The Big Day has arrived!

I've had some big, bad days recently, but hopefully this will be a good one, one to mark a new and positive direction in my life: It is the first day of my Masters in creative writing course at Cardiff university. My first task will be to find room 126 in the School of English, Philosophy and Communication, no less, housed in the "John Percival Building". Google maps has helped me find it; let's hope that works.

I know how to write, write quickly sometimes when called upon to do so. I know some of the regle de Jeux of creative writing, you know, show not tell, kill your darlings, your final draft minus 10%, that sort of thing. I have even put one or two half-way decent short stories and travel writing pieces together. But can I learn to write really well, produce something of real depth? It remains to be seen.

I'll admit to feeling a bit scared. After all, it's been a cool 42 years since I was last a student, and I fancy things may have changed a little in the interim. When I went to collect my student card, essential shibboleth to enable anything to happen on campus, I was given a number and told to wait until it came up on a big board. I was given the number 032. The number on the board was 705. Nearly three hours passed before my number came up. I felt most sorry for the processors, just six of them to deal with a massive student body, at least 75% of whol did not hail originally from the UK as far as I could make out. But I was impressed by the general atmosphere of calm that prevailed among the students. Nobody lost their cool and started shouting, although clearly many had complex visa or other administrative issues to grapple with. Most occupied their time by staring at their mobile phones, though some did engage in actual conversation with their peers. That's a good sign, right?