It’s that time of year already! (I don’t know where it has gone!?) Our annual job of putting up the Nativity Crib in Coventry city centre signals the start of Christmas for us. We have been doing it for 20 YEARS now, bacon butties and coffee on site are a tradition and an essential when it’s as cold as it is this year.
Every year we collect the crib (in dismantled kit form) from it’s storage and transport it into the city centre. We fit it all back together like a jigsaw puzzle, we are just about getting the hang of how it goes back together now…… I promise…. Over the years we have had to drill new holes for new screw positions as old holes have sunk too deep for the existing screws used or have lost their bite.
Erecting is typically a little easier than dismantling as lifting the roof on, which is all in one piece by the way, is a tad lighter than in January when the cedar shingles have had 2 months to soak in rain, snow and atmospheric moisture to make them swell and become heavier.
Once we’ve fiddled about with the lock in the door and silicone sealed everything that needs doing, we finish our coffee and leave it to be dressed by the church.
A couple of months later we attend site, dismantle and take back to storage and leave it for another year. The gap in-between
seems to be getting shorter and shorter with every year that passes, probably something to do with getting older and busier, but I must admit I do enjoy doing it, it get’s us all out of the workshop to work on something all together, have a laugh and a coffee, as they say” a change is as good as a rest”, not quite as good in my opinion but this job signals a rest is coming soon!
Have a great weekend and I guess…… Merry Christmas?
Adam
