The Pet

The summer of 1997 was sweltering as I recall it. I was meant to be writing my MA dissertation, and working in a pub restaurant which was so hot and smelling of chip fat I barely ate anything all summer. I got very skinny. I also was having an entertaining time with friends and generally having few cares.

My plan was to get into working in museums, although even then it was pretty clear you needed to have a trust fund to do all the interning, but I decided I would volunteer at Lowestoft Museum as a start. I spent half a day a week in a wonderfully cool old building in the park, clicking visitors in and out, and checking the language school children hadn't written obscene messages in the visitors' book. Sometimes I sold a postcard.

Everyone involved was marvellously kind to me, the average age of the other volunteers was at least 60 and they asked me for all sort of views and told me some interesting stories.... My favourite was about how, when the Queen opened the new museum in the mid-80s, they had been given the protocol which was that they would present her with a gift and then she would say "oh please keep it and put it on display". So they presented her with a rare piece of Lowestoft Porcelain* worth thousands, and she said "thanks, that'll look great on the mantelpiece" (I may be paraphrasing here). I think they were still in shock. The person who told me this is certainly dead now, so I take no responsibility for checking the accuracy.

Jonny Johnstone was always lovely to me, frequently telling me about the hangover and trouble he got from his wife, after wetting my head (quite a few years earlier). The lady who lived upstairs, the widow of the park keeper (I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten her name), used to come in and bring me a cuppa and have a chat. She was easily 80 and still cleaning the museum and the bowling pavilion. She used to tell me how much her husband hated the bowlers, he thought they were fascists....

I loved it, although it didn't exactly launch my career in the museums service. They did put me forward for an FE course later on, and always asked after me when they saw my parents.

Anyway, we took in Alexander and Isaac to look at the dinosaurs (ammonites and something's tooth). The display is almost exactly the same as when I was there and it's a great mishmash of stuff in the proper tradition of local museums. I spotted this bit of homemade art and I think it's wonderful.

Day 48

*if you're reading the link: Harriet, from yesterday, is a Liffen :)