On Target

In a way I had been dreading Thursday morning, what if the unthinkable happened, what would I do then? The problem was that I was not in control, I had done my best or at least I thought I had, but this wasn't about me. All I could do was get on with my morning and wait for the phone to ring. 


At last the phone took pity on me and rang. A rather cheerful voice at the other end informed me that he had passed. He had some very pleasing results and most important of all he had got more than enough to get into the sixth form of his choice. After a huge sigh of relief, I was the proud mum full of congratulations and cross with myself for my moments of doubt.


So why was I so anxious, I don't recall being this nervous when his sisters got their results. He is every bit as bright and able as his sisters, but perhaps not as diligent. The girls were able to continue to the sixth form at the same school, but 'the son who must remain nameless' wanted to change schools. We all agreed that it would be the best option for him, and he had been offered a place at the better school (the one his sisters attended) but he needed at least 8 good GCSE grades in order to take up his place. Perhaps it isn't so surprising that I was anxious, so much depended on his results.


Today I took 'the nameless one' to the new school for a meeting to sort out his timetable and do all the necessary  paperwork before starting school a week on Tuesday. He will be one of only a handful of boys at an all girls school, but I am certain it is the right place for him. It is not always easy for him to cope with ordinary things because of his Asperger Syndrome, but the next couple of years will be very important not just in achieving good A level results but in helping him to become independent enough to thrive at university. 

A Load of Rubbish

Laura told me that someone from Network Rail came in to her school yesterday to talk about their engineering apprenticeships. Laura is doing maths and science A Levels so she is probably the sort of candidate they would like to attract and I was interested in her reaction. She told me it was a big turn off, as it sounded excruciatingly boring and it didn't lead to a high enough qualification. It certainly didn't sound like an attractive proposition to her and her friends. Young people who have worked hard to achieve good A Level results want to go on to university to get a good degree, yet oddly Network Rail did not provide them with information about their graduate scheme. Laura was also put off by the O2 apprenticeship scheme, she said that it sounded more attractive than the Network Rail option, but the fly in the ointment for her was the requirement to live in Slough and she said that nothing in the world would induce her to do that. She claims not to be very keen on English Literature, but she would probably enjoy John Betjemen's poem about Slough!

Network Rail may be in a class of it's own when it comes to finding the most difficult and inconvenient way to do something but it seems they don't have a monopoly when it comes to potty ideas. Robbie's company seems to be having a moment of madness. They are moving into a new building shortly and the steering group have decided that individual bins will not be permitted and people will have to get up from their desk and walk to a communal bin. I'm not sure why they are called a steering group, if they can't foresee the consequences of their actions I hope I never encounter any of them behind a steering wheel!

The company already recycle, so paper and other recyclable materials are not put in to individual bins, but there is still a need for a bin, without it even a trivial task like removing a staple from document or discarding a broken paperclip would require a journey across the office, or more likely they will end up on the floor and someone else will have to come along and clean up. A bent paperclip could damage a vacuum cleaner or industrial floor machine. Post often creates bits of rubbish, sellotape, packing tape, wrapping from journals and advertising material and other oddments. There should not be a huge amount of rubbish in individual bins, but if each small item reprents a journey and a potentially distraction from the task the person was focussed on, it will prove extremely unproductive. I wonder if they have thought about the problems and unnecessary discomfort this will cause to people with disabilities, there will also be a potential fire hazard if everyone starts collecting their own rubbish in a carrier bag, not to mention the disruption to the office environment if everyone walks to the bin with each item of rubbish.
Of course I am not accusing the steering group of original thought, this is yet another batty government idea. Envirowise provides free government funded advice to companies – most free gifts are really not worth having! Quite honestly I don't think the government could manage their way out of a paper bag, everything they touch seems to turn to disaster, so perhaps they should give up on the 'nanny state' and the micromanagement and get on with sorting out the economy! That would leave the steering group free to use their common sense, surely the staff could have individual bins and empty them into the main bin at the end of each day.

Results

Results Thursday 16th August 2007

There were two reasons for waking early this morning, Robbie had chosen today for his day off 'playing trains' on the North Norfolk Railway but more importantly this was the day Emily had awaited and dreaded in almost equal measure. A Level results are due this morning and depending on those all important grades she her conditional place at Leicester University would either be confirmed or denied. Every parent wants their child to do well and I am no exception, but whatever her ultimate grades I knew that Emily had worked very hard and if she had done her best that was good enough for me. I knew that Emily was feeling anxious and I was glad that she would be going into school with friends to get the results.

