The Goose and Carrot July Edition

[Lougle]

All welcome, and everything disappears after 90 days.

@Lougle poor poor show.

@NoHaudinMaWheest that’s a really interesting difference between the system.

@TheGoodCat normally if DH died and you needed to move into a care home the value of your home would be taken into account during the financial assessment. However, there are some situations where the property value can be disregarded for the purpose of the financial assessment. One of those situations is where you have a child who is ‘incapacitated’ living in the house as their main residence. See here. If the property is disregarded for these purposes it doesn’t have to be sold on death to repay the fees. All this is at the moment. Who knows if or how it will change in the future.

@inthequietofdawn that is complicated but somewhat reassuring for now.

I like the Burnham proposal that every adult pays a care levy from their estate if they can rather than living in fear of all assets being used for care. Not sure how that would be forward funded as it would surely take a few years collecting care levy’s to have enough for ‘free’ care.

At this rate they’ll have people buying gold and hiding it under their mattresses. If we want people to stand on their own feet, we must provide a solid predictable bedrock for them to build on.

I have long thought that the pension annual allowance should be higher for disabled people. I would dearly love to save more for DD in her old age. I don’t think people in receipt of LCWRA should be penalised with a £3,600 pension annual allowance.

Heard from asbestos roof removal that they can come tomorrow morning - only thing is we need to be out there before DS and don't know what time they are coming.

Have been out there today for 3.5 hours with DH and I cleared everything from the dead tree that went into ours and also levelled behind the shed and cleared all round it of leaves and we both cleared leaves from garden. Not sure what we will do for 4 hours in garden tomorrow if they are late - maybe breakfast first outside and then leaf clearing but we may finally run out of leaves. If we get it done will then pay new shed deposit and put temp roof on old shed which we have. I just hope DS will co-operate - we are going to go out around 8am, hope they don't turn up before then. I think last time they came around 10am but have mentioned before going places at 8am.

@Lougle I hope collecting results goes smoothly tomorrow after all the hassle and DD3 gets what she wants.

@Beachgosling I think your DD2 is waiting for results tomorrow too? I hope she gets what she wants too.

@Wellzizizbetter buying gold or withdrawing cash and not declaring it already happens and has done for a long time. When looking at deprivation of capital, LAs are regularly looking further back than they often did in the past.

Thank you @inthequietofdawn . I think you have results too? I hope it goes well. @Beachgosling same to you. I'm bracing myself for any result, tbh. DD3 had really tricky exams because of surrounding events and so I don't know how she will have done.

I think the exams represent so much more than a GCSE grade for our children.

I read an amazing story this week about a boy with CP who took 7 GCSEs and started his exams in February, using eye gaze. It took him until June to finish them. He uses an AAC device to speak and is planning to do an A level in media, I think. He wants to be a TV presenter.

@Tulipandmagnolia i hope it all goes well 🤞

Good luck for results everyone.

@Lougle I saw that article. A brilliant story that showed how important the right support is. DSs are all waiting for results here. I am just relieved we made it through exam season.

Thanks good luck to yours too @Lougle & @inthequietofdawn we have one result here to get hopefully via the App this morning. I’m nervous that T&E will mess up joining up the two NEA parts to the exam as it’s not been remotely straightforward.

Phew I’ve really been struggling the last few weeks with the heat it’s made me very anxious & almost depressed when I’m not normally someone who struggles. Not helped with the population in our area doubles due to the location & people just behave like idiots. I’ve had multiple near misses out on my bike and so many have been stollen I’ve had to stop using it for quick trips. Just wanted to hide from everyone. I was though grinning like a Cheshire Cat walking the dog yesterday in the rain at sunrise it was heaven!

Yes @inthequietofdawn of course it goes on but it isn’t a good or safe behaviour and the framework we live in shouldn’t encourage that. I am old and was brought up to believe that practices that made dishonesty irresistible (like leaving your wallet accessible where people experienced extreme poverty) were despicable, and that should you experience theft (or whatever) you shouldered a large part of the blame. This strikes me as the same situation.

I’m keeping all my feathers crossed for goslings today. I agree that results hold a greater weight for our children. We should be proud of how far they’ve come whatever the grade at the end. How I wish we could all meet up and show them how much we appreciate their hard work.

