It's Always More Complicated

So much wrong with his take on this, even taking into account all the things the British Museum has on its crime sheet: Theft isn’t the only problem facing the cash-strapped British Museum – and I have some answers

Yes, and they are RONG and Point Thahr, Misst.

Museums are essentially phoney. Few of their objects were made for them but rather to be owned, used, enjoyed and traded. They were not meant to be wrenched from their context by fair means or foul, then put in a glass case or buried in giant state hoards, most of them never again to see the light of day.

The whole ecology of the museum sector in the USA is different - Partner and I were discussing this and the role of Boards of Trustees who are themselves major collectors who maybe will donate when they pop off over breakfast a few weeks ago - and I do not think this is anything to emulate:

Dynamic museums in the US, like the Kimble Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, are switching to buying and selling to update their collections, a process known as “progressive deaccessioning”. In 2017, the UK’s own culture department published a report that questioned whether “effective collections management can be truly effective and efficient without some disposals”.

A more immediate source of funds is surely beyond argument. Free entry to the museum, except for special exhibitions, is not a moral issue but rather a device to keep its grant as a top visitor attraction. The New York Met now charges $30, the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum €22.50 and the Louvre €17. Are they immoral? Deals can be done for children and students, but free museum entry is simply a generous donation by British taxpayers, mostly to foreign tourists.

Bring back, I say, those fine Victorian Values of improving the populace with Art and Culture, absolutely free.

As I have probably already remarked, what needs funding is the invisible unglamorous work.

Because I'm still working on Heavy Ice, even with the journeying yesterday, as whenever there was a possibility of wifi I was trying to get online and see if the email confirming my shuttle reservation had arrived (it never did. I got emails saying it had been sent.)

Other travails of travel: trying to find one's way with one's suitcase to one's hotel in a strange city, without Google Maps, because not turning on data-via-phone, and streets which could be better marked. Also, person who I asked who gave me directions that would have been appropriate had I been in a car but were totally ridiculous for a pedestrian (I later discovered I just needed to backtrack 2-3 blocks and turn right...): SIGH.

And further on crap signage, the university campus Could Do Better, but have now more or less got myself orientated.

Also, have been being Little Miss Fussy at B&B over room - I really do not think a small high-up window without blind or curtain, more or less over the bed, into which a street-light shines even before the dawn comes up like thunder, is a sensible design feature. Am now in a room which I think may work for That Pernickety Englishwoman...

And on being an Englishwoman, voici the benefits of always having an umbrella about me: it is showery here in Hoosier country.

Does taking a nose-dive into the archives - once I'd found the building, which was not where I thought I'd left it on previous visit - count as reading? I suspect the wee baby archives assistant is not best pleased at my arrival, as I am doing my best to dash through stuff during a brief visit.

Also, have had a nice meal with a margarita to it and feeling a little more in charity towards the world.

And I was already out of charity with charity shops after the preceding one I'd been in had completely run out of change and kept me hanging around while, I suspect, they nipped next door to see if anyone could change a tenner.

And then I went into another one and found two books I was prepared to take a punt on at that sort of price, and moseyed up to the cashdesk with the exact money in hand, and found myself stuck behind that situation which is someone who is apparently in the process of paying for something - i.e. there is a something on the counter and the volunteer behind it is looking noticeably patient, while the person whom we presume to be making the purchase is making a great production of finding their purse.

And when this is finally brought to light, they spot something else on a counter display that they think they might like -

And really, I would have fumed a whole lot more, had it not been that this extended delay in making my own purchase gave me ample opportunity to admire the elaborate and beautiful henna patterns on the volunteer's hands and forearms - quite spectacular.

I really recently discovered that PC World/Currys had been blithely taking a monthly bite out of my bank account for an extended warranty thinggy I never actually signed up for in respect of my Nexus Tablet.

When I purchased same - which I did from the PC World near work since I wanted to see one before committing - I resisted (so I thought) the attempt to upsell me on special product support, which is the kind of thing regularly flagged up in Which as a ripoff, and did not complete the direct debit form they put in front of me. I have certainly never got any documentation as to the benefits I might be receiving from this support.

Possibly I might have noticed this sooner if I was going through my monthly bank statements checking off things in my chequebook rather than managing my account online? Anyhow, I noticed a month or so ago a payment on my account of £3 that I didn't recognise, but didn't at that point fret because it sometimes happens that I will make some one-off payment and temporarily forget what it was, and then realise that, no, it was perfectly legit.

But then I saw it again this month, and looked back and saw that it had been coming up regularly for some months, and did a bit of googling, and it is a Known Thing.

I rang them up today and they cancelled it without any havering or vexacious inquisition when I said I'd never signed up for it, which suggested to me that this is something that is happening all the time and they have a set routine. But they also said that I should take it up with the branch where I bought it.

But this has been going on for at least several years.