One of the woes revealed at last week's Deanery Chapter was that of the vicar of Wormton, whose boiler had been condemned by the gas safety engineer sent by the diocese. As there wouldn't be a replacement for a fortnight or more, and the temperatures were due to dip below -5, he was fortunate to have parents not far away from whom he could borrow a range of electric heaters to stand in. This became in itself another cause for complaint, as some years ago the diocese stopped doing full annual services on boilers in clergy houses and just authorised the bare legal minimum of making sure that they aren't belching out carbon monoxide. The Wormton machine had failed because a previous engineer had neglected to put a small component back properly, and had this been picked up on a subsequent service visit it might have survived another five years or more. The engineer came to me today, and much to my relief declared that my boiler could limp on another year. Another change that apparently slipped past without any fanfare is that the diocese has decided it's no longer responsible for the maintenance of any outbuildings at parsonages unless they are physically joined to the parsonage house itself. This might explain why nothing has ever been said, still less done, about the various faults identified a long time ago with my funny little garage that used to be a stable. A visiting fellow dropping off a card for his gardening/fencing/maintenance firm pointed out some corner tiles on it that he says are just about to slip off to disastrous effect, so I will have to look into that for myself, I fear.
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