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Visitors are reminded not to eat in the galleries. The staff may attack you for your food.
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Handy Gallery Attendant tip: Know who to blame, er, call...

30/7/2014

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There is currently only one route to our venue, due to extensive roadworks.
That one route now has a broken down lorry in it, waiting for a vehicle breakdown bloke.
The roadwork minions won't move any of the cones or fences for people to drive around it, or turn their cars around.

The phone is a bit busy as visitors stuck at the back of the line of traffic want to know what on earth is going on, and no roadwork minions will explain the situation to them.

Luckily, we've really enjoyed handing out the contact details for the company behind the roadworks, so complaints about the attitude of their staff can be sent directly to them.

Handy Gallery Attendant tip #18
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Crossed wires

24/7/2014

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A customer calls with a question about a visit and asks:

Mum: "Do you have any pictures of the venue on your website?"
Me: "Yes, are you on it now?"
Mum: "I'm looking at it, it's where I found your number."
In the background, for all of the next stage of the conversation, can be heard a plaintive and persistent "mum? mum?... mum?... Mum!" throughout which the mother stoically carries on.
Me: Gives instructions for what to look for and click on
Mum: Asks some questions to clarify, mutters to self.
Background: "mum?.. Mum!" 
Repeat this about 3 times.
Background: "MUM! YOU'RE ON THE WRONG WEBSITE! THAT'S WHY YOU CAN'T FIND ANYTHING!"
Mum: ...Would you mind speaking with my son?...

Conversation with teenager fixes everything in a couple of seconds.



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Lack of cartoons...

24/7/2014

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There haven't been as many cartoons going up lately, because life is so hectic it's hard to even manage a lunchtime scrawl!

I keep reminding myself to not complain, and that I'm finally getting the chance to work on the kind of projects I've always wanted to, but jeepers, is it demanding.

Be assured though that stupid or amusing things are still be said and done by staff, our visitors continue to be a source of concern/humour/heart warming moments, and there are still stories being fed to me from outside my immediate workplace. 

It's all being logged for future use!

If you drop by here and there's nothing new, check out my tumblr feed as well - because that's a quick and easy way for me to find and share other people's content, and I'm popping pictures from the archives up there as well. 
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Enjoy a trip around the UK's Anglican cathedrals. An unconventional one.

15/7/2014

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"Hopefully this blog will help to promote the outstanding cathedrals we have in this country, many of which are currently suffering financially and need thousands of pounds a day just to keep their doors open. The thought of cathedrals such as Ely, Lincoln and Wells closing almost brings tears to the eyes."
The blog in question? 
Cathedral-Licking Diary
Of course...

If you want a good guide to the Anglican cathedrals of the UK, then this is one which comes, unusually, with occasional tasting notes. After Lawrence Edmonds entered a bet with a mate that he couldn't lick every Anglican cathedral in the United Kingdom within 5 years, he set out to do it. The end result is a fantastically well written travel blog which is a delight to read.

You get facts about the importance of certain cathedrals and their history (Lady Godiva is buried at Coventry), architectural comments (Down Cathedral is incredibly spiky) recommendations (Liverpool is a must for all cathedral perverts) and amusing asides about the adventures he got up to (risking railway fines, young hooligans and confused tourists)

This blog has been bookmarked on my lunchtime list of light reads for a while, and I heartily suggest it for fans of cathedrals, history, travel or just mild humour in a Great British style.

Dip in and out, or start as his challenge was accepted, either way, you'll root for Lawrence all the way and inevitably add more places to your 'must-see' list.
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I'm not angry, I'm disappoi... ok, I'm a little angry.

7/7/2014

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One of our roughly six months old, shiny, lovely feature display cabinets, has been purposely scratched all over one of the clear perspex panels. Just big whirling loops of scratched random mess. All over the front panel. Not even graffiti or a tag, just swirls which go high enough that at least a teenager must have purposely done it.

Due to the cabinet construction, that means replacing the entire vitrine.
I now have a date with a packet of Foxe's Ginger Crunch Creams.
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Woof.

4/7/2014

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This came form a fan: Phone call query (bear in mind we're a transport museum): 'Hello, could you tell me where your nearest dog show is?' What now?
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Aldwych Tube Station tour - secrets, priceless treasure and film nerd heaven

3/7/2014

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Through barred and dirty doors, across mausoleum quiet lobbies, and down, down winding stairs to a monument of human ambition fallen foul of progress.

 I was recently fortunate enough* to go on one of London Transport Museum's rare tours of the abandoned Aldwych Underground station, originally known as Strand. Why an abandoned tube station? Well, it's a beautiful little time capsule to another age of design, site of many well known film and tv scenes, and a we got a very good little tour giving insights into how the Underground was originally run.

Click on pictures for larger views, and on "Read More" for more images and info.

Read More
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