2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

dolly84 said:

Thanks Pip.  I am literally the last person on earth who would ever practice mindfullness so if I suggested that she would try to get me sectioned I think.

You've been advised to try breathing exercises to help your asthma/ high blood pressure but you can't manage the breathing and counting at the same time so can she help you?

 

Laura, you are as devious as I am. 

Re your daughter... the other thing that they don't really explain to A-level students is that once you are into university nobody cares what A-levels you did or what grades you got. They're the tokens you need to collect enough of in order to level up into the next stage of the game, but once you're through that gateway and into the next level, they're no longer relevant. First year marks become overwhelmingly important at that stage, but again, once you collect a good enough average across your first year at university, in exams or written work or multiple small tests or practicals, then you level up into 2nd year and look down affectionately at all those little first years worrying about their first year marks and think patronisingly, "ah bless...". Then you go on into further years, and by the time you reach your Finals you don't actually realise there are any other students because your entire world has shrunk to trying frantically to memorise certain things and practising other things and so on...  
If she plays any computer games, then she will already be familiar with that "levelling up" notion, and it really is exactly how qualifications work post-school... each time you level up, the previous batch of grades become irrelevant, just as the tokens or crowns or magic potions you gained in order to get from Lvl 12 to Lvl 13 are irrelevant once you need to gain gold coins and treasure chests...  

That is very true.  Once she has her degree, nobody will ever ask about her A-Level results.  And, if she goes on to get a Masters, whether her degree was first class or second class also becomes irrelevant.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

Laura, you are as devious as I am. 

[/QUOTE] mwahaha  

[QUOTE]

That is very true.  Once she has her degree, nobody will ever ask about her A-Level results.  And, if she goes on to get a Masters, whether her degree was first class or second class also becomes irrelevant.

- Pip

@PipneyJane I'd say even before she has her degree - I'd say from the start of her degree course. People sometimes ask which subjects - in a kind of "trying to find common ground to make friends" kind of way - "ooh, you did Sociology too, did you? Did anyone else do Ancient History? No, nobody ever does..."  

And fwiw, nobody ever asked me about my degree grade during my Master's... and now I have my PhD, nobody need ever know that my degree was a very very very poor 2:ii, so low it was nearly a Third (various extenuating circs)... I can take that secret with me to... oh, wait... hang on... ummm....  

Laura_Elsewhere

Oooh my goodness, I'm rather fortunate that was second-hand and therefore Not My Coupons...! 

Just bought 1.4kg of Shetland Heritage 3-ply wool from a friend of a friend who wanted to clear some space....! 1,400g at 1 coupon per 50 would be 28 coupons! 

I'm a bit startled as I never buy this much - but how could I resist 80 quid for a cone of undyed cream with a kilo-plus still on it, and a cone of a really nice rich dark green with 400g+ on it... bought as balls from J&S it would be £160...! And of course I can dye the cream...

My Intended looked a bit startled when I told him I was spending 80 quid buying 1.4kgs of wool, but seemed reassured when I explained it would only be two cones... 

Grey wool skirt nearing completion. Hand-sewing for the next couple of hours, not least because I am exiled to the bedroom so the sitting-room (and kitchen) has no background sounds at all. M.I. said he had a long training session this afternoon, so I asked if he was giving the training or being trained, and he replied that he was running the training for one of the client-groups. I sympathised and asked if he'd been lumbered with it because nobody else would do it, and he said, in tones of deepest, deepest disgust, "no. They *asked* for me specifically..." 

I laughed like a row of buckets in my ever-sympathetic way...  

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

And fwiw, nobody ever asked me about my degree grade during my Master's... and now I have my PhD, nobody need ever know that my degree was a very very very poor 2:ii, so low it was nearly a Third (various extenuating circs)... I can take that secret with me to... oh, wait... hang on... ummm....  

It's over 30 years since I did my degree and I'm not sure I've ever been asked about my 2:2, apart from the bit you fill in on forms, where it was more about what level I'm educated to rather than what subject (arts degrees not being as job-specific as some other degrees). I'm still hoping to do a Masters one day though I haven't decided what in... but my 'perfect' job, which I'm in now, doesn't need a degree at all (though ironically if I started now, they would be concerned at my total lack of Maths qualifications...)

I had quite an academic secondary education, which stands me in good stead even now, but my husband, who was subjected to a lacklustre education by his own account, has gone on to better paid work /management /leadership roles which I've not had.

I think it's terrible that students are put under so much pressure really. So many important things are completely outside the structure of subjects and exam technique.  "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned at school". (Einstein)  

Wraithlady

Very true - I failed my degree first time round, and thought it was the end of the world and I was unemployable. The best advice came from my mum 'Outside of the academic world, no one really cares what happened with your degree'.
Oddly, the most comforting was my then bank manager, who, on learning that I'd failed, told me not to worry - he'd failed his Maths degree too. And, yes I managed to get a job afterwards
(Pip - I'm not saying she will fail, obviously)

thriftwizard

PipneyJane, they're waste seams & hems from 50p shirts (from the recyclers) that I've cut up to make cot quilts. There's a lot of decent fabric in a good-quality shirt or tiered cotton skirt! To be fair, one or two were OH's but he will wear them until they actually fall apart; who can tell, under a jacket?! Some of the fabric from the dismembered shirts went off to the ladies who make quilts for Project Linus, in response to a plea on Freegle, so there are rather more offcuts than one smallish quilter would normally have! The duvet cover was also a 50p-from-the-recycling-shop find. It's made with twined weave on a weaving frame like this: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/527190970/adjustable-twining-loom-for-rag-rugs?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=twining+loom&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1&cns=1 which results in a very tough rug, and it's 3' by about 2'6".

CapricornLass

Oh dear, Dolly, sorry to hear that of your problems of with  your daughter.  I've been in a similar situation, and all I can say is take care of yourself, because it's so easy to blame yourself for what has happened.    Its hard for them at that age, and the least little knock-back can seem the end of the world. This year has been especially tough, too.  I dont know if I can really impart any pearls of wisdom, except to listen, and follow your own instincts.

PollyWollyDoodle

Just wanted to endorse what’s been said above by @Laura_Elsewhereand others - nobody will care or even ask once she has started her degree course.  But it does feel like a really big deal when you’re in the middle of it, on top of the pressure we are all feeling at lockdown. 

Also, a salutary story: I am one of five, my two sisters and I all went to university, all got 2:1s, and all went on to get professional qualifications.  My brothers were less academic, both left school at 16 and went to work.  The younger of my brothers got only a few CSEs, I now think that he was probably an undiagnosed dyslexic, but this was the 1960s/70s. Can you guess which of us runs their own company and drives a Porsche?  😂  Qualifications aren’t everything.

(I should add that I love my work, I’m very happy with my lifestyle choices and I wouldn’t want a Porsche even if I could afford one!) 

skogar

Pixtotts - Sounds like your sock knitting is proceeding a pace. you have reminded me that I need to get back to the first solitary sock I was knitting before I started knitting hats for Christmas presents.

Thriftwizard - Lovely rug. It looks great.

Dolly - sending a bit hug. it is absolutely true what Laura, Pip and others say about a educational set back not being the big deal long term that it seems at the time. I also know that it doesn't seem like that at the time. Wishing you and your daughter all the best.

Cherryfudge

I am beginning to wonder whether having a chequered academic career gives one a special ability to slip between times and lead a parallel existence in an aptly-named textile-producing hamlet in the Middle-England of eighty years ago?