Last week, it was school trip time for me and my fellow students on the Glasgow Caledonian TV Fiction Writing course.

First up, we headed to my old stomping ground of Greenock, which is now home to the fictional TV school, Waterloo Road. We were there to get background detail for our class assignment on writing what we call a 'scene-by-scene' for the recently broadcast last episode of the show.

It was strange to be back. I did my first ever teaching practice here at Greenock Academy as an 18-year-old trainee PE teacher in the late 1960s when the building was brand new.

As a former pupil of Greenock High School, the Academy was our arch rival. I used to play hockey against them regularly and remember thinking when I went there in teaching practice how odd it was to be going down to Greenock's Battery Park turning out seven elevens for hockey for what was the opposition. Usually in the pouring rain!

I don't recall ever seeing the inside of the staffroom as the head teacher at that time, a Mrs McKechnie, was one very scary lady.

Strolling through the corridors and rooms of classroom sets with sudden gestured halts for filming, we got a feel for the fictional school. 

We clocked 'deputy head', Mr. Simon Mosley and stroppy Rhiannon, but I was disappointed not to meet Dynasty - my favourite character. 

To make up for this disappointment, I had another date with Dynasty lined up as my journalist friend, Fiona Black, had teed me up as her dancing partner at the very glittery Dynasty Ball.

The Dynasty Ball has been an annual fixture on the Glasgow glitterati calendar since the 1980s. It was started by the late Rita Madhok, known to millions as 'Darlinda', the Sunday Mail's one-time resident astrologer and psychic.

So far, Darlinda's Charity for Renal Research has raised over a million pounds for Glasgow Western Infirmary's Renal Unit, which also treated Rita before she died at the age of just 55 from complications arising from kidney failure. 

After a briefing by Fiona, who has worked in the media in Scotland for more years than she cares to remember - and who knows everyone there is to know, I was fully cranked up for a celebrity evening with Glasgow's glitterati.  

My faith was not misplaced... and now thanks to Fiona, I have an everlasting memory of Rangers manager, Ally McCoist, breakdancing on the dancefloor with Janette Krankie. And how can I forget the description which Ms Krankie then gave assembled guests of Dick McWhittington, the panto in which she's starring this year at the SECC with 'Mr' Krankie and John Barrowman?

Apparently 'the cat gets into bed with someone' who us 'a bit of pussy'. Dear God. It's panto for the Shameless generation!

I also went to see Liz Lochhead's play, Misery Guts, performed at the The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland by final year students. I presume it wasn't funded by Creative Scotland, as they got a real verbal bashing as did the Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon show. Liz has reworked her 2002 re-written version of Moliere's Misanthrope for a post-Independence Scotland.

Even though I've met her before, I was frightened to say hello in case she thought I was a sycophant. I didn't want to ignore her either in case I seemed stand-offish. So I introduce myself, and judging by her reaction, I must have fitted one of the bills described!

This week, I got a decent mark for the essay I was fretting over a few weeks ago. I also had my assessment and no, it's not a one-to-one, or a written assessment. It's an audio crit. 

The way it works is that I log into my learning website and the lecturer gets into my bed in the comfort of my own room.

While I snooze off, she talks to me through the laptop and tells me how I did and what I need to do better. 

I shouldn't be surprised at any of this as in this week's lecture, she informed us we are cyborgs. I hope my friends will still recognise me, or at least will find me as I move through cyberspace. 

We now have another essay and we're being catapulted back into cyberspace as the subject is 'multi-platforms' and before you ask, they are not in the North Sea.

In a week of television swamped by Dr. Who, our tutors must be salivating. The shelves in the library are filled with Dr Who material. I remember watching the original Dalek episodes and that was that. My relationship with Dr Who ended.

I have to admire Dr Who's longevity though as well as its enduring success. This week, we were paid a visit by former Head of Continuing Drama at BBC, Mal Young, who worked as a producer of Dr Who in the 1980's. 

He went on to create and write on several long-running series, such as Brookside, Doctors, Casualty and Eastenders. He now works mainly in America, so it was inspiring to hear his stories.

To top the week off, we MA students had an official reception at STV in our honour to receive scholarship certificates from our sponsors - in my case, Eileen Gallagher and Ann McManus of Shed Media, the makers of Waterloo Road, Footballers' Wives and several other high profile TV dramas. 

Guests included, Mal Young, Chris Aird, Head of Drama at BBC; Elizabeth Partyka, Deputy Director of Channels at STV, who delivered the welcome address; Eileen Gallagher, Ann McManus and Brian Park of Shed Media; Jess Moore of Warner Bros.; Henry Swindell, Producer, BBC Writersroom; Libby McArthur, actress, River City; Amanda Millen, Director, ScreenHI and scriptwriter, MA TV Fiction Writing graduate, Mark Stevenson and well known writer Marc Pye.

I also met the Gaelic translator for the Katie Morag CBEEBIES shows!

Such was the hospitality at STV, there was some concern we'd all make it in next morning for a three-hour lecture with BBC Writers Room. 

My younger counterparts were sure I wouldn't - but that was never on the cards. They may be young, but I am experienced. You could say I am an old queen from the Drinks Dynasty!