Friday
Mystery Quarry

Today we are going to our mystery quarry. We get to don the smelly vests again and tramp around the quarry on our own, using the techniques we have been refining through the week to work out the story of what happened to the rocks. As we got out of the coach, the rain began pouring down again. Experienced in the ways of Geology summer school by now, we all plunged our hands and clipboards inside the rather tatty looking plastic bags.

At the bottom level was pretty loosely consolidated sandstone. Those of us with walking boots climbed up to get a good close look. It was very loose underfoot, like on a big sand dune on the beach. Brian took a run-up and just subsided back down again as the sand slid away beneath him. Clearly, slowly and carefully is the best way. Even so, most of us slid down at some point. On to the shales. Fish fossils here. Wish I could find some but I lacked good hammering technique and didn't even manage to split a single rock. Top level was dolomite. Bit of a cheeky one that, as we hadn't covered dolomite in our course material. I was careful to keep my right hand inside the plastic bag, but by the end, the heat from my hand was steaming up the inside of the bag so I couldn't see what I was writing. What with that and the tendency of the rain to stream off the peak of my hard hat onto my notebook each time I looked down, I don't feel I really made the most of the morning.

Back in the coach to St Mary's for lunch. We sang a geological version of a song about some viking called Eric to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean". I would never have imagined myself EVER joining in a song on a coach, but here I was, all wet and muddy, singing along with eveyone else and actually enjoying it.

After lunch we returned our field kit and went back to the Lecture Hall for the Regional summary lecture. Here, everything we had been doing during the week was tied together. First, though, Paul gave out some awards. The tutors had all voted for the best limmerick and, guess what, our ammonite limmeric won. Prize - a rock. There was also a prize for our prime minister - another rock, and a special mention for our Robbie Coltrane who had so enlivened our coach journey's with his poetry and verse.

Going to summer school takes some arranging. Time off from work, people to care for the children. This was my first ever summer school and by the time I was due to go, I was wishing I had picked a course that didn't have a summer school. Once there, however, I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot. Also, it is really interesting meeting many people from so many different backgrounds. I hadn't realised what a little bubble I live in.