The River Frome in Dorchester

Dear Readers, I am powering on with my revision, and I now have numerous mind-maps that are becoming more and more complicated as I think of new connections and new colours and new linkages. I feel as if I’m making good progress, but I’ve also discovered that, unlike days of yore when I could study for hours, two hours at a time is about my limit. Still, I’m sure that two concentrated hours is better than four hours of ‘messing about’ (technical term) so hopefully it will be enough.

Currently I’m revising the block of the course that dealt with water, with all its many complications. For one thing, water has that annoying habit of moving, so who owns it is often contentious, even more so when it’s the Nile or the Danube and moves through many countries on its way to the sea. Then there’s the historical context to consider – when the British were in charge of Egypt, for example, they forbade any of the other countries along the route to take any water from the Nile, even though the Blue Nile arises as far away as Ethiopia. Then there are people damming rivers and diverting them and polluting them and overfishing them. And then there’s the whole issue of sanitation, which is intrinsically linked to water supply and pollution and health.

No wonder two hours concentrated study is enough, though it’s fascinating stuff. And there’s so much I didn’t know. Sanitation is actually a bigger problem than water supply, because lots of people are prepared to donate for a water pump, but not so many are happy to put their names to a compostable toilet. And so, girls in many developing countries have to risk being raped when they have to go out into the countryside at night to spend a penny. Environmental issues are so often complicated, interrelated and subject to cultural and social factors.

I have really loved this course, with its interdisciplinary focus and wide range of things to think about. But from October it will be back to hard science. I am loving the variety of this Open degree. Two more years to go! And then what? I can’t imagine not studying something. Let’s see where we get to.