Sometimes plans have to change ...

It was to be a day off ... the first in over three weeks ... but plans definitely changed!

Just "to be sure to be sure" I took a run down to the Parish Halls this morning as the thaw has begun.  We'd completed a check last night and everything was fine so I wasn't particularly concerned ... but ... I'd said that I'd keep an eye on it ... so off I went.  The laptop needs more memory anyhow and that was the main reason for getting out and about so early.

Nothing had changed in the office, icicles still hung from the radiator ... a small burst was leaking in one of the ladies toilets ... so I gave it a basin and towel knowing that a bit of duct tape would do a temporary seal.

And then, not expecting anything more serious, decided to check the gents toilets.  Before even getting there water met me in the minor hall and, on opening the door to the porch, I found it cascading from the overhead pipes and ceiling!!  

Moving at considerable speed I headed upstairs to the stage toilets and saw that there at least four inches of water had already gathered on the floor!  

Plumber ... quickly ... couldn't find the number so dashed across the road to Saint Nicholas' where I knew that I'd seen it.  Mind you, the icy surface nearly had me on my back a time or two.  Anyhow, unlocked the church door to be met with more water pouring down from a great height above ... into the vestry ... where the toilet area was suffering a similar fate and already deep in water ... (Actually it is a good thing that I couldn't find the plumber's number in the hall or I'd never have discovered the problem in the church.)

Called the plumber and his phone was switched off!

Called another plumber and left a message.

Called a couple of parishioners who live nearby ... who called more plumbers ... and who came with brushes and torches ... 

More phone calls, sweeping water, buckets, ladders, checking of organ and other pipes ... on and on for hours ... 

Called plumber again ... 

Started sweeping water out of the church and the porch to stop it going any further ... 

Called plumber ... and he answered!!!!  And he came!!! 

You need to meet Martin.

Martin is an angel.  A saint. A lifesaver.  If you ever need a plumber ... ask me and I'll give you his number.

 He'd been with me on Christmas Eve and fixed two burst pipes at the Rectory.  And, although he is incredibly busy just now, he found time to come to the church and halls to help.  Church was relatively easy to sort in the short term ... water turned off and stopped flowing down the walls ... floors swept, mopped and dried ... and Martin will return later in the week to fix the damage.  That is a huge relief.
Then we told him about the halls!!!
And the problem is considerably worse than we'd anticipated.

 All the radiators are still frozen solid ... and the office and all upstairs are fractured.  Great fissures caused by the expansion ... and as soon as they thaw there will be huge black puddles on the floor.  At least, with the help of his magic blow torch, no more water will get into them ... but the water that is already there will come out!  And it will be very black.

 Martin sorted out various stop cocks that were inaccessible and frozen open ... so there should be no more water coming in ...
It was a long, long day.
I collected "breakfast" from the Chinese on my way home when darkness had fallen and no more work could be done.  We're at the mercy of the thaw.
After my meal ... a bath!

... and that's where I slept soundly for an hour and a half until I heard footsteps on the stairs!  Thankfully it was only Eliot!
All the things that I intended doing today are not done.

I really am quite tired now ... things could have been much worse ... imagine if we'd not discovered it soon after it happened ... imagine if water was pouring into the church organ ... or if the thaw had started before the radiators could be isolated ... there really is a great deal for which to be very thankful.
Yes, we'll get the mess cleared up.
Yes, we'll be back in business as soon as possible.
Yes, the services will be held as normal - the heating system in church has sensors that activate the pumps and the boiler when temperatures drop ... but the vestry/porch end doesn't fall within that system.
Yes, parishioners will rally round and help ... the church has survived war, a bomb next door that damaged roof, plaster and stained glass windows ... it will survive this too!
And it makes you very conscious of the hundreds who are in much worse situations than we.  Our problems can be fixed but, for many, there is no hope of things changing at all.

Father of mercy,
whose Son Jesus deigned to take our nature,
to be the sharer of our sorrows,
the companion of our journeys,
the light of our ignorance,
and the remedy of our weakness:
fill us with the grace of your Spirit,
that, as he has been born in our likeness,
so we may grow into his;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

The Promise of His Glory.