There are some things I have to research at work that tend to drive me a bit mad. On the whole I don’t mind and, in fact, the most important criteria is that it’s different to the last thing I did. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t enjoy researching the British Government today.
Not because it’s boring but because it’s not just the one thing. For instance, if you take 1066 as a start date (and that’s not necessarily correct but possibly more expedient), you begin with the Parliament of England which sort of segued out of the Great Council. There’s no fixed date for the name change so it makes sense (in my context, anyway) to go for the earlier date.
You then have to stop at the Act of Union with Scotland in 1706 when the British Government became the Parliament of Great Britain. Both the English and Scottish parliaments were dissolved so, as far as my records are concerned, the one ends and the other begins. Then, almost 100 years later, Ireland joined in so the (Northern) Irish parliament and the relatively young Parliament of Great Britain were dissolved and the Parliament of the United Kingdom was created.
This is all fine and easy. Essentially I had to create four records and then interlink them, plonk a bit of history in the relevant field and all was done. But then, the most important thing is knowing the time period that the object or reference you are researching, falls in.
If, for instance, the object refers to the British Government of 1698 then it’s going to be the Parliament of England. This isn’t always as clear cut as that and you can’t really have a catch all British Government record so, it can get somewhat frustrating. At least the British Government is easier to research than the French one. Now that is scary!
But that was nothing when compared to Cambridge University and the many departments, colleges, laboratories, etc I had to amend or create!
After lunch, however, I was once more enjoying the world of obscure artists, publishers, photographers and lithographers which I love so much.
My day then took an interesting turn…
Sometimes, if Mirinda is coming home from the flat rather than work, she will ask me if I can pick up her laptop from the office. I have to change at Embankment anyway so it doesn’t really make a lot of difference, so I don’t mind. Of course I have to ask at reception for someone to bring it down seeing as they have no idea who I am or what I might be doing with a company laptop.
This afternoon was one of those days, so Mirinda asked if I’d mind popping in and picking it up. So, when my tube train pulled into Embankment, I went up to ground level and on to the Strand. Friday afternoon rapidly approaching the evening is a pretty busy time in London so it was with relief that I arrived at Mirinda’s office having been jostled so much I felt like a pinball buffer.
I asked the very pleasant receptionist to contact Tina…then Katie…then Ben…actually she eventually went through everyone in the team but came up empty handed every time. She left a message on Tina’s phone and suggested I wait for a bit. I picked up a coffee table book about Evolution (and written by Dr Alice Roberts) and waited.
After waiting about as long as the Australopithecines took to turn into Homo erectus, I decided to text Mirinda and ask for Tina’s mobile number. I have no idea why I didn’t do this from the first but there you go. After a bit of cross platform argy bargy I finally managed to decipher the phone number and texted her. She rang back almost before she’d had time to read my message.
She wasn’t in the office and wouldn’t be. No joy there, then. Meanwhile Mirinda had sent off text messages and emails to all parts of the globe, searching for anyone who could just get me her laptop. The only one to get back to her was Ben. He was at the Tube and rang to ask Mirinda if he should go back to work and meet me. She told him I’d left over two hours before so probably not much point.
Anyway, given my mission had proved wholly and solely unsuccessful, I headed across to Waterloo to catch the train an hour after my normal one. I had plenty of time, managed to get a coffee and a seat – the two together can sometimes be the reason for them being apart – and settled down to read. And then the heat kicked in.
OK, it’s not wildly hot but, even so, why do the train carriages have to be heated to nuclear levels? And, possibly more mysterious, how can people sit wearing their thick winter coats when the heat in the carriage is enough to melt rocks? They must be pretty smelly underneath it all so maybe it’s a good thing they remain encased. Anyway, the upshot is, I fell asleep almost instantly and, by the time I reached the house, my temperature was almost back to normal.
The highlight of the day, however, was another Girls & Guitars gig at the Maltings. Tonight it was Panda Su, described as half Portuguese, and living on a Scottish Island, born in the rural highlands and sounding sort of American. She has a wonderful voice and great personality. As Mirinda says, these girls have a lot of confidence and Panda Su was no different.
We thoroughly enjoyed it. Her website is here.
Always a lovely way to round off the week.
