Some time over the last couple of days the church had out-of-hours visitors who inspected the roof in search of something which might be of interest, to themselves and their scrapmetal procurers. Of course the insurance will help out with the damage to the lead, the stonework, the tiles, and the drainpipe, but it was a faff to be called out on my day off and to have to spend a while with the secretary fastening the tarpaulin her dog usually sleeps on in the car to the damaged roof of the organ chamber (you can't run the risk of water getting in there). It's the stupidity of the criminal 'mind' that depresses most. They haven't got away with anything in this case, and there's precious little to get away with anyway. Instead they've risked life and limb with rotten old iron drainpipe, tiles and stone collapsing beneath them wherever they trod, and all for nowt but causing us, and Ecclesiastical Insurance, a lot of fuss.
Friday, 11 March 2011
A Definition of Futility
Some time over the last couple of days the church had out-of-hours visitors who inspected the roof in search of something which might be of interest, to themselves and their scrapmetal procurers. Of course the insurance will help out with the damage to the lead, the stonework, the tiles, and the drainpipe, but it was a faff to be called out on my day off and to have to spend a while with the secretary fastening the tarpaulin her dog usually sleeps on in the car to the damaged roof of the organ chamber (you can't run the risk of water getting in there). It's the stupidity of the criminal 'mind' that depresses most. They haven't got away with anything in this case, and there's precious little to get away with anyway. Instead they've risked life and limb with rotten old iron drainpipe, tiles and stone collapsing beneath them wherever they trod, and all for nowt but causing us, and Ecclesiastical Insurance, a lot of fuss.
A social worker once told me that he had experienced a moment of epiphany which turned him from a juvenile criminal into someone who wanted to do an honest job and help people. He was standing on the roof of the local church in the small hours, soaked to the skin, fearful of falling, and engaged in what most people would term hard manual labour. All for a couple of quid beer money. He suddenly realised that all those law-abiding mugs that he so detested were asleep in warm beds and were much wealthier than him.
ReplyDeleteI hope they catch your culprits. Better still, I hope they repent and bring back the lead and re-install it under cover of darkness.
Brilliant. I hope you don't mind me using this story for my own purposes!
ReplyDeleteThat church roof needs major makeover. It should be raised as a significant issue,as it endangers the parishioners' safety. If fixed, future hostility can be avoided. Bad cheetahs!
ReplyDeleteWhoa, at first sight, it doesn't look like a church at all. Though the church has insurance, it is still a big issue that needs to be taken care of. Those bad cheetahs, as Tibbits said, should show respect to a holy place.
ReplyDelete