Friday

It doesn't seem two years ago that I was rejoicing over grandson Alex's outstandingly good GCSEs but it was.
This is what I wrote.

"The biggest from yesterday is, of course, Al's GCSE results.  He did great.  He got all grades A* to C, no grades below that and he is set fair for 6th form and A levels.
The amazing thing is that this time three years ago he had done none of the national curriculum for most of the subjects he studied.  In fact, he went down a year when he started mainstream so that he could do a year's study before having to decide on his GCSEs. 

(This was because he was previously attending a special school with a Statement of SEN for autism)

The biggest worry was English.  It's a crucial one to get (alongside maths) and as he has a communication disorder (he was virtually non-verbal when he started school) it was never going to be easy.  He was predicted an E which then went up to a D.  A D would have been amazing.  They put him in for both English exams, the general one and Literature (which surprised us a bit but there you go . . .).and he not only got B for English, he also went and got C for literature.  Fantastic!"

Yesterday, two years later, it was A level results.  Same nerves, same worries only bigger because this time it wasn't entry to sixth form that was at stake, it was entry to university.
I should have known better than to waste a good worry on it.  Alex soared!  A* for mathematics, A for further mathematics and B for Chemistry.  UCAS had confirmed his place at university by email before he picked up the results so we knew he'd done pretty well.
So in just over a month's time, Alex will be off to study mathematics at the University of East Anglia.  The next big life-adventure will begin and things will change for us all.

Hasn't he done well?

The weather was pretty grim yesterday morning but had perked up by lunchtime so I managed to get my load of washing out on the line, dried and then ironed.  The ironing baskets are now empty.
I also dealt with  those green beans (five good sized packs in the freezer), the allotment runner beans (for Beth), a large yellow courgette (slice, open freeze and bag), my own tomatoes (passata) and tomatoes from Mum and Dad's which I peeled and bagged and they will be frozen whole later on.

So, what with one thing and another, it was a very busy day!

Today I am up very early after a restless night.  I'll go down to the allotment early and get that mowing done.  I just need to check exactly how early I can make it happen by checking on the allotment web site.  Then it is home for various other chores including making sure everywhere is tidy for the cleaners.  It's all go today!


Edited:  well, I WAS going to mow the grass but it's started chucking it down with rain.