Very busy days here. I am struggling to keep up a little. My todo list doesn’t seem to move at the moment. Yesterday was a washout as I got a cancellation appointment for a scan and had to be nil by mouth ALL DAY plus do ds’s drums and drive half way across the county to a cottage size hospital. Finally got home about 5 ravenous and lightheaded with all yesterdays jobs to do today. Good luck with asbestos @Tulipandmagnolia it sounds like progress is being made.

You achieve much @Wellzizizbetter and you are far too hard on yourself. I hope the scan results are ok.

We're off to get results for 11 am.
DD1 has her hydrotherapy assessment session this evening.

I did a CPD course by a solicitor on avoiding care home fees. He said most people drift into care, because they can’t cope with stairs.

He did talk about moving to a bungalow, while you still can. Other than that, his advice was to put a shower in on the ground floor of your house, so that one day, when you can’t manage the stairs, you can turn a reception room into a bedroom and live downstairs. He said, even though you may end up in a care home one day, it will still save you a shed load of care home fees for years.

(We’ve done that with our extension)

He also said to spend your money on antiques, paintings, cars…(He was talking to a room full of accountants)

We have an outside loo and the plan is to make that area of the yard into a lean-to bathroom, as we have 2 reception rooms and one could be a bedroom easily.
However my DB and to some extent my DF were fixated on having a stair lift in my mum's property when if she had made it home from hospital a downstairs bed and commode would have been a much more practical short term solution.

After DD1's friend messaged her to find out 'when results are coming out', she was really upset at the deceit she would have to engage in today. So I emailed the HT a forthright email saying that I knew he couldn't discuss other students, but this is the situation he has put DD3 in and I expected him to fix it. I also pointed out that there was still time to contact all the students affected. In the end, he has emailed her and invited her.

Happy smiles here with an amazing pass for DD2 her first L2 exam so proud of her yet the “win” for her was just entering the room and sitting at the table to write her name with out a panic attack, everything else was “icing on the cake”. Hope those who get results and those that may never achieve those bits of paper are all doing ok today.
Plus it rained again whoop my garden will be happy.

That’s just awful @Lougle of that school

How confusing for your DD3 @Lougle. Incidentally I dreamt last night that I meet a Goose and couldn't work out which one it was but narrowed it down to Lougle because she (the woman I met) was blind and spoke French. I think I may be conflating you with @Tulipandmagnolia DH and a friend of ours whose sight has gone completely in the last few years!

Had a positive response from another English tutor yesterday who uses Kelly and Phillips? Never heard of it but looking it up it seems to focus on letter sounds (which he's fine with but rushes through words when he's reading so looks not-fine) and handwriting (which he's supposed to be practicing at school, though they sent back most of the books empty).

I am now panicking about having a Y10 and also know that allllll my social media and friends/acitivity communication will be about GCSEs. Thinking of starting a "we won't be sitting GCSEs but we've got to be here anyway" thread for other secondary school parents in the same boat. Suspect DD will sit some GCSEs but not the whole hog and be quite limited in her results.

@drspouse come to the meet up and see all of us. It is quite lonely when you are not doing what the majority are. Setting up a group is a good idea.

@Beachgosling congratulations to DD2 for getting in that examination room and for the icing. Summer is all a bit much hang in there mood lifting change is coming very soon.

@drspouse i got really irritated by the GCSE chatter and the competitiveness, I could not find generosity for what I considered to be such minor worries. Of course everyone is allowed their own worries but I couldn’t stomach the hand wringing over sod all.

Ah it's so nice that I featured in your dream @drspouse . I feel special! But I'm not blind, thankfully. It would be much harder if I were.

My email partially worked. The friend was contacted and invited in, so DD3 picked her up and they went to McDonald's before meeting us at the school. DD1's English teacher who left had come in to see her open her results, which was lovely. She did well (6s) which is incredible considering that she was curled up in a ball sobbing during her exams.

Congratulations on the exam results @Lougle and @Beachgosling . It is good doors are being kept open for them and hope this gives them encouragement for the next stage.

@Lougle and @Beachgosling
Congratulations to DC on their exam results! As has been said, sometimes just sitting the exam through to the end, is an achievement in itself!

@Beachgosling congratulations to your DD. The win is getting through it, isn't it?