Flowers for the fallen

Yesterday I waited all day for the mail, as we were expecting a letter from Oxford for Luke. However, for some reason no post came and by 5pm I gave up (our mail usually arrives at about 10.30am) Later that night Gavin went out to the car to get something, and thought he would check the mail one more time…and there was all our post in the letterbox. I can only imagine that our usual postman was ill or something and so someone else did his rounds much later…I mean, who gets mail delivered at night?

 Of course there was a letter from Oxford and sadly for Luke it was bad news – he was not offered a place. I had been expecting that, but he was still full of hope so we had the awful job of having to phone him in France rather late at night where he was lying in bed ill with a vomiting bug, and deliver the bad news. He is of course bitterly disappointed, and we quite frankly feel it is Oxford’s loss as he is a very good candidate. A double scholar at his school (academics and music), a brilliant sportsman, and a boy who has always given his best and achieved great results. But it was not to be and so last night I felt relieved that the waiting was over and we now move onwards and upwards. He has had offers from other top universities and we are sure he will be successful wherever he goes. Interestingly, one of his offers is from UCL which ranks equal with Oxford globally. His teachers have been brilliant, they are shocked he was not offered a place and we have got many lovely emails from them saying just that. Surprisingly this year many brilliant candidates (Adam’s friends currently at school) failed to get offers from Oxford, and I have heard the same news from other friends at other, dare I say it, private schools. There is a quota system in place and it has not worked in his favour. Oxford is quite different to Cambridge in that the interview at Oxford is considered most important, so you can get in without achieving the very best grades, whereas at Cambridge it is all about grades and only the very best grades are accepted. Luke had all the top grades and found the entrance exam very easy, but they obviously did not think he was a good enough candidate at the interview.

 In light of what happened in France yesterday, and how those families must be feeling, this is all trivial stuff. So these flowers are for the fallen in Paris, (and also for Luke)