Innocents affected by this

nightwatchman

Go for it PN and good luck.
Some times I wish I could go back to uni so as to finish my degree.
However soon I will be a dad :dance: and I most likely I will spend all my spare time changing nappies instead of studying.
(Ohh well I am looking forward to the nappy changing:eek: )

Good luck to you as well Pickles.

Some time back I snapped at you on one of my rants. After snooping for some time in this forum I realise that I have be harsh on you. Please accept my apologies
Also good luck to your BTL business.

thriftybabe

Just a wee quick follow up to say that we managed to secure our second contract. This indeed will hopefully keep all our staff until Christmas at least. This also means that we will be able see our three 4th year apprentices till their time is out in a few months which is great for them and gives us a good feeling also. There may be one or two subcontractors that we may have to let go of but not definite yet. If the jobs run as quick and efficient as the Contractors say they will then we will need all of them possibly more.

We are delighted at this outcome and that our staff will be secure for another 6 months.

Thanks to everyone for their support here. It is very much appreciated.

borntobefree

Brilliant:T:T:j:j

MissMoneypenny

PasturesNew wrote: »

I could. But I wouldn't know where to go or what to study. And it's too late this year isn't it?

And then: who takes on a graduate aged 50 such that it is financially beneficial to have taken 2 years out to go? That's the call. Are there enough working years left to actually get a job so that you're financially better off than if you hadn't started? Yes there are mature students, but usually out of interest, part of a couple. I've got to balance out the cost/loss of earnings potential for 2 years, against increased salary (won't be able to go on any graduate fast-track programmes) for the time remaining in the workplace.

And the whole thing of picking a subject... how the heck does one do that?

As neverdespairgirl has said, do a degree with the OU. Their university year is different to normal universities and exams are in the autumn. They use to start their university year in February with a closing date for new entrants, in September (perhaps it was October) but they seem to have split that now to make it easier for those that are working full time.

They have some day schools (usually on a Saturday) and tutorials (usually in the evenings). You go to a session in your area. Some courses even have a week away to study and I understand from my aunt (who got her teaching qualification from study with the OU) that these weeks away consist of a lot of drinking.:D
They have great forums too on just about anything you can think about and a virtual university which is always worth a look round.:D Some people take more course when they finish their degree just so they can stay on the OU forums:D:D Yes, I really am that sad.:o

I was in my mid 40s when I did a degree with them and was only able to find time to do 60 points a year so it took me 6 years to complete my degree.

With the OU, you can work full time and study. It is hard work, but very enjoyable. It can be expensive, but they offer full grants and part grants, depending on what you earn. Have a look on their site. The letters at the front of their various courses state what they are. So it would be M for maths.

You are going to be 56 anyway, so you can either be 56 with a degree or 56 without one.

Edited to say that I just worked out my degree took 5 years, not 6. I had credits from a PG course.

chimp_choker

fc123 wrote: »

I think it's great for Chimp to post his story. Many would never dare.
:T on the weight loss..where you really that many pounds?
I notice younger (under 35 mainly) hold the view that one should know better, or one should prepare etc etc.
Many live like that but if one has an element of risk in ones work ....well...anything can happen.
Plus.......
Ones well paid job relies on your intelligence (born with, then nurtured by education and good parenting) but one day, a car knock mucks it all up.
Life throws all sorts of stuff at people. Post 40 is good..one stops judging.

And the LBM that Chimp had may have saved his life if that was what prompted the 'No more pies' lifestyle...though, obviously, he couldn't afford many pies for a while.

28 stone on the dot. couldn't get up off the settee, let alone walk up stairs in 3 goes. Actually what reduced my weight was that we had the boiler serviced every year and by the same vaillent company service engineer. One year he never came and the young lad said he was on the sick. The next year another different bloke came. I asked about Terry and he said "Oh he's in a bad way and has left the company now. He's in a wheelchair with one leg off and blind........ he's diabetic you know " He was a heavy drinker and smoker and was over weight. Not as much as me by far but it scared the life out of me. Terry's now dead. I'm now 21 stone and it's a fight but it grieves me greatly. Back in '84 I was in the army, rode a bike over 50 miles a day for fun, I parachuted, hanglided, and ran marathons for then in 87 broke my back in a works accident aged 26 and my life ended as far as I was concerned.
Now I walk like a spaka in a magnet factory but at least I can still walk so that's a bonus but good comes out of all adversity. If my tales of woe help the younger ones to be more level headed and not get sucked into the must have today ideals then it will be worth it.

MissMoneypenny

pickles110564 wrote: »

PN I am doing a course bit of a surprise for a thickie like me.
It is only a ILM level 3 I think in coaching.
Hopefully not to involved but if I pass I will get my first ever reconised certificate.
Might get into this learning thing............maybe not I will see how it goes

Good luck with your course.

You will get into this learning thing. I would like to know how to get off it....I'm addicted. I'm already looking at what course I fancy doing next year:o:o:o

MissMoneypenny

dopester wrote: »

I sort of understand you. By firing all the people who've been given a "made-up", "non-value" job by Labour, with their income coming from our taxes, you're suggesting they wouldn't have the money to then pay for the goods from the private sector and so hit private sector profits.

In Douglas Adam The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, they found a crashed spaceship with all the people wandering around aimlessly and waiting for "the others" to land. The said that their planet was about to burn and that they had been boarded onto the 3 spaceships according to their profession and that theirs was the first to leave the planet.

As I recall, they had been waiting years for the others to arrive.:D:D They had nothing in that time to make their own lives better.

dannyboycey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I could do. It's just slower. It'd take another 4-5 years, depending how the course dates ran and the points value, but I guess I'm not planning on doing anything in that time so I should shouldn't I.

I'd like to do statistics really. I'll check it out.

Go for it. Also consider undergraduate courses at other uni's - you'd still get in to many this year. Just give them a ring. Most universities look very favourably on mature students - going later in life also gives you a real advantage as you are out of the education system and doing it for you, rather than going through the motions, like many do. Doing a uni course later in life can be really rewarding, both academically, and socially, and if you're a bit of a hippy like me, it's also a great way to find out about yourself and grow as an individual.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

pickles110564

PasturesNew wrote: »

I don't know what ILM means/is, nor Level 3. And coaching to me sounds like football

Hope you're enjoying it. Beers are on you when you pass!

It stands for institute for leadership and management.
Coaching is the new way of bringing the out the potential of the coachee for the benifit of both employee and company.

John_Pierpoint

Some courses even have a week away to study and I understand from my aunt (who got her teaching qualification from study with the OU) that these weeks away consist of a lot of drinking.:D
I know for a fact that not everyone on these courses away, drinks themselves silly.
(I guess it beats speed dating );)