastic she was, how swift, how precise, knows all the recipes, don’t have to tell her anything twice, out cooking more experienced men in the kitchen, something had really clicked for her about 6 weeks ago and she is flying. He finished by saying she was the most talented young chef he had worked with for 7 or 8 years. Our jaws were on the table. Very proud!

Preparing for our final ‘back to school/uni’ September!

I bought DD a new pencil case on autopilot, but it turns out she needs one, so all good!

It’s all a bit Déjà vu here, with us poring over spreadsheets - the process of applying for junior doctor positions is even more complex than UCAS - and involves all 9500 UK med grads being put into a secret random priority order THAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU!

So great to hear about all your DC’s graduations and jobs - this time next year…

They considered themselves to be northern ?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was confused over the northern thing for Lincoln, but it is true that looking in a map it’s probably further north than I realised!

@Aslockton Lincoln is definitely in the Midlands! And as a Channel Islander, everything is North, the opposite of @Piggywaspushed.

Good luck to @KingscoteStaff with the medical lottery, sounds ridiculous!

@Delphigirl What a lovely update! All your DC seem to be flourishing.

I am just off for a week's holiday in Cambridge with both DC; the excuse is that DS is attending a summer-school (unrelated to his uni course) so I'm giving him a lift. Then shortly after that, I will be taking my very first term-time break ever, which feels very decadent (flying out to join my DW in Switzerland where she will be at a conference). I might possibly have booked a tour of the Lindt factory, so all my summer's vague weight-loss plans will be undone. Oh no!

@KingscoteStaff At least the allocation is no longer completely random and they give priority to UK graduates. Dd did her foundation training a few years ago when it was still based on the exam result. That was stressful enough (during Covid so online and could not take break as those monitoring often would not respond) she did scrape in to her preferred location though and has been flying since.