We needed to leave the bungalow no later than 9.30 at the latest in order to drop Robbie at North Walsham on time to catch his train. As usual he turned the luxury of time into a last minute rush and I left him still getting ready while Sam and I got the car out ready to go. As I put my mobile into hands free thingy a text popped up to tell me that I had a voice message, it was too early for the results and I retrieved the message anxiously. Emily's voice sounding young and tired informed me that she didn't have her results yet, but she had been on to the UCAS website and it showed that her place at Leicester University had been confirmed. I was startled to find tears of relief (and perhaps pride) running down my cheeks. The last few years have been hard for us all but despite the loss of their dad the girls have made the most of their educational opportunities and they have enjoyed their friends and lots of other out of school activities too. I knew that Eric would have been proud of them both. It has been a little different for Sam as he was so much younger, but despite his Aspergers he is also getting on well.

At about 10am I dropped Robbie at the Station and the phone rang, Emily's excited voice told me that she had got her longed for grades and despite her fears, that longed for A in English had not eluded her. I was so pleased for her, now she could look forward to a celebration with her friends. Sam and I headed off to Wroxham Barns for a day without trains. We began with a visit to the farm, it has been a favourite with Sam since he was tiny. He loves being able to feed and touch the animals, the goats are my favourite but Sam loves them all. This time a ferret called Jet seemed to fascinate him and a litter of 15 piglets with their mum attracted a lot of attention too. A large and hungry goat was not satisfied with several handfuls of food, he decided to have a go at my Animal handbag as well, but I managed to pull it away just in time. Two donkey's had perfected the art of illusion and by moving further along the fence while the other donkey was being fed the one who had already been feed managed to look as if he was a different donkey who was still waiting for something to eat. This was obviously a well practised routine and it had Sam in fits of laughter.

After the farm we visited the shops and Sam bought a couple of stones for his collection. We also enjoyed a visit to the amusement area where Sam had several goes at the rifle shooting and his old favourite the remote controlled cars. Finally we went back to the farm as Sam hoped to catch one of the hensin the act of laying an egg! They have constructed the coups with little peepholes and the children find it fascinating. It was nice to have a few hours back to the bungalow and Sam spent some time on the beach picking up interesting stones. Robbie eventually arrived back in the evening having spent the day travelling backwards and forwards on the North Norfolk Railway. I sat in the car waiting for him and all the other passengers walked round from the train, got into their cars and disappeared into the night, but still there was no sign of Robbie. I waited in the deserted car park wondering where he was when a familiar figure with a back pack plodded into view with all the urgency of a turkey approaching Christmas. He was a little evasive about his lateness at first but he grudgingly admitted that he had been jotting down numbers again! He was exhausted after his busy day - but not too tired to talk non stop - about trains!

An Early Start 26.05.07

The demands of GCSE and A Level exams have restricted our holiday in Cornwall to one week this year, so I was determined that we should make the most of our time. I have never enjoyed the ‘pleasures’ of a packed motorway and Bristol is always a black spot as it seem to be the cone storage capital of UK. I decided that we would get everything ready on the Friday, go to bed early and then set off at 2am on Saturday morning.

Everything went more or less according to plan apart from a bit of procrastinating from Robbie in the morning. Believe it or not he had to ring control to check on the progress of his ‘empties’ at 2am! He wanted us to leave a bit later as he calculated that we would then have a chance of seeing one of his trains as we went along the motorway. He got his wish, as we didn’t set out until 3.15 am and I did indeed see a train as we travelled down the motorway, but Robbie (who intended to stay awake to keep an eye on me) was ‘Z’ing by the time we passed Oxford and he dozed all the way to Cornwall, so he missed it. He said it was the wrong train anyway. I also saw a fox cross the whole motorway, but everyone else was asleep and missed it. We had an excellent journey; we arrived at Padstow just after 8am having made one comfort stop on the way. That gave us plenty of time to explore all the shops and to enjoy brunch at one of our favourite restaurants.

Robbie and I headed for the little bookshop that we love, he was very restrained and only bought one book, but I bought two, A Pictorial Survey of Great Western Branch Lines and A Portrait of the Atlantic Coast Express. I was dragged away by Laura and Emily; they had been checking out the designer shops and wanted to ‘show me’ what they had found. They jointly purchased an Animal handbag which they intend to share, but both have their eyes on other clothing as well. Maybe we should have stayed at home! Sam bought a decision dice and a gruesome pen that defies description, but he has his sights on greater things too!

We got to the caravan by mid afternoon, it has been upgraded since last year and it is absolutely beautiful. By the time we were all installed and tidied up and the shopping had been fetched and packed away, I was exhausted. I went bed before Dr Who, leaving the ‘boys’ to enjoy the flat screen LCD TV.