It seems that most of the Irish Sea – well, the seabed – has just arrived in my back yard, as a result of one of the quotes I did last week.  If I had my camera, which I mislaid at Dunbar last week, I would show you what it looks like and why I am scared, very scared!  It is one thing seeing a spreadsheet with a list of numbers of buckets and jars – quite another seeing it in the flesh.  Meanwhile, I’m trying to get my microscope serviced and clear my cubby hole in the utility room where it looks like I’ll be spending rather a lot of the next couple of months.  It’s the sort of thing I’d much rather do over the winter, but we can’t be choosy.

Standard Grades start for GP1 today.  I’m not sure, but I think I’m more nervous than he is.  He presents a calm exterior but who knows what is going on inside?  He stayed at home yesterday morning to “revise”.  I sneaked into his room after about an hour and he was reading his current novel.  So I went in at hourly intervals until he was so fed up with me that he got on with something.  If I have to work when the sun is shining, so can he!  He did go into school in the afternoon to the music department which I think was more profitable than lying on his bed pretending.  I certainly don’t want him thinking he can spend the whole month at home.

And the subject choice table has come home for GP2.  The choices are really tough – he’s going to have to do at least one subject he doesn’t want to do and give up several he does want to do.  There is the possiblilty of doing 3 sciences this year but it would be at the expense of something less academic to balance things out – Music/PE/Art/CDT, all of which he wants to take, but he can only take one.  On the other hand, he has to do one of Admin/Computing/Graphic Comm/Home Economics, none of which had come into his radar before seeing the sheet.  In fact, we didn’t even see the IT teacher at either Parent’s Evening or the Pathways evening so we have very little idea of what is in the Computing course.  So, all you computing geeks out there – sell it to us!  Computing or Graphic Communication?