I've been sequestered indoors again today, still not feeling up to going out and about in the face of my less than robust health, especially as the weather hasn't been very appetising, rather cold and intermittently rainy. For once, though, I haven't entirely frittered my time away - I've been doing a little bit of research, online, of course, in terms of how I can help my daughter facilitate what she wants to do, education-wise, both at post-16 and post-18 levels. She's at a really good school now, which she enjoys, but they don't offer all of the A-Levels she needs to have a realistic chance of getting onto the university course she wants to do, at the particular university she's got in mind, so she's thinking of moving on after her GCSE's in the summer of next year. There are a few options, some in Cornwall, but more in the London area, to allow her to get the qualifications she wants and needs, and there could be the collateral advantage, from my perspective, that she could end up living with me within the next eighteen months, if not sooner. Her mother has already said that she wouldn't stand in the way of our daughter living with me - although my ex has de facto custody of the girl at the moment, that isn't because of some legal decree in connection with our divorce, it's simply the way circumstances have fallen - so there's no reason why it couldn't happen, and my daughter has said, this evening, actually, that she would be quite happy to live with me, if that was the best option, in overall terms. Accommodation-wise, the old adage of 'two can live as cheaply as one' isn't far from the truth, even in the more salubrious areas of London that I would prefer - in the area where my 'London local' is, not very far from where I work, an area I would be more than happy to call home, the average rent for a one bedroom flat is around £1000 a month, whereas a two bedroom place, which we would obviously need, is only around £200 a month more, while the issue of her still being eligible for the travel concessions I mentioned a few days ago would also be resolved if we were 'flat-sharing'. It's a long way from being decided yet, but the idea of my having a 'proper home' again, and one with my daughter in it as well, is certainly an appealing one.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
Hi there, Sammy
ReplyDeleteI hope some relatively restful time indoors is helping you get over the "lurgy".
Best of luck with your daughter coming to live with you - it sounds as if it would work out well in a lot of ways. No doubt there will be hoops to jump through in getting your daughter a place at a decent school, even for A-levels, but hopefully with a year to prepare it won't be anything insurmountable.
Take care
Mark
Hello Mark
DeleteI've been woken again early this morning, coughing and spluttering and unable to get back to sleep, so I think my recovery still has a way to go. And I'm getting a bit 'stir crazy' being stuck in this little room all the time - I really want a change of scenery today, but I don't know yet whether I'll be up to it.
There are a few options as far as schools go, if K was to come up here, most notably in the part of Greater London that was once in Kent, where there are still several state grammar schools. She's got every intention, as things stand, of completing her GCSE course at her current school, so, as you say, there's enough time to do the necessary research.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
Oh wow, Sammy! How awesome would that be?!?!?!! And for your ex to agree. Boy, I know what I'd be {subtly} pushing! HAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteI know how great a dad you are, and I just can't imagine which cloud you'd be floating on if she wound up with you (it would be way above cloud 9!).
I am astounded at the price for a flat! WOW!!!! That's over $1500US!!! I could find you a very nice place here, 2BR, close to school for her, for no more than £750! (Come to America! HAHAHAHAHA)
I wish you all the best in this endeavour!
Peace <3
Jay
Hello Jay
DeleteTo be fair to my ex, she's said from the outset that it was K's choice who she wanted to live with, the current arrangement being a function of the fact that, as I said to Mark, K wants to complete this phase of her education at her current school, something my job, obviously, wouldn't facilitate. But, yes, I have to admit that I'd love to have her with me, and I would be thrilled if that was how things ultimately worked out.
Accommodation costs in and around London are pretty ridiculous, and have become far more so in recent years - I read a report recently to the effect that, if other everyday necessities had risen in price at the same rate over the past thirty years, a loaf of bread would now cost around £7! It's all down to that phenomenon so beloved of right-wing commentators, the 'free market'. Huge numbers of people want/need to live in the capital, putting pressure on what is a finite resource, and, as is the way with such things, the scarcer a commodity is, the more it costs. That said, though, I don't think the cost of accommodation would impel me to move to your side of the water - I think that might be a bit of an overreaction! K wants to visit, though - she has plans, with a schoolfriend of hers, to go to New York after the end of their exams in summer 2014, and has already saved several hundred pounds towards the trip. Maybe she'll get hooked, and not want to come back to sleepy old Britain!
Love & best wishes
Sammy B