Alex's Historical Fiction

I survived

Phew :-) I managed to survive my first duty manager session at the Small Museum. Had all the right keys, got into the right places, found the till and float, got past the stroppy till (it didn't want to work, but I pressed the 'Clear' button which sorted its head out), and had a very quiet day. There was some faffing about with lights, but an off-duty staff member kindly dropped in and that was sorted out - found the switch for one area, and put a halogen light in another area where the lights had failed for some reason. The museum is a law unto iteself, and things decide not to work sometimes. There were very few people in, but I wouldn't like to confess what the takings were. At least the till balanced. I thought I was 50p down, but then remembered that the float was 50p down when I counted it this morning, so it aint my fault. High drama indeed ;-)

It is York's quiet time of year at present. Even Betty's wasn't packed out by 10am on the Sunday morning (I know cos me & Batman had breakfast there before I went to the museum). But very soon, business will pick up and it'll be hectic until about this quiet time next year. Next week it's the Resident's First Weekend, where on brandishing their York cards, York residents will be able to get into many of York's major attractions for free. Do other cities do this sort of thing, I wonder? I think I'm due to be in on one of the weekend days as manager, and the other day I'll volunteer, as the museum is likely to get very busy (in stark contrast to this weekend). Not long after that (February 14th -18th) it's the Jorvik Viking Festival, and the city will be heaving with visitors and 'orrible Vikings. Back to normal then ...

posted by Alex Bordessa @ Monday, January 22, 2007