Day 39 - Thursday March 12th

PULPITGATE - explodes!

There are many developments to report pulpit wise. The pulpit was strapped and lifted out of its siting without too many problems (see Andrews photo library via the discussion pages) and hoisted clear. One of the builders on examining it closely pronounced it as 'mass produced machine shop Victorian' so we enjoyed that bubble bursting moment a la Antiques roadshow. Essentially our pulpit came from the Victorian equivalent of IKEA and this was confirmed as the builders neatly dismantled it in to two bits. I looked for confirmatory IKEA like markings like 'Knurl' or 'Stigley' or to hear the the builders were held up because a couple of crucial screws were missing. It was odd to see something so central to our place so quickly sidelined, like Sampson losing his hair I suppose.

Anyway, the hole it was removed from is huge - if any latter day Gideon wants to find a wine-press like hole to hide in then look no further. If nothing else it will do very well to incarcerate any errant children on a Sunday, beneath the floor of the re-installed pulpit - we will have to sing loudly to drown out the insistent tapping.

Pursuing our still unfulfilled desire to kick 'WHATLIESBENEATHGATE' in to life we peered down in to the hole. Absolutely nothing. Not a sausage. Not even a solitary lost top hat or bonnet.


So, all going well, the builders whistling a merry tune as they carried out the works to the pulpit then suddenly our happy little world was shattered by........

..........ATTACK OF THE BOX TICKERS............ (preferably said in a big spooky voice)

Yes, it was true, there was some paperwork pertaining to the pulpit work outstanding. It would not have made one iota of difference to the job in hand - we had been asked to restore the pulpit exactly to where it came from and that is what would be done - no question. But because the paperwork was outstanding everything had to stop. Yes, really, all work on the pulpit has been suspended today pending paperwork. It did'nt need to be stopped, common sense could have prevailed but oh no - boxes must be ticked. All the channels that can be worked are being worked but depsite our light tone its an intensely frustrating situation. Please pray that we can start again tomorrow.