It never gets easy

Personal, The Cat, ,

There have been cats in this house since 1997. We made it a policy to adopt or foster, from our local Cats Protection homing centre, cats other people tended not to want because the moggies were old, or missing limbs or eyes, or had other infirmities.

Our first cat was Misty. She was a lovely silver-grey tabby, but was withdrawn and aggressive. Paul spent weeks, during his lunch hour, visiting the shelter to gain Misty’s trust. It transpired she was deaf, and the other cats in the shelter would bully her. It was no surprise, then, she had gone into her shell. We were allowed to home her, and once she was here she blossomed into a beautiful furry friend. Her purring rattled tea cups!

Eventually, as such things go, Misty died. Almost immediately, we went back to the adoption centre “to be chosen again”. This time, an absolute unit called Tom stole our hearts. He was a large black and white cat, with front legs like a British Bulldog, with his back legs bringing up the rear like a pantomime cow. One eye had been lost, but he could see well enough with the remaining one. He was also diabetic, and needed insulin injections. He also made it quite plain he liked the look of us, and he duly found his way to our home.

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Curator’s Corner at the British Museum

Art & Design, History & Research, , ,

I mentioned the British Museum’s YouTube channel in my last post, in a sort of desultory fashion. One of my favourite things is Curator’s Corner. The museum publishes the Corner in “seasons”, and we are in Season 10 at the moment. Do go and have a gander. Essentially, one of the museum’s curating staff is given 15 minutes or so to talk about their favourite pieces.

As I type, the latest video in the Corner is about some of the Sutton Hoo treasures, and how they reveal Anglo Saxon links to far corners of the world in the 6th century BCE.

Why did no-one tell me?

Art & Design, History & Research, Personal, , ,

I have been discovering new channels – new to me, at least – on YouTube. I have been much taken, for example, by a couple of large and well-known museums that have embraced video to allow somewhat deeper explanation of their collections.

Part of what I enjoy about such channels is the care and attention that objects receive when undergoing conservation. I watched one video from the Victoria & Albert museum where a conservator worked on gently repairing an 18th century fan. I wanted to share it with you, but I can’t, oddly, find the video on the channel now. You will have to make do with this video instead, where a portrait is being carefully removed from a modern frame.

You can see a whole load more videos like this on the V&A YouTube channel. In fact, the missing fan video has now resurfaced. Here it is:

The British Museum also has a channel.

Watching these videos is something I find relaxing and educational. Often, the thought strikes me conservation and restoration is just the kind of work I would love to be involved with.

Yet, when I was at school, back in the 1970s, careers guidance never mentioned “museum conservation”. It was office work, typist, accountant, hair dresser, car mechanic, the armed forces… The thought of steering my educational qualifications towards becoming a conservator would never have entered my head. I had no inkling that such a career even existed. A whole different life might have been mapped out for me if I had known.

I now find, at my advancing age, that I am disappointed I won’t get to be a museum conservator. I will have to make do with the careful repair and restoration of models I manage to break instead!

Second Class Posts

Personal, Wittering, ,

I had high hopes for this blog. Sadly, events this past couple of years have rather conspired against me. I find I am left without much inspiration.

I did make a short list of likely topics for interesting posts. The hope was it would inspire me to write stuff.

It didn’t happen.

What I didn’t want to do – and will continue to avoid at all costs – was to start posting about the state of the world and our species. I wanted to keep things light, posts about hobbies, travel, that sort of thing.

It seems I just can’t find the spark to write anything at the moment.

Perhaps bereavement, and sorting Life™ out after such events, has taken more of a toll on me than I thought.

All that to say I’m still around. Perhaps the spark will fire off in due course. I hope it’s soon.

Grief

Personal,

I saw this a while ago as it zipped past in my social media feed. I forget the actual wording, but my paraphrasing gives the idea.

Grief is not so much for the life lost
as for the living that now won’t happen.

This coming weekend, my family will be holding a gathering. We will be enjoying company, food, drink, and remembering my Dad and Paul. I expect there will be tears as well as laughter.