poor old Graham had to be up at 3.15am to get a flight to Rotterdam this morning. Can't say I envy him that one, though I do envy the fact that his Rotterdam trips usually involve a couple of trips to two Michelin star restaurants. Mind you, I did have a very passable piece of toast in the Waitrose Cafe while I was killing time during Angus' biology GCSE this morning.
He was uncharacteriscally nervy about the whole thing this morning, but came out saying it had been 'OK.' In Angus-speak 'OK' is just about as good as I can ever hope for and can indicate anything from the fact that he has got a big fat fail to a glowing A* so I suppose I only ask him how things went to be polite.
When I was at the cash desk in Waitrose I was paying for a few pads of A4 paper that were reduced and the lady behind the till commented that I looked like I was going to be busy. I told her that they were for my son's revision for his GCSEs and she said that her daughter was also doing them. The woman behind me joined in saying that her son was sitting them too. Odds are that half of the harrowed looking women in there were just trying to kill time before picking their children up after their exams too.
Art class this afternoon. We were supposed to be meeting in my garden to sketch the views over the village and surrounding hills from the top of the hill, but rain, cold and strong winds put paid to that. Instead we met at our teacher's studio as usual and sketched interiors that we copied from magazines. A bit of colouring-in with coloured pencils followed - all very relaxing.
It is so blooming cold that I have put the heating on. Unheard of in the middle of May. I am just trying to talk myself into donning waterproofs and wellies to go and lock the donks in for the night. Now I have finished uploading this photo I have run out of excuses not to............. here goes.......
....Graham's probably having pre-dinner drinks at a swanky restaurant now.........
...............now where are my wellies...........
Off you pop! LOvely fern - spotted some in my friend's garden yesterday and and invited myself back with camera. Feeling a bit depressed tonight - Adam very down about exams again - can't decide if it's all going wrong, or expectations are too high, or he's just surrounded by high achievers who are all nailing every exam.... This is so much more stressful than Rachel ever made it!
The second Karl Blossfeldt style shot I have seen on 365 in a few mins. Fabulous. We are in GCSE mode here too. I took my neighbours son to school for his Biology exam this morning with Ben, and then supervised my Sam in revision for Chemistry and Geography on friday!! Good luck to Angus.
@judithg Poor Adam. I bet he is OK, but it is very easy to get freaked out when you hear other people talking about what they did in an exam isn't it? Did you tell me some time ago that his exams aren't modular? Most of Angus' are - it seems so much easier than having to do them all in one go.
@seanoneill I would love to get some tips from you about supervising revision - you have my admiration if you manage to do that. I can only imagine it would be counter-productive if I attempted to do that. Occasional gentle nagging and subtle hints are about as much as I can get away with. And you have got two of them going through it at the same time - nightmare. I knew there must be some benefit to having mine three years apart.
@jantan They're like old fashioned O'levels..... And at this point I'm wondering why we've paid so much to make it so difficult for him! I'm sure it will be OK - he knows loads of stuff he just has to not panic. It would be very nice if he comes home happy with one though! Previous experience is that quite often when he thinks they've gone well they haven't so maybe this is actually a good sign! Miraculously he said French reading/writing wasn't bad - shame he had no idea what they were saying in the listening paper!
@jantan I tried the old reverse psychology and told Sam that he has to take responsibility now, To be fair to him, he has really knuckled down and we are hopeful he will do very well. More supervision today though!!
@judithg He'll be fine, and at least he wont have the enormous shock that the ones going from the modular exams to AS levels seem to have. Angus was dumbfounded last night when I told him that I was waking him up at 9.30 this morning to revise. 'But why, I have only got English Language tomorrow?" "Because you have got Spanish and RS (resit due to being a couple of percent of an A) on Friday" "Well there is no point in me revising too long before the exam - I will only forget it" Too long before the exam???? 48hrs!!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!
Beautiful shot Jan and perfect for this weeks theme.... love the black and white.... I remember those exam days so well..... I am sure Angus will fine.... and will end up with brilliant results!! ♥
@jantan LOL!! Just met a couple of Adam's friends' mums in Waitrose - filling trolleys with alcohol. When I said 'I'm on the gin' the lady filling the shelves said, 'GCSE or A'level?!'. Eng Lang for us today and because the mark scheme is so obscure NOBODY will know the right answers so no post match analysis - hurrah!!
Oh and you've reminded me - my sister told me her colleague at work tentatively asked her son if he'd made a revision timetable and he said, 'Do I look gay?'..... Adam told me on Monday that he was learning 'the entire French language' for the exam yesterday because it goes in one ear and out the other - I was saying last night what an irony it will be if now he's allowed to forget it all he can't!
