London
26/10/2011 Wednesday.
Today, against the advice of the GenLib staff I visited the London Natural History Museum for the last time to check references, etc. The reason they advised against a visit was that the mid-term school holidays started on Monday and the crowds in the Museum were expected to be "horrendous". Well they were right!
The entrance line snaked in and out of crowd-control barriers that had been put up, and consequently it took an hour to get to the Museum door! During that time it rained but we were stuck in the barriers and so just got soaked! Inside the Museum was bedlam. I made it through the crowd to the Library finally but was wet, frozen, and not overly enthusiastic about sitting in my wet clothes while trying to use the reference-database computer. I put in an hour and a half then retraced my trip back out to Barking, where an hour or so later I had a hot shower and changed my socks and shoes.
I am now in the Barking Community Library doing my "blog". I weakened and dropped into McDonalds for a Burger and hot Coffee on the way.
I am actually glad I took the trouble to "say goodbye" to the NHM, despite the rain and the crowds, because it has been very good to me. The archives are wonderfully well curated and catalogued. The staff have been super competent, truly cheerful, and immensely helpful with my research needs. The Bauer work has been a true eye-opener and 200 years on it has been kept in pristine condition by the Museum.
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