Sunday muddy Sunday

Phenomenal rain here in Essex, and, I gather, other parts of the country. One of those days where the sun shines beautifully for ten minutes and then the sky goes black and roads are flooded within seconds. Out here in the countryside, it's all mud and flood. Or flood and mud, I suppose, is a more chronologically correct description.

I didn't mention my trip to a school in Chigwell on Friday, to do mock interviews (again). I had a mix of applicants for subjects as diverse as journalism, chemistry, history and business studies (why does anyone want to do business studies as a degree ... or journalism for that matter?)

This is a school based in the heart of the nouveau riche Essex/London suburbs - think builders made good, taxi drivers and small scale business people. It may well be where hair straighteners were invented - I'm sure I saw a Blue Plaque to that effect - and it certainly boasts a proliferation of nail bars. The car park is full of flash but youthful cars - belonging to the kids, not the teachers. (Incidentally our car is in the picture above; I'll leave you to guess which one it is).

Many of my interviewees don't really seem to know why they are applying to university. One tells me her friend has three conditional offers and yet she has none, and then says, very quietly, "Can I ask you a question? What is a conditional offer?" Bless her. Meanwhile my last applicant of the day, who has applied for journalism, doesn't read a newspaper (although this was a better answer than the one I expected - I thought she might tell me that she reads the Daily Mail). She doesn't know if she thinks the BBC is biased or not. She can't tell me any of the major stories in today's news. She hasn't done any work experience, although she has arranged some, with a huge media organisation, and is impressed that their portfolio includes Nutz. When I point out that she may need to do some journalistic research and perhaps even read a newspaper before her interview, she tells me she wants to be a fashion editor and it doesn't seem necessary. Which, I suppose, may be true.

Her last question is about what to wear to interview. I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to say "less fake tan" but I do try to point out that wearing such a short skirt may not be the best idea. On the other hand, for her work experience at least, it might be a ladder to the top.