ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, well, I guess it kinda makes sense, all the info you need is on the website, there was a lovely big blue book that necessitated a lovely big fat envelope. Not even the amount?? Last year they detailed all that too - I kept coming down to read it in the middle of the night to make sure I hadn't dreamt it lol lol lol. It also took a few days to stop getting waves of nausea everytime the post came.

I just can't believe this though - awwww crap - its gonna make opening it a million times worse - good job you told us though or I wouldn't have bothered and who knows... lol

Congrats again, really really happy for you

We can still call it the FLoJ, its just that its been on a diet since last year

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! Woooohoooooooooooooooooooooo (damn, not a smiley enough smiley!!!)

Evil, evil AHRC - that is just mean!!!! To change it so we don't know whether to open or not - that is just pure cruelty lol - love that it was good news for you though!!! So, did you get the handbook?? What did it say? Last year successfuls had a load of stuff, acceptance form, rejection form, big blue book!

Yayyyyy, so so pleased for you!!!!!!!!!!

Love them soarus!!! as I always say, a break should be taken every 100 words Ok, with a 20K work dissertation in progress it may take a while, but hey, wouldn't want burn out
Speaking of which - 13K down, 7K to go, better push on, my supervisor goes on holiday on the 18th and he wants to see the entire draft for comment before he goes - NOOOOOOO pressure!!

Hello Dervish - another possessor of 3 sprogs here Its just brightens up their summer holiday no end having a parent screeching that it is impossible to write with them continually bickering and also who has developed a twitch (I'm sure) and an unhealthy preoccupation with the postman!

Well, if they are promising that this year the results will be out by the end of August then hopefully it won't be such a big issue - it still makes decision making very hard! I'm not sure about north of the border but most courses start the first week in Oct, and the first installment is paid then also - they don't issue funds until that time.
Woohooo for one FLoJ! It must be so hard for you though pamplemoose At least the AHRC make it nice and easy to know whether or not to open - a FLoJ is a stonking great thick A4 envelope that lands with a resounding crash on the doormat - the TLoD - well, you've seen one of them

Last year I suffered the panic of wondering if I was the last person who hadn't received their letter - it was finding the forums that put my mind at rest within about 30 seconds seeing that nobody else had either! I haven't seen a single FLoJ yet on any of the forums or on facebook - maybe they haven't sent them yet? As you say though, we are a very small group and there are over 3K applicants - maybe somewhere out there somebody is hugging their postman!
Last year they would say nothing over the phone until mid september. It was only then that the word got around that they were allowing phone calls - normally simply stating whether or not a letter had been generated, but in one instance I remember telling the decision - what might be referred to as a phone call of doom - they also mentioned that they'd seen the upset on the forum....

Nothing here - just plucked up the courage to check behind the door curtain and not even a utility bill to get my heart rate going! Its rarely any later than this so I may well have a day off of post.

Pamplemoose - so sorry to hear about your husband - totally gutting - is he ok?

Nothing here... hubby just came through waving a small, thin letter and I welled up - but it wasn't from AHRC - phew!!

I had nightmares last night too - awful ones - I think the stress is getting to me - mine also involved the AHRC, but also someone shredding my dissertation and smashing my computer. Hmmmmmm I'm sure it wouldn't take a dream analyst to work out the things bothering me right now

Thanks, and to you too!! Sigh, I just wish that I could afford to do this another way, then ok, this would still be a nightmare - but somehow it might not feel so bad.... *note to self - remember to buy lottery ticket*
I do have another scholarship lined up, but its not enough to live on sadly - I don't know, I'm sure I'd find a way to muddle through, but my family have sacrificed so much for me to do this - with AHRC funding things would be so much easier for me and them - I dont want to have them going without so that I can do what I want to do.

I do agree, for me its the financial side, because that finance will allow me to have the career and the life that I want to have rather than as it has been.
In short I'm 38, I have 3 young children, my husband does not have a high income, its certainly not enough to run a home and family singlehanded. I got very sick a few years back and went to college part time in the evening simply to do something with my brain - which was fine - it was the flesh that was week. From there is snowballed - the A levels went extremely well and I was advised to apply to go to university - it had never once crossed my mind in years of dead end jobs. Uni went far better than I could have dreamed - and I find myself now looking at the possibility of a Phd and a job in academia - my dream position - but without funding....

I think you may be right there - although the stress..... I'm trying to concentrate on getting my dissertation written and find myself distracted terribly. I know that worrying does no good, the decision is made and its just a case of waiting - but the waiting....

There was a very soft plop on the mat this morning - I didn't dare look for ages - it was a couple of leaflets - so whether the post has actually arrived or not, or whether there will be any today I don't know - I must start having calming thoughts

I'm still waiting for the post.... I hope I get a load of big fat letters - well, one at least - a nice one.... I just hate hearing the post landing - you can tell the soft plop of a thin letter compared with the big plop. Sigh, why do we do this to ourselves???

Yes, it is a very good name isn't it - as is the FLoJ - I do hope whoever named them got their award - they certainly deserve it!

Yay, it is - Alice is back - woohooo!
Its like AHRC 2008 - The Nightmare Returns! Old names coming up again - feels like a reunion party