You may not be aware, but this story has a happy ending!
2 Likes
And Emily Dickenson, for that matter, a woman who’s every poem can – and should – be sung to the tune of I’d like to teach the world to sing.
Because I could not stop for death,
he kindly stopped for me…
1 Like
Am I the only one who read the weight of the lead plating, and question it’s ability to hang heavy bells in it, or even support its own weight with old timbers that lacked some cross supports?
1 Like
Yeah i was confused about the part where they commissioned a new heavier bell to hang in it.
2 Likes
Damn you…
I’m going to be doing that every time now.
2 Likes
I had heard about the painting boosting tourism to the town but it was interesting to get more details about that in the article you linked 
I think its a good thing because the woman who did the restoration definitely sounded like she suffered a lot emotionally after the fact, and i’m glad she now has a sense of humor about it and was able to accidentally help her hometown.
2 Likes
Well, God will make sure it doesn’t fall down or anything right?
I always thought there was a lot of merit in the argument that any reason to believe in God ended when churches put up lightning conductors.
God helps those who help themselves.
Well, yes but if he’s taking out his wrath on your church then you’re doing something wrong.
More seriously, those churches tend to be quite old, I suppose very old by US standards. As long as the timbers remain sound, they’re probably not going to collapse or deflect much further if at all under their current load.
Adding additional weight without some fairly intensive structural calculations would seem to be counterindicated but then, when wouldn’t it be?
Apparently the twist is probably intended, the lean - not so much.
Yea, I almost stopped reading the article at that point, as I felt so sad for her. But I’m glad I finished it!
It’s common measure, there’s hundreds of tunes you could sing it to. ‘Yankee Doodle’ for instance, or ‘Amazing Grace’.
lovely to hear of the good outcome, although now I’m just mad that the Martinez family gets 51% of the take on her merch…
I don’t know if it’s fair, but i would probably say that it’s understandable. The restoration mishap and the ensuing infamy/celebrity would not be possible without the original artist’s work. I don’t know what the copyright laws are in Spain, or if the split was just a private agreement by both parties… but either way at face value it seems that everyone involved is happy with the terms.
1 Like
Thank you - that actually helped.
Very “One Song to the Tune of Another”:
1 Like
The bells are in the tower (the stone bit) the pointy twisty bit is the spire.
The main problem was the use of unseasoned wood in its construction. Wood dried, fibres shrunk, timbers warped.
Seems like a schoolboy error, but consider how much construction was done in green wood back at that time.
1 Like
I for one am so proud to have grown up in this town.
In one of the Don Camillo books, IIRC, the church is struck by lightning. After the usual clerical vs communist shenanighans, things are sorted out and Don Camillo dreams of the new church spire which this time has a lightning conductor.
Catholic doctrine, I believe, says that you shall not put God to the test. Those Protestant Evangelicals who refused to wear seat belts because they trusted God to look after them were damned heretics.
1 Like
1984: York Minster ablaze
The devastating fire at York Minster took hold in the early hours of the morning of 9 July 1984.Some attributed the cause of the blaze to divine retribution - or even a UFO. Yorkshire Fire Brigade concluded it was more likely to have been a lightning strike.
The evangelicals blamed it on the consecration of David Jenkins as Bishop of Durham, as he had beliefs that they didn’t like, such as allowing same sex marriage, therefore God was angry. If God was really angry at his selection, you’d think they would make sure they are targeting the right person or building (see also: hurricanes mostly being in the US Bible belt and not the liberal states)
2 Likes
