Monthly Archives: February 2006

Church, Politics

Church Fire Safety

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One of the downsides of being involved in the running of a church is that from time to time you get really daunting issues to deal with. One of those daunting issues turned up in my inbox this week – a really thorny issue with regards to fire safety.

In case you weren’t aware, last year the government passed the “Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005â€?. This snappily titled bit of legislation essentially sorts out all the fire safety related legislation into one place, so in theory makes the whole process of complying with the law a lot easier. However, one change that makes life considerably more difficult from the point of view of a church is that many of the rules that have previously not applied to churches are going to come in to force, more than that it will be a criminal offence to break key parts of the order.

In the case of our little church in Finchampstead, especially bearing in mind that our congregations are over 100 people almost every week, it has a big effect as whilst we have always been careful to provide fire extinguishers, detail escape routes at major services and so on, we now become subject to a set of rules that fundamentally the physical building cannot meet. The specific area of concern is the exits, which in terms of safety are badly placed, and in the case of the 1590 door, totally unsuitable because of it’s narrow size and treacherous steps. The other fundamental problem is that like the majority of church buildings, all the doors open in the wrong direction for a fire exit – fire exit doors must always open outwards.

What really adds to the complications is that our building is also grade one listed, and even without the listing, many would regard it as architectural and cultural vandalism to mess with historic external features such as the 1590 door purely for fire safety reasons. I can hear the arguments now – highlighting that there hasn’t been a fire in the past 1000 years so why are we proposing to change things now! Of course if we aren’t able to make the required building changes then we’re left trying to make other changes so that our use of the building enables us to meet the fire regulations.

Perhaps the only solace in this whole issue is that considering all the other churches around almost all of them will have the same problems – that the ancient buildings do not meet modern standards in terms of health and safety.

Incidentally, if like me, you are involved in a church and you had no idea of the new rules, there is a good leaflet available from the Church Safety web site. Unfortunately, despite planning to introduce these regulations in April, the government still haven’t managed to publish relevant official advice on compliance with the law. It may also be worth talking to your local fire service, as they will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that your building meets the requirements of the order.

Computers/Technology, MobLog

Phil Sleeps on the Sofa?

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Howard Providing Food

Last night I went along to Howard’s for another night of network gaming. Unfortunately we weren’t blessed with the presence of Chris, as he was suffering from one of the pitfalls of being a teacher – picking up something nasty disease from a pupil. However he did join us between trips to the bathroom remotely. Anyway all this play seems to be improving my skill at UT2004, although I still can’t get the hang of moving and aiming straight at the same time, and also I do tend to get lost at times too, hence I get accused all the time of camping…

Ok, I have to admit, that the accusation is not totally unfounded. 😀 There are a few maps where I do quite deliberately camp out at certain points and use sniper tactics. Not that I’m the only one – both Phil and Chris used the same tactic at various points during the evening!

Anyway, instead of the usual shot of a load of blokes sitting around with laptops, I’ve included a picture that shows that despite what he maintains, Howard does know how to use his kitchen – although his fridge is still primarily filled with a vast selection of drinks and not much else!

Whilst the game playing was fun, the highlight of the evening had to be Phil pretty well ensuring that he was going to be sleeping on the sofa when he got home. Around midnight both he and I started packing up our respective sets of kit to head home. Phil started to get quite a bit of teasing from the remain three single guys, and Jarrod whose wife is back over in the USA, about how early he was going. Phil’s retort was effectively that at least he had someone to go home to, and he’d find a lot more interesting things to do than spend the night with a load of drunk blokes! At that point somebody asked the question as to whether Catherine would still be up when Phil got home, at which point Phil came back with a reply that probably isn’t suitable for a family blog, but that came over pretty much as a sort of alpha male type ‘I’ll do what I want with my wife in my house’ type statement, to which I replied that knowing Catherine that probably wasn’t overly accurate!

However, the BIG problem at this point though was that after somebody had questioned whether Catherine would still be awake, and without Phil noticing, Howard had called Catherine to see if she was still up – she was, and she had heard everything Phil had said, including that comment.

Having been told she was listening, Phil managed to look both embarrassed, nervous and sheepish, all at the same time, and took the phone off Howard. He then disappeared upstairs for a bit of fast talking I guess. He did come back down at one point – still talking – although went back upstairs again when he got the inevitable back-chat from the rest of us. We’ve yet to hear whether he did end up sleeping on the sofa last night…

Beth's Reading Log, Books

‘The Periodic Table’

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The Periodic Table (Essential.penguin S.)

