Grindstone

The twins have stopped scanning their email for messages from UCAS.  They now have as many University offers as they are likely to get. Each time an offer arrived, it was “Hooray” and a celebratory macaroon – it felt like actually getting the place.  As a result, some part of them is always absent, dancing into the vividly coloured future spinning out ahead of them.  In York or Bristol or Manchester, real life will begin.   After seven years, their school chafes a little, like an outgrown uniform.

But now, as the coursework demands to be honed and the A2 exams loom, it is clear that the final hurdles are the most important.

Theirs is one of the most assessed school years in history – from SATs at infant school, junior school and year 9 through to GCSEs in year 10 and year 11, then a large number of AS exams and extracurricular activities last year.  And this year, A2s and all the palaver that surrounds university applications.  They so deserve the partying that lies ahead.  I am praying for sunshine through the whole of July – a blue sky tickled by only the fluffiest of clouds.

Meanwhile, can they put their already-raw noses back to the grindstone one more time?