THE morning after the day before …

Glasgow’s senior schoolchildren received their exam results yesterday amidst the most unusual and unfair circumstances in living memory.

To put it into context, young people in our city have sat exams in late spring and early summer for 130 consecutive years. Until 2020 came along.

It’s so unfair for them and should not be forgotten. For pupils to have worked so hard and for so long towards their exams and then have that part of the process taken away must have been heartbreaking, although it was completely understandable that exams couldn’t be held in these circumstances.

However, yesterday remained the big moment for many – the day results arrived, university and college placements were sealed and big steps were made towards employment. Elsewhere in this paper you can read of the results process and much of the controversy surrounding it, which there is plenty of. 

Yesterday and today there will have been scores of happy faces, many sad, others confused.

There’s been loads of helpful advice out there about how to deal with disappointment especially, and what’s the right way to react if you didn’t get the grades you wanted.

The truth is there’s no right or wrong way – just like your career, there’s only your way of dealing with it and your way to move forward.

Us taxi drivers are an eclectic bunch. (We’ve been called worse!) For some of us, driving is the career of choice for life, for others it’s just the latest thing they have tried and done. All taxi drivers have a unique story to tell.

From footballers and fitness instructors to bankers and business owners and public servants to publicans, we’ve all different backgrounds and have chosen our own paths – most have been completely different to those we imagined as teenagers opening our exam results.

The journey is a long one and while exam results are a critical part of any youngster’s school years, they are not the be all and end all.

Going back to advice, the one thing I can suggest young people do in the days ahead is another thing taxi drivers excel at – talk!

Talk to your parents, talk to your pals. Check in with friends who might not have done quite as well as they’d hoped. Speak with people you know in the job areas you have an interest in. Call the SQA advice line if you need practical help in line with the results you have been given.

In the future, you will look back on your exam results day and smile at how far you have come.

For now, enjoy the journey – and stay safe!