No, I haven’t suddenly switched teaching subjects – this is a collection of stories by Italian Jewish author Primo Levi. It was recommended to me by James, one of the current crop of PGCE students at school, as a more ‘manly’ read – he was a bit taken aback by the titles being bandied about at the last book group meeting; there were only two guys in the room at the time, however…

The book is a collection of recollections and fiction that are centred around various elements of the peroidic table. Each story is titled by an element, and this element features in the story, even if tangentally. The opening story, ‘Argon’, looks at the properties of inert (‘noble’) gases and compares their properties to those of his ancestors:

The little that I know about my ancestors presents many similarities to these gases. Not all of them were materially inert, for that was not granted them. … But there is no doubt that they were inert in their inner spirits, inclined to disinterested speculation, witty discourses, elegant, sophisticated, and gratuitous discussion. It can hardly be by chance that all the deeds attributed to them, though quite various, have in common a touch of the static, an attitude of dignified abstention, of voluntary (or accepted) relegation to the margins of the great river of life.

These personal, and often tragic, recollections are surprisingly interspersed with fiction: the account of the ancient Scandinavian who travels into continental southern Europe taking with him the secret knowledge of the working and uses of lead; the man living on an island who buys new wives for himself and his companions with refined mercury; the imagined journey of a carbon atom with which the collection ends. Yet I found all of the stories, whether factual or fiction, tinged with sadness. This has undoubtedly to do with the circumstances of his life – Levi survived the Holocaust, but only just – as well as the great burden of knowledge that Jewish people carry; that within living memory, someone hated them enough to try to exterminate their race. Perhaps I am imposing the over-arching sense of tragedy; I have never been able to descibe my feelings about the Holocaust – it just leaves me with an indescribable feelings of loss and sadness. I visited Dachau while on a school trip to Europe in high school, and the idea of the ovens (which looked like large bread ovens to me – ordinary, until you knew what they were used for) still leaves me breathless with horror. I still remember not being able to hear any birds while on the site, despite the warm spring day and the abundance of trees and other foliage around the camp. Perhaps I just blocked them out, but even the most annoying of the kids on the trip were hushed and stunned by the impact of the camp. How much more so for those who lived though it.

Levi does have the ability at times to see through the sadness and fear to some happy times – the meeting of his wife and their marriage are not elaborated on here, but are mentioned as well as an almost-affair with a beautiful goya (non-Jewish woman) – but they too are tinged with self-depreciation. Both he and Guilia (the goya) remember and reminisce about what might-have-been, although his primary feeling over the relationship seems to be one of regret. And the school-days friendship with the ferrous Sandro ends with the story of his death at the hands of the Fascists and their prohibition of the burial of his body; his body was abandoned in the road.

And yet for all this sadness and tragedy, this is a book you should read. It took me longer than usual – it’s not long, but the emotions it stirs gave me pause – but it is good for us to read about things that are disturbing as well as those that are amusing. But this is also a good piece of writing. It allows us to see into a time that most of us know about but don’t understand; that we can’t understand unless we are a member of a persecuted race. And that all these events may have lead to Levi’s death – the coroner ruled that he committed suicide in 1987, although many people believe his death was accidental – adds to the sadness, but also the understanding of the events of this terrible part of the 20th century.

Movies & TV

24 Day 5 Gets Started

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So last night we kicked off the fifth day of 24, with Jack living incognito and working on oil rigs, Tony and Michelle back together and running their own business, and President Palmer writing his memoirs. As you can see, unlike last year when there was an almost totally new cast, we had a lot of familiar faces.

However it doesn’t last. Within the first ten minutes three of the familiar faces are taken out of the story. Palmer is shot and killed, and Michelle is killed by a car bomb that leaves Tony unconscious in a hospital bed and fighting for life. Chloe, the one remaining person involved in faking Jack‘s death quickly realises the connection, and gets in contact with Jack. The evidence at the scene of Palmers shooting quickly shows her hunch to be right as the CCTV footage appears to show Jack going in to the building.

Jack of course needs little encouragement to get back into action, and within minutes is rushing back to LA to help Chloe, although matters are complicated by him having to bring his new girlfriends teenage son along for the ride.

Of course Jack is just being used to divert attention – Palmer being the true target as he had found out about a planned terrorist attack designed to coincide with the visit of the Russian President. With the staff at CTU distracted and confused they are left playing catch-up as Jack puts some of the puzzle together and ends up in an airport terminal when it is taken over by an armed gang.

Certainly the first two episodes shown yesterday were the usual hectic start. As in previous series the need to resolve the end of the previous season and get Jack back on the move results in the believability with regards to the realtime element being subject to a good deal of artistic licence, with one or two noticeable timing goofs within the first hour. However as before I expect it will settle down. The CTU team is largely familiar, as are the politicians, both being basically the ones left at the end of last year. Of course quite who will make it to the end nobody knows, and of course since Jack ‘died’ to escape the Chinese last year, I’m sure that plotline will resurface before the end of series five.

In terms of the equipment tallies, in the first two hours Jack has picked up and lost three different vehicles, and a helicopter, however he is still on his first mobile phone.

Sky showed the first two hours last night, however they also appear to be showing two hours back to back next week too. So we should be well and truly hooked by then!

24 24: Series 4 24: Series 3