The last Day

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I felt rather icky this morning, despite which I was awake quite a bit before the alarm. Had a shower, the last one in that funny little Roca shower (first time I've seen Roca in this country) with no shower mat. Got dry, dressed, packed the few remaining things, and went out for breakfast. Not once this week have I managed to get that damn heated towel rail working, and now this morning I realised that there is a button on the side that switches it on. Rats!

Had breakfast with Margaret and Grace, and we reflected on how the course went. Pam said to me earlier in the week that the field trip and the biology had been her highlights, and therefore that things had gone downhill since then. I've been up and down this week, with great days following less great days, but I guess that's the point of a general science residential like this, it's to help you to focus your mind on your specialities.

After breakfast I went back to the room, discovered that I had left my plastic coat hangers in the wardrobe. Hastily retrieved those, repacked the hand luggage case, and before long it was time to pop my key, keyring and electronic door fob (that looks like the one I have for work) into the A5 return envelope.

I went downstairs into the fresh air and waited for Kirsten, who appeared at about 8.50am looking remarkably together. How she's managed to look human this week when everyone else would have been hung over is beyond me.

She had parked her enormous Land Rover just by the next block of Swanborough, and so after dashing back upstairs to grab my keys, I hauled my suitcases into the back of it, and dropped my key off.

We sat in the Land Rover for a while and chatted, just this and that, killing time really. A little bit of gossip about a student (Caroline) who allegedly snogged a tutor last night, but in hindsight I'm not sure I can quite believe it. Not that it's been a holiday, but it felt a bit like the last day of a holiday, when you've checked out and you know you have a few hours to twiddle your thumbs before you fly home.

Eventually 9.15am came around, and Kirsten drove us to the car park closest to Pevensey I. We got out, and went up to our group room. There were many very hung-over looking faces; Steven apparently got home at 5am. I don't know how he does it. Perhaps because he's a teacher, he has to be relatively self-restrained all year but when the holidays or a break away from the regular routine comes around, he goes mad. It would certainly explain a few things.

We had a session on how to write up a scientific experiment, and to illustrate it we did an experiment to measure how the length of a pendulum varied the period of the swing. It was all very worthy, but to be honest, looking around the room it was clear that most of us simply wanted to get going on our long journeys.

Had a nice long coffee break in a room in Pevensey I (haven't seen that room before) which overlooked the Meeting House, and Kirsten, Margaret and I chatted with David Bard about how the week had gone.

In the remaining session we got our certificates of attendance. I don't think I've ever been so happy to get a scrappy bit of paper with an official stamp on it before. I've done it, it's over.

Afterwards David handed out the ECAs, which took the shine off the proceedings a little, but it's the necessary evil to prove to the OU that we have actually achieved something other than simply increased the number of pints we can drink in one sitting.

We skimmed through the questions, and David pointed out how each of the activities tied in with each of the questions. It was in hindsight a good session and I know it will be good when I come to look at the ECA next week.

After that, we gave David his card and bottle of wine, and he seemed genuinely touched. I did have to try and supress a slight smirk at the thought of what the expression on his face will be when he sees it's a bottle of rosé :)

We all went outside assembled ourselves on the grass bank outside the Meeting House and had a group photograph taken. It is of course the last time that we will all be together, and I suspect most of us will never meet again, although I'm sure some Facebook friendships will follow. It was a happy but strangely poignant moment.



A student from another group walked past, and volunteered to take a photo with David Bard included in the group, which was great. The group felt a little bit more complete with him there, but no sooner was the photo taken than we were all saying our goodbyes. Neither Kirsten nor I decided to stay for lunch, instead it was off to her Land Rover for the journey into Brighton.

I tried very hard not to tap my feet or drum my fingers. Kirsten was a perfectly good driver but in just the same way that Michael J. Fox slams his foot down on the gas in Back To the Future when accelerating the Delorien to 88mph, I just wanted to get into the centre of Brighton as quickly as possible.

Thanks to her sat nav we arrived in the hilly little street where our guest house for the weekend is located, and within 3 minutes Alan had arrived too, wearing a nice new jacket. Talk about a sight for sore eyes!

It has been an amazing week. I've done some extraordinary things. I have been on top of chalk cliffs examining plant life populations, I've been on pebble beaches watching acid being dripped onto rocks. I have done geology sketches. I have looked down a microscope and seen cells in different stages of reproduction, even now a becalming and moving experience. I have identified unknown chemicals by matching their reactions. I have examined flames for spectrum emission lines. I have looked at lamps through spectroscopes and calculated the wavelengths of the light to within a single nanometre. I have worked on a research poster, been part of a team and achieved something worthwhile. And I have made some friends too.

To anyone who doubts whether they should do this course beforehand, I say do it, whilst you still can. I was nervous too, and to be nervous is healthy; if you didn't care about the course you wouldn't be nervous. But it was a superb thing, and once again I am indebted to the Open University (and to the University of Sussex too of course) for the chance to do it.