The Diocese have informed me (us - we clergy) that from now on the cleaning of the gutters and downpipes on our tied houses will be done as part of the general maintenance programme paid for by the Diocese. Up until now it has always been a task assigned to the occupant of the house, and for 25 years and in three different Dioceses I have argued that whilst I accept responsibility for maintining the interior decoration of the vicarage, the gutters and downpipes are external and therefore should be Diocesan responsibility. I have never got anywhere with this, even though I have also pointed out that my personal insurance does not cover me to climb a ladder and poke around in gutters. Finally, someone somewhere in this Diocese has seen sense and given this task to the company that does the building and repair works to our homes, and whose workers are insured to operate at heights.
Can one get to dizzier heights than Team Rector?
ReplyDeleteOnly up a ladder.
ReplyDeleteNot in a pulpit, ie six feet above contradiction?
ReplyDeleteOne of my village churches has a pulpit more like 7 feet - I feel as if I ought to have safety lines attached whilst up there. Don't tell the Health & Efficiency (sic) watchdog!
ReplyDeleteSomeone finally had the sense to realize that where structural maintenance is concerned, prevention is cheaper than cure?
ReplyDeleteAlan Barton illustrated some pretty perilous-looking medieval pulpits a few weeks back at his fine site "Vitrearum's Church Art".