Go West (Africa)

As promised, I've reported back to you, immediately after finishing my assignment on Pugin; I just didn't intend for it to take so long. I've been having a tough time this past month, so found it hard to motivate myself to get the reading done; then once I had done the reading, the Job Centre decided to start me on a 'Mandatory Work Placement' which means I've not had time to do the writing. I eventually finished it this afternoon - it's a day late, but fortunately my tutor is on holiday.


I've decided I'm not even going to bother with the chapters about Ireland or Shostakovich. Instead, I'm moving straight on to Book 3 and the two chapters about Benin in West Africa, then TMA05.


Something I did manage to do, last weekend, was to set up my own website where I hope to make money from writing poems and short stories. Please visit my website and let me know what you think... in fact, better still - why not place an order?

Go West (Country)

I'm going to start this post with an apology. I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog for over a month. There... done!

Now on to the news of my studies over the past five weeks or so. I've finished and submitted TMA03 - the one about Dalai Lama and Plato. I also got my result for TMA02 - a rather pleasing 80%.

Even though I haven't written anything on here, I have done plenty of studying. I worked through the chapter about The Faber Book of Beasts and read most of the poems in the book. I also contributed to the OU forum (an experience I won't be repeating too often, if I can help it).

I've also managed to write a few poems and a story or two, although not as many as I would have liked. One of the poems, did however, manage to win me a box set of 'Game of Thrones' books and DVDs. To win, I had to say who my favourite character from the series was, and why. Having never read nor watched any of the series, I had absolutely no idea, but twenty minutes of research was all I needed to come up with this:

Who is my favourite character
That appears in 'Game of Thrones'
Somebody from House of Tully
Or Greyjoy, or Baratheon?
No... I think I'll have to choose
One of the Stark's instead
And who's the daddy of them all?
It's Eddard (known as Ned)
Honour and justice the noble traits
Of the Warden of the North
And best of all, on television
He's played by Bean of course!

 I have also received two read and review books (which I haven't even opened yet), so the next few weeks are going to be just as busy.

As for the next step in my study journey. I've just finished reading the chapter about Tradition and Dissent in English Christianity and am just about to start reading about Pugin, ready for TMA04 which is about St Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham (the other option is Shostakovich; a chapter I don't even intend to read).  

I'll report back after my virtual visit to the 'West Country'.

Gazetteers and References

I didn't read as much as I wanted last night so I've still not moved onto Faraday (I will eventually... Honest). I was thinking about what to do on Saturday after the Induction Event at Leeds University. I've no money left (apart from the £5 I've put on one side for my bus ticket), so I won't be shopping. The event will finish around 12.15pm which leaves the rest of the day clear, and as I will have a 'Day Ticket' for the buses, I might as well get some use out of it.

I decided to start by looking at the Gazetteers on the AA100 website. They list locations around the country to see examples of works I will be studying throughout the course. After a bit of scrolling and clicking I've discovered that there is a great example of Pugin's architecture at St Anne's Catholic Church in Keighley, and examples of Benin art in the Leeds City Museum (there are others at the Leeds Discovery Centre, but this is only for pre-booked tours). I can't decide whether I should visit any of these or leave them until I'm actually studying them (possibly on the same day as a tutorial).

As I was scrolling through the coming weeks I discovered that NONE of the Ancient Sacred Sites, Roman Villa Sites or Eighteenth Century Houses listed on the website are within West Yorkshire. The nearest being in York, which although only another hour by bus would be another £6! I think a bit more research might be required to find something similar locally.


I also spent a little time today working through the online activities for using the Harvard Referencing System, and then followed this up by adding some references to my pre-prepared assignment and advising someone on the AA100 Facebook page. Now back to my reading...