Summer Celebration

I thought I'd do a few mini roundups of our Summer, although we didn't seem to do much this year. The boy's cricket, work and The Builder's slipped disc and arthritic hip problems managed to take up far more of the school holidays than expected. And now 2 are back at school and Number 1 son is preparing for university. Well actually he's out with friends and sleeping mainly, if he were any more laid back he'd be unconscious!

The run up to A Level results day was a little stressful, he'd finished the exams some time ago and didn't feel they'd gone very well, as time went on he convinced us he'd probably failed! 

His first choice of university was Loughborough, mainly for it's sporting reputation. I have to say on visiting the campus on open day the sports facilities were jaw droppingly impressive - and that's coming from a very non-sportswoman. They have an Olympic pool, football pitches, several gyms, athletic track and, most importantly it's the home of the ECB National Academy (England Cricket Board), as well as having a superb cricket pitch in the middle of the campus.

However we discounted this option early on in view of his anticipated results. His insurance choice was a bit of a random, spur of the moment decision and he regretted it. The day before results day he decided to reject the second choice of Uni - the call came "how do I do that Mum?" I Googled and found that you can withdraw from a choice up to 7 days before results day; this was roughly 7 hours before! The boy who has done virtually nothing for 6 weeks decided, the night before, he wants to change his choice! 

He was in a huge panic and almost in tears so we wrote down a very long plan of action for the following morning which involved phoning other universities (lists of names, courses and telephone numbers) to ask (beg, plead) if they'd consider him, names and numbers of colleges to ask if he could re-take the failed exams, right through to looking for a job! We both had a sleepless night and I was staring, bleary eyed, at the UCAS website from 6am - 

it was due to go live at 8am. 

The Builder had to leave for cricket in some far off county at 6.45am so wasn't around. 

At 7.30 the site changed and we both stared at the screen and a shaky hand pressed the "enter" button.We both stared with puzzled faces as it flashed up "you are accepted at your first choice of university,Loughborough" - what does that actually say and what does it actually mean?? we both peered at the screen for minutes and I may have been staring through teary eyes!

He phoned The Builder immediately in his usual laid back, dead pan voice to tell him the news - we just heard a roar at the other end! The Builder has said he would give anything to have had the opportunity to go to a place like Loughborough - if he didn't have to do any writing!

So we went to pick up his results sheet from college with a happy heart and I treated him to coffee and cake in John Lewis (oh I know it was a treat for me mainly!) He then went off to celebrate as all bar 1 of his mates had got into the places they wanted to, we saw very little of him that night although his Twitter account was a little "slurry"! The next day he resumed his laid back, can't get out of bed mode and managed to miss his slot for accommodation! He's got the complete opposite to what he wanted - although I'm happy that he's in a catered hall. He wanted self-catered as it would give him more beer money - how much could a weekly shop cost??

 More than £10?? (he's in for a shock I know)

He then also managed to miss the time slot for accommodation swaps, so he isn't moving. I hope he finds some get-up-and-go before he leaves home on the 23rd.

We are very proud of him and I'm going to miss him terribly!

The only photo from our celebration meal out!