Archives and stuff

So where was I? On Tuesday the IWM was closed so I went out to the PRO to look up some more war diaries. I photographed all of these for J so he has a hell of a lot to work through now. Sadly I didn't get to the stuff on the fall of Cassino in May '44, so will have to visit again.

Scene 1. A new arrival to the dorm had been at the pub, so at about 2.00 am he came in and tried to find his bed. He started to climb into his allocated one (you are given numbers) when the current occupant was awoken. "Who, what, what are you doing? Who are you?" "Sorry man, you're in my bed and there are no more free." "I've been here for a week." "I'll check with reception." So he goes down to find it's impossible for all the beds to be full, then comes back and more discussion until it is revealed that earlier occupant has dropped his gear on another bunk as well. Finally we all get some sleep. The sleepy response of the bloke woken by a stranger climbing in his bed was a classic.

Scene 2. Another new arrival at the door tries his key (which works) but doesn't turn the handle hard enough to open the door which is a bit stiff. Card, handle, card, handle, card, handle, card, handle, etc about twenty times. Then he goes down to reception to have the key reprogrammed then card, handle, card, handle, card, handle, etc. I could have got up to let him in, or just told him to push harder but it was much too much fun seeing how many times he repeated the same behaviour. Eventually he found someone who pushed the door harder and we all got some sleep.

On Wednesday I got back to the IWM photo archive. First they told me that they closed on Thursdays, then announced that they were also closing early that day. All this due to lack of staff. If the overruns from the Olympic Games, or even the funding for J's ridiculous bureaucratic b.......t for the schools were applied to the IWM what a wonderful resource it would be. However, I tried to make the most of it and did find some good stuff. I had a look around the museum itself afterward as my bus didn't leave until 7:30. I would have done more sightseeing if I wasn't dragging my verdammt bags around with me. I'd like to have seen my old workplace just down the road from Victoria Station. I guess it can wait.