CARRICKDRIVE

How I got there

Michael Abbott

Why did I do it? Personal satisfaction  had no time whilst working at the BBC so when I retired in 2004 after a holiday as I called it – time to have a go as they say. What was I going to do I looked at a number of OU courses and eventually decided on an Open degree in Social Science.

February 2006 came upon so quickly after the books arrived for DD100 a foundation module in Social Sciences and before I knew it an exam had taken place and I was into choosing the next module.

DD205 globalisation which I found really interesting as it include climate change and how the world was interconnecting between continents and the ramifications of such connections.

DD200 Governing Europe was taken the year before the European elections which gave me an insight to the workings of Europe in Brussels and how the changes are affecting the European project – my studies coincided with the Lisbon treaty but those doing the course at the moment will have different aspects to consider with Greece and the financial situation cross the Euro Zone.

Half way now to the goal of 360 points for Honours. I needed to upgrade to level three courses for which I chose AD317 Religion – Modernity, Tradition and Change – this was not so much about the textural nature of religion as we know it – but how the differing religions co-exist in society around the world. The size of some of the pentecostal churches in South Korea and USA are staggering. Considered were the breakaways that have occurred throughout the millenia even in our own country was an interesting area discussed.

The other level 3 course was DD304 Understanding cities which was in effect a follow on to DD205 a very interesting module focusing on the mega cities throughout the world, Shanghai, Mumbai, New York, London, Sydney, Mexico and Paris. This course fully elaborated on on what we had studied on DD205 but took it to a new level – communications, influx into these large cities and how the authorities dealt with it and the citizens role in moving from what was from a rual environment. Still they come in their hundreds of thousands daily. Then there is the problem of how does the popualtion move from these cities to another country ie Mexico to USA for instance and people movement around the globe.

The final course was T215 Information Communication Technology – to be honest I did not find this particular module all that stimulating. We had some difficulty on the module with collaboration between students on a website as well as using some rather outdated software packages but in the end I reached my goal 360 points.

Michael Abbott BSc Hounours (Open) what next I do not know but will think of something in the fullness of time.

TTFN

I have been trying to think how to put this in words for a few days now, can I be humourous, struggle on that one, just be serious possible or just blog as it comes into the head – that is my usual way so here goes.

The date was 14 April and the graduation ceremony took place at Glasgow concert hall in the afternoon. Philip & Jacquie from Northampton, Matthew & Fiona from Glasgow along with my wife Margaret were able to join me. Steven, Yvonne and children were unable to attend as it was the end of the school Easter holidays but Steven posted a nice piece on my Facebook page and a congratulations card arrived shortly afterwards – I know that they were there in spirit.

Glasgow Concert Hall

Having received my gown, bit and pieces plus photos taken we had a bit of time to kill till the ceremony at 3pm. The picture shows the hall full of guests and those receiving their certificates an acknowledgement of their work.

After the usual preamble it was down to the business of the day and what an occasion the Vice-Chancellor of the Open University Martin Bean made of the afternoon he went to great lengths to encourage the guests to give their respective recipients a great Glasgow welcome.

I sat there for quite a while till it was my turn to go and I thought will they or won’t they – the Abbott rent a crowd hold back – Oh! no Oh! no they didn’t – of course the Vice-Chancellor as he had done on a number of  occasions wanted to know where the

Recieving Certificate

mob was shouting from – arrests were on going as they were loud but it was great fun – thanks to them.  So we had rapturous applause and a great Glasgow welcome for all 200 + graduates all afternoon – great fun.

The Vice Chancellor’s closing remarks hit home to quite a number of people as a way to encourage us to go forward now that we have gained our qualification in what ever discipline.

So to the gallery pictures just a few

He is not going with more  – OH! yes he is. for that you will need to go to the next post.

In strictly fashion here are the results which have not been verified by an independent adjudicator

Not sure what Jaks will publish. For me the bags seem an expensive way to grow potatoes unless you use straight garden soil. I do not think I added enough compost to the bags during the growing period. Certainly the potatoes were cleaner out of the bags. I cannot really say which were the best eaters or cookers we just ate them.

This year no competition or any test bed growing just Foremost which will be split between the garden and some large bags. I think the smaller bags are little small not allowing sufficient compost to be added.

Finally from what Jaks and Philip said when they were up last year I did not have a very good crop compared with theirs.

So a honourable draw then.

Thanks for reading.

Update from Graduation on 14 April will be next post