I've got good news

I've been offered a place at Teesside Uni. It's a full-time M.Sc in Information Technology course. Two terms of taught work plus a one-term project. Start in September. I've worked really hard these last few months doing part-time courses so as to get background experience. Oh I'm relieved! And tired!! The letter came this morning following my interview last week. Just starting to take this in!!!

Oh Diane! congrats to you!!! I am so happy for you! all that hard work is paying off!! yippie!!! Lisa

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congratulations

Northerner, I am thrilled for you, really really happy. Since you don't start till autumn, now you can really enjoy your summer!

Well done Diane, hope you do as well there, good luck.

Thank you everyone. I still have some courses to finish and more exams to sit. But I've been accepted regardless of my results in them. So I'll probably start to feel a bit more relaxed again.
I probably won't have much time for gardening when I'm studying which was why I was going mad putting perennials in this spring. I've found someone who can keep my lawn mowed for me. Hopefully I'll have time to join a club or two at the uni and get myself a better social life again!! I know they have a horse-riding club. I used to go riding when I was younger. Or maybe a choir.

Congratulations, sounds like things are falling into place for you.

cheers

Sounds like a well deserved and well earned opportunity for you! Congratulations!

I wish I had the mind to go to uni to get a little something in biology, ecology etc

congrats northerner! Whereabouts in teesside are you, my mother has a pub in stockton.

Best wishes

lil

A big Hello Lil! You don't live too far from me. I was just saying to my friend Marie that I fancied a day in Durham, haven't been in a very long time and it isn't really too far away. Marie is another mad keen gardener. We hit the town yesterday and went on a spending spree. Plants! Here's what I got!
2 Perennial lobelias
2 Lupins
Japanese Anemone Queen Charlotte
Japanese Anemone Lady Gilmour
Ajuja
Phlox Amazing Grace
Helianthemum pink
Helianthemum yellow
Shasta daisy
Red hot poker
Wormwood
French Golden Oregano
Campanula Coehlearifolia Blue Baby
Aster nova-belgii Pink Beauty
Balloon Flower
I got these in Stockton Market. Very reasonable prices!! Planted them in today!
I live in Middlesbrough. This year I've been going to classes at Teesside uni in Middlesbrough and some at the Stockton Campus of Durham uni. Got into Teesside in the autumn. I live in Acklam. I quite often have lunch in Stockton at the moment, a pub lunch sometimes, usually look for somewhere not too far off the High Street. I find the pub lunches are usually excellent and the staff friendly. Great institution the pub lunch!

wow northerner, u must have spent a bit!

u should go to durham on a saturday afternoon, i was there last saturday and there were two great stalls selling herbs of every description, i got a catmint, hop plant and some lemon balm. The stall-holders are also very helpful and knowledgable.

The botanical gardens next to the university are also worth a visit.

i live near to Finchale Abbey just outside of durham. Its very beautiful, next to the river wear with shady tree-lined walkways full of wild flowers and plants.

lil

Hi Lil! That little lot cost me £15, considerably cheaper than the garden centres I'm sure. I was ill 2-3 years ago and we couldn't find anyone decent to look after our garden, so I lost a lot of plants. Eventually we got someone but he was a cowboy and did hundreds of pounds of damage. The shock was too much for my father. He had a heart attack followed by a stroke and passed away three months later. Last year I was too shocked to do anything other than hardy annuals and some bedding plants. So this year I've dug some of the beds and have started replanting. Better not tell me about plant places in Durham - better not be lugging more plant pots around with me! Vert tempting... Might come up sometime though! Do you come and see your Mum very often?
I've been trying to tidy my lawn edges this afternoon, looking a bit untidy. A friend lent me her strimmer for me to have a go with. Might invest in one, cordless probably.

You poor thing, northerner, sounds like you've been through the mill a bit! Hope everything's going well now though.

Yes i do come and see my mum a lot, in fact i'm going to stockton to see her this weekend, we're going to the hartlepool marina for a day-trip and probably a small pub-crawl! It's her birthday on sunday so i'll be staying for the weekend.

lil

That sounds a nice day-trip Lil. I was just saying to Marie on Saturday that I fancied a trip on the River. They do trips down the River Tees from Stockton. I have a good friend who lives in Hartlepool. A lot of people make fun of Hartlepool (errrr you'll have heard of the Hartlepool Monkey??) but I think it's quite a pleasant town and I certainly woukldn't mind living there. But Redcar has really slipped back during the last years, a lot of people on Benefit I think and it shows. Middlesbrough isn't what it was either. We have a crime problem here now, druggies and muggers. I was actually mugged last November. She (it was a teenage girl) didn't get anything though, I got mad and fought right back. Have most definitely been through the mill! Anyway it's nice that I had the good news about the uni for a change. Finish my present course (it's a part-time one) in three weeks time.

yeah i agree about boro, i'm not too keen on the place myself and it has got a bad reputation for the druggies and muggers - thats awful to hear you got mugged, you should be careful when fighting back tho! My mam and dad went on that trip on the tees from stockton to yarm weekend before last, i love yarm and can spend hours in that shop 'stricklands'.

anyone confused about the hartlepool monkey; the story goes that a monkey was washed up on the beach in old hartlepool many years ago (the headland, i used to live), they thought it was a french spy because they'd never seen a frenchman before, so they hung it, poor thing, and ever since then hartlepudlians have been called monkey hangers! ive been called it myself a few times!

lil

One of my folk-song friends put the story of the Hartlepool Monkey into a folk-song, very catchy tune. Just to make things confusing, I was born the other side of the Pennines in Lancashire!
I was mugged just a couple of minutes from my home last November. This girl tried to grab my handbag off me. When I felt this tugging I got so mad I tugged right on back again. She tugged again, I tugged again. Eventually the strap broke, with me still holding it, some cars pulled up - they thought there had been an accident - and the girl ran off to the other side of the road. She had an accomplice - got into his car. I'm in a suburban used-to-be-posh area but we do seem to get a fair bit of crime. I wasn't very sensible - she could have had a knife, but it was just instinct.

Hello,

Does anyone here know any other forums (preferably European) where one can trade or swap seeds ? There must be more British forums I would think

no there are not, least none i have found that are busy enough.

Diane,
Congratulations on a job WELL DONE!!

"eyes"

Diane, a belated happy birthday too you, Aug 26th, many happy returns.

Happy Birthday and Congratulations on your course.

This year must be a turning point for you, good luck and best wishes

Amazing! I managed to get Stockton market and the Hartlepool monkey onto this thread...
Further good news about Teesside uni. I've managed to get a bursary through the European Social Fund. It means all my fees will be paid and I also get a weekly allowance.
I've been skipping and dancing about the house like crazy.

This message was edited Tuesday, Sep 4th 9:59 AM

I find it extremely heartening to hear that someone who is trying to better themself and improve their employment prospects has actually been awarded some money to help them do so......this doesn't seem to happen much so I am very pleased for you Diane and wish you all the best with your course.
Marigold.

I wish my country gave more help to people who need it. Quite a number of colleges give help by eliminating fees but no other financial help. And now that students don't get grants...
It's all a bit crazy to me. We'd get people off unemployed if more help was available. A number of courses do qualify for some kind of financial help. Nursing I think, teaching, and some of the IT courses. Don't think nursing is for me. Might have to follow up with more teaching qualifications if IT isn't enough (I'm already making enquiries). But if you want to retrain these days you need to go into your savings or run up student debts. Wish someone would make sense of education...