The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days - Voltaire

I'd had a rather challenging time at work yesterday and by the time I got home I was exhausted. As I sat down on the sofa with a welcome cup of tea, my daughter looked up from marking a pile of exercise books and asked if my son had told me about Northampton - he hadn't. Her face was serious and I felt a jolt of dread inside me as I asked if he'd heard about his university interview. My daughter told me that he had, then it seemed as if time stood still as I waited for her to tell me more. Then suddenly she was speaking again and her words "he got an offer" echoed inside my head.

I was so pleased for my son. Of course it is only the first step, now he has to work hard and get the required grades as well as getting as much classroom experience as he can in the next few months. Where did all those years go, it doesn't seem possible that my son can be making plans to go to university! It makes me feel very old, but I am very proud of him.

GCSE Results

GCSE Results Wednesday 22nd August 2007

I woke at about 7.30am and realised that the predicted high winds had arrived with a vengeance, it sounded as if we were about to blow away. When I opened the curtains in the lounge I realised that the sea spray was reaching our back windows and there was foam from the sea all over the back garden. I put on Robbie's coat and wandered down to the back gate to look at the waves. The wind was so strong that I could hardly stand up, the beach was gone and the waves were angrily lashing the concrete barrier and throwing spray and even stones across the footpath and into the garden. I don't think I have seen the sea quite as wild as this before, there was so much white foam that it looked as if the sea was boiling over. We have shutters on the back windows and it crossed my mind that we may need to use them, but I decided to wait and see what happened later in the day.

Robbie and Sam walked down to the shop and took some amazing photos of the sea, there was so much foam on the coast path and all the way up across the road that it looked like a snow scene - in the middle of August! We decided that we would not venture too far today, so Robbie got stuck into his jigsaw and plotted his getaway tomorrow, he wants to go and explore the Wherry line. Sam and I will go off and do our own thing, he said he would like to go to Cromer again, so we will see what tomorrow brings. We have to make an early start whatever happens because Laura gets her GCSE results at 9.30am and I want to be somewhere with a good mobile phone signal so that she can ring me as soon asshe knows. Emily is going to school with Laura as a bit of moral support, but I am sure she will do fine. Laura is very determined and self contained and doesn't like to admit to being anxious, but she is bound to feel a bit jittery.