How much am I thinking of biting off?

The University of Bath has an all-online system for making an application, and a very friendly IT guy to sort out any glitches.

The system asks for an academic reference and copies of degree and degree transcript.  I rang up Bath and pointed out that I graduated in 1978, so most of my tutors at Bristol would be long since retired or passed on.  The admissions people were helpful and amused and said it was okay, I just needed a solid client reference or two. 

Pim has the advantage of being a doctor and a company director, so that makes him a doubly handy referee.  He argued a bit and said I already know plenty and don't need to spend a lot of time and effort learning more unless it's for fun.  So I assured him it will be fun (??) and he said okay, he would provide a reference.

Then I rang up the University of Bristol for copies of my paperwork.  They arrived the next day - very fast indeed.

Now I "just" have to write the research proposal.   The admissions lady said some people write 100 pages!!  I was thinking more in terms of 2-3 pages.  After all, when I outlined the idea to my contact person in the psychology department I took 10 minutes at most and he said it was thorough and elegant.

I really have no idea how much I am proposing to take on here in terms of scope and time.  However, it doesn't really matter because 1) I'm a volunteer - what I do or don't do is up to me, 2) whether or not I complete it, I will learn an awful lot of useful stuff along the way, 3) it will build up my knowledge in things that interest me personally and professionally and 4) I am confident that I can shape things creatively as I go.