Study Day
A day without a swim is like a tortoise without his lettuice
– there is something missing and wrong with the world. Well, I went without my customary swim in the
interests of getting to Camden Town on time for the Study Day.
It turns
out that my abortive attempt to go to the wrong place on the wrong day on
Friday saved me the panic of finding out that all my so-called careful planning
would have been to no avail and then I would have had to have panicked in real
earnest when I found out that I was in Kings Cross and that the OU centre was
nowhere near!
However,
that did not happen and I got to the centre in very good time, indeed I was the
first person there – even beating the tutor though she, to be fair, had gone to
get a breakfast cup of coffee before the start.
The Day
went well and it was fascinating to hear the art choices that the other
students had made for their end of module assessments – ranging from Jeff
Koons’ Hoover vacuum cleaner to Aboriginal Art!
We were
given valuable practical advice from the tutor and the Day passed quickly and
enjoyably.
One
disturbing element was that we found out that tutors are not paid for these
Study Days, they are given expenses for travel and accommodation but not paid
for their tutoring! This was something
of a shock and is yet another example of how the OU is pressed for cash.
The cost of
a 60 module course nowadays is two thousand seven hundred quid! I was a dammned sigh more shocked to find out
that students in Northern Ireland were paying a quarter of that price! Indeed I seemed to be the only person paying
the full wack. The others were paying
‘transition’ fees as they had started their degrees within the last few years
and so were not socked with the new full amounts. I did think for one moment that I would be
eligible for lower fees as I had already started my OU studies – but it turned
out that the 70s was an era too far away to qualify!
As long as
this year goes as it should and I successfully complete the course on the
Renaissance next year, I will finally have completed my degree some forty years
after starting it! Slow and steady etc.
Swim?
I was stymied in my attempts to go for a swim after the Day
by finding that my ‘local’ pool had closed at half past five. Further enquiries elicited the response that
all other pools owned by Camden would be closed as well.
By way of
compensation I went into the concourse M&S in St Pancras and bought
whatever took my fancy for a slap up meal in the hotel room. It cost a fortune, but then what hasn’t in
London, and was delicious: smoked salmon and spicy dressed crab accompanied by
layered homous – and that was only part of it.
And part of me is appreciative of the fact that I eschewed the
opportunity to buy overpriced red wine and settled for tap water!
An earlyish
bed time and I arose, aching in every joint to greet a grey, damp depressing
day – as of course befits a British Bank Holiday.
Well, I do
not intend to spend my time on the outside, I will flee to the more comfortable
(and considerably drier) surroundings of a few of our Great Galleries!
Bring the
Culture ON!
