After a long, not very restful night I was greeted by a text from Adam telling me that he had excellent exam results. He's not allowing me to say what grades he got but it turns out he's not daft after all - although after the long haul waiting for the results I think anything would have done. He goes to one of the highest achieving schools in the country which can rather distort their view of their own achievements (downwards) and creates extra pressures but the teachers are rightly genuinely proud of all of the pupils. And the news got better still with a truly amazing haul of top grades for both of my twin nieces.
My neighbour held a party last night for all of the punters in his company and a large number of friends and acquaintances - it was pretty noisy at 5.30 am and when I went out to feed the hens at 8 there were people wide awake and having a go on the kids' zip wire. They know how to party after a long and busy season.
Three good things:
1. Parents of 16 year olds can sleep well tonight.
2. A large G&T.
3. I don't have to punt with the mother of all hangovers tomorrow (and neither does Rachel - she was very restrained and worked today).
One very sad thing:
My neighbour's beautiful dog Arthur went into a sudden decline over the weekend and died on Monday. The sweetest natured golden retriever you could ever meet and only 6 years old (turned out to be cancer). He's the dog I found on the pavement when the decorator left the door open - we'll all miss him.
Forget the picture, the story is entrancing in some ways! 5.30am is not nice, though but perhaps only happens once a year! I wouldn't sleep through that but then I'm not a parent of a 16 year old! I was twice though and had similar experiences! I'm so sorry about Alfie! They and you will miss his wonderful presence!
@maggiemae To be honest if I hadn't been awake worrying about the exams I wouldn't have heard much - we sleep at the front and the garden was at the back. Just wondering why you'd said Alfie when the dog was Arthur and I realised I'd misnamed the poor fellow.
I can understand the partying. It sure is stressful exam time. I'd like to say stress ends there for parents but I would be lying. Sad about the dog, but glad he didn't suffer
A beautifully composed shot with such pretty colours Judith I love the stray stem of purple flower across the sign. An inviting place for coffee!
That was some party ....sounds good though, you could have gatecrashed if you had heard it, I'm sure they would have welcomed a worried mum!!
Of course many congratulations to Adam on his wonderful success!
@happypat Oh we were invited Pat - we usually go for a while and eat some of the amazing Thai food but we were uninvited by our daughter who is too old now (apparently) to have her parents at parties. We had to resort to a periscope over the fence to see what she was up to ;0))
@judithg Oh dear poor you, relegated to the oldies!!!!! Funny how our children seem to think they will enjoy themselves more without us embarrassing them!!! Bet the smell wafting over was glorious!
Quite an apt shot with the purple buddlia bowing its head for poor Arthur. How sad. But glad the exam results are good and that you can stop worrying . . . For a bit!
Oh good GCSE news, I'm glad! Your nieces aren't in suffolk are they? I know the odds are that there are probably more than one set of twins taking GCSEs this year, but the girls of my acquaintance got an amazing haul too!
And so sad about the dog!
That was some party ....sounds good though, you could have gatecrashed if you had heard it, I'm sure they would have welcomed a worried mum!!
Of course many congratulations to Adam on his wonderful success!
Enjoy the G&T. :)
Congratulations to Adam.