I think I am finally starting to feel settled here. It is a good feeling. House, job, friends ... it's all finally falling into place. And the fact that Spring is almost upon us helps too.

Yesterday was a big day for Stephen; he got his first set of AS results. He is currently doing his A-levels. A-levels (usually three or four subjects) are taken over two years, and the results determine whether or not you go to university. The courses are tough. Tougher than we had in South Africa, and definitely tougher than US high-school courses. Which means that Stephen's previous studying strategy (do no work at all, rely on having listened in class to pass the exams) is no longer viable. So his first set of exam results (the courses are modular so they write exams every few months; these were the results from the January exams) was, as expected, pretty dire. I'd seen his results before he did (it is definitely a mixed blessing, working at his college) and I was really worried about how he'd feel,
because I don't think he'd truly believed that he was going to do badly.

However, by the time I got home, he'd made himself a revision time-table, planned which exams he'd resit in the summer, and (finally!!) seemed motivated to do some actual work, so I'm really pleased with him. He is so much happier now than he was a couple of months ago, which is lovely not only for him, but also for us. Happy people are a lot more pleasant to live with than people who are irritable because they're stressed and worried. So cross fingers that his mood stays good, and that his talk translates into action so that he can actually turn things around for himself.

So, after that long, rather fraught, day it was a great relief to me to be able to sit in a friend's kitchen last night and drink wine while Emily was at a birthday party in the house next door. Teenagers are much, much, more exhausting than small children are.

Today ... not sure what we're going to do, but the sun is shining which should make whatever we do feel good.