{"id":2606,"date":"2015-05-18T08:45:04","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T08:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=2606"},"modified":"2015-05-19T11:40:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T11:40:22","slug":"a-cherub-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=2606","title":{"rendered":"A cherub speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cherub\"<\/a>To be honest, it was the prospect of light duties that appealed to me. No flying around in the upper atmosphere dancing attendance on people, and strictly none of that blowing on ships malarkey. It sounded like a cushy number. But after 400 plus years, well, I\u2019m starting to get a bit bored.<\/p>\n

I never really considered whether there were any opportunities for promotion, and looking at some of the more senior figures round here, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d want it anyway. Some of them have become trapped in distinctly dodgy situations, frankly, and they don\u2019t look as though they\u2019re enjoying their work any more than I am.<\/p>\n

The other thing no one told me is that I\u2019d be expected to supply my own uniform, so I\u2019m stuck here without a stitch on. Which is fine in summer, but when those damp mists roll in off the Tiber in winter \u2013 well, however fluffy your wings, they just don\u2019t cover enough. A little bit of drapery would have come in handy, and though some of the others have got yards of the stuff, can I get them to share it?\"cherub<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019d think I could at least pass the time nattering with my opposite number \u2013 that\u2019s him on the right. A boy my own age, same job description, etc. \u2013 you\u2019d think we\u2019d have lots in common, but he\u2019s not much of a one for talking. Bit depressed, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

Luckily, I\u2019m conveniently situated just across from the chapel with the Caravaggios, and\u00a0believe me,\u00a0there\u2019s nothing funnier than watching tourists competing not to be the one to put a coin in to turn on the light. I\u2019ve seen skinflints hanging around for twenty minutes or more in the hope that someone else will turn up to illuminate the scene. They pretend to be examining inscriptions or reliefs, only to hotfoot it over to the chapel for an eyeful the minute the light comes on.<\/p>\n

So listening to the visitors and watching their antics are my main entertainments, and I\u2019ve seen some changes, I can tell you. A hundred years ago they never had to tell anyone to cover their shoulders and legs \u2018cos they were all covered, several times over, anyway. Mind you, it\u2019s a bit weird that the rules for me and my colleagues aren\u2019t so strict. And as there\u2019s quite a few of us underdressed types dotted around the church, some of the comments we get are pretty unrepeatable. Most of the guides are pretty good, though, and if I do say so myself, I\u2019m probably a bit of an expert on the Caravaggios by now.<\/p>\n

What I don\u2019t like, though, is when visitors have a laugh at my expense. \u2018Ooh, he doesn\u2019t look very happy, does he?’, they say, or \u2018Where\u2019s your trousers, mate?\u2019 But I just think to myself, \u2018Well, I bet your gaff doesn\u2019t contain some of the greatest masterpieces of the Baroque period.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . . should I have considered promotion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2633,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions\/2633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}