William Reskimer, drawing c. 1532–33 and portrait c. 1532- 4, by Hans Holbein the Younger. My final of my cartoons from "things I overheard while visiting Charles I: King and Collector. " |
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Remember - if you find a set of keys, it's a good idea to check if someone is around and using them before you secure them.
or Staff who get locked in cupboards soon remember to keep their keys secure. To provide a bit of context, the area at the bottom of a set of stairs was often used to leave pushchairs, rather than walking to the lift and using the lift, or taking the pushchairs upstairs.
This not only blocked a fire escape (to the degree that some people would "tuck out of the way", actually inside the alcove of the fire escape door) but also presented a safety risk (leaving unattended, unidentified bags in a busy public venue) a "we're not responsible for your stuff being nicked" risk, and sometimes prevented people accessing art and exhibition panels when they were mounted on the walls in this space. Signs were either willfully or obliviously ignored, often with minor panic when people were then informed that their pushchair was now relocated, to a safe place, outside the building. The second the manager walked out, the shelf dropped.
It wasn't the heavy object which caused the glass shelf to drop, rather the final, delicate, finishing touch being placed atop it. Good news is that although the display content and shelf both dropped, both remained wholly intact, providing a sudden but valuable lesson in always double checking how secure your adjustable shelves are before you start work! While on a guided tour of a cemetery, the tour guide was momentarily distracted by a cat. She then explained that they often see cats, due to the amount of wildlife they can catch in an otherwise urban area.
The stray cat they had previously sort of adopted was sadly run over. After I asked, it was admitted that it was was quietly buried in corner of the otherwise very very expensive plots - "staff privilege". He had all of the kit - which she was carrying. Every five minutes he'd be lying full length on the floor to get the best angle he could for a photo. I'm amazed how long her patience lasted before she started to threaten him.
After we saw this happen, my travelling companion and I pondered if the fault was with the exhibition design, graphic design and/or copy writing... and well... There were clear and large panels either side of the object, offering both long hand and bullet points, and also illustrations. A great deal of effort had been spent to make it clear that although it looked like one, this was not a sarcophagus.
The visitors couldn't have not seen those panels given the time they took around the object, and if the long hand looked too much like a wall of text for them, they had the option of the bullet points, or drawn illustrations which showed the object in use. The gent's tone of voice and (longer than quoted here) questioning, implied frustration at a lack of explanation, rather than confusion over the very clear explanation given. We concluded that they are perhaps among that pool of inevitable visitors who are genuinely able to reach around a Do Not Touch sign, and touch something, without having ever realised they have been in contact with a Do Not Touch sign. |
Webcomic and occasional blog about the heritage sector.
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January 2018
AuthorAll text and images are produced by and copyright of the artist, holder of the domain name of attendantsview.com |