One Afternoon At The Museum

I ran up the steps to the National Art Gallery trying to make my way past the tourists. I didn't want to be stopped by one of them wanting me to take their picture near the fountain or grand lions! Don't get me wrong, I usually love to observe tourists...but not on that day. I was in a hurry. The task was simple. I had to go to the Gallery shop and pick up a poster of Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Monet's Water Lilies. Finish with Art and get to back to my daily business..asap!

But as soon as I stepped into the gallery I knew that I just had to see my personal favourites this time. I didn't want to allow myself to be drawn towards those paintings today! Only yesterday I'd brought two friends visiting from India and shown them the highlights of the museum ....the famous masterpieces by Van Gogh, Monet, Michelangelo, Da Vinci.

There's nothing like a few stolen moments of unplanned joy. After being spell bound by a few paintings I loved the most, I made my way to the Gallery shop to buy posters of the two paintings my friends had liked the previous day. What better souveneir to give them? A painting that we'd admired together!

I picked the posters and paid for them at the cash counter and when asked if I wanted a bag for them I replied that I'd like the posters in two separate bags please.
My mind was already mapping the route I should take to meet my friends when I looked up and noticed him for what he said. The tall, skinny, french bearded guy at the cash counter.

'Two bags! ...I was just thinking about the environment'

!!!

....my face must've fallen cause 'Hey no I'll pack them in two bags' followed soon after!

.... & that was it! How can I describe the emotions that over powered every thought and action subsequently? My thoughts lead me back to one of the wings of this huge gallery. I just walked past from one room to another lost in thought. Shops selling Japanese books would anyday have got more attention than those master pieces did then.

He charged me guilty and just dismissed me to attend to the next customer! Well who did this....this... 'Frenchie' think he was???.... admonishing me as if I were a child! Where's all the customer service gone to? I was carrying a rucksack as always...but that was for groceries, a bottle of water, books and umbrella & scarves....not for masterpieces!?! Was I then justified in having a holier-than-thou-attitude with respect to being 'environmentally conscious'? But it does look good to give a tourist a poster in a National Art Gallery bag which explicitly screams out 'I went to London'. But then the posters were already covered with cellophene paper did they need more packing? So for whom exactly and why was I taking the plastic bags? I had come specifically with the intention of buying those poster; I hadn't forgotton to carry cash so why hadn't I bothered to carry an appropriate bag??? I tried being a little soft on myself...afterall I almost always refused a plastic bag. But the little voice inside me just said louder that the pond with Monet's water lillies would soon be used as a landfill thanks to people like me! After all the debate and mental turmoil, I couldn't find any justification for my actions...there were none.

I suddenly woke up in a dimly lit quite room with some really old paintings & some art lovers as engrossed in them as I'd been in my thoughts. Ohh hell was that the time! I followed the signs on the doors and made my way to the main reception and then to the shop & was almost out of breath by the time I reached the shop's cash counter. The person at the counter couldn't have been more different; she was doing a double plastic wrap of the Van Gogh print 'Sunflowers' silk scarf. She informed me that Frenchie was off for his break. I must admit I felt quite lost and deflated. I should have darted out cause it was really getting late, but thought slowed my pace....& then I saw him again!

He was holding a canvas of a painting and responding to a customer's query. I couldn't see the painting from where I stood. But I know it was special. It had held his attention for a few extra seconds & kept him from disappearing. Why look for any other reason?

'Frenchie' looked at me and I read recognition in his eyes. I returned both the wretched plastic bags to him. I told him in my serious, apologetic and hurt voice that I'd wrapped the gifts in the newspaper I had in my bag & kept them carefully in the internal pocket. In a carefree yet warm manner he said that he worked part time at the Gallery, was doing a course on Art Appreciation, was a member of a Environmental Group ...and would I like to know more over a cup of coffee :)?

Notes
- Suggested reading - Plastic Bag Tree by Michael Rosen
- I hope to find a better heading than this Ben Stiller reminder!
-As written in September 2008