In these eco and economically conscious times, it is good if we can manage without supplementary heating. Many of us deferred switching on the central heating until November, but once I had yielded to temptation and flicked that switch, it would be hard to turn it off again. Life under a blanket come sundown is a bit constricting. When ringing it seems rude to switch on the heaters, knowing that someone else will be footing the bill. Medieval churches tend to rely on electricity (our village church has enjoyed electricity since 1937) and since there is often no background heat, they can feel very cold once the warmth from the summer stored in the walls has dissipated. The walls act like primitive storage heaters but, by November, there is no heat left to give out and there will not be until June or July.
Thus, come this time of year, many people want to switch on the ringing room heaters. I do not. This is not to spare the bills or save the environment, but because I take off my clothes when I start to ring. Everyone else is in thick jumpers and I strip off my cardi as soon as I grab a rope. Ringing makes me hot and standing under a space heater is horrid - burnt on one side, frozen on the other. Blowers might be better, but they spread germs and spreading germs is unpopular in our COVID-aware society.
However, last week at a local practice the assembled ringers voted for heaters and the infra-red bar (think boarding house bathrooms) was officially switched on. That familiar rosy pink glow bathed the room. Lashings of heat and lashings of light. I doubt that it has been PAT tested in a generation and I do not think that it has been switched on for some time because the past few years have been a bit short of winter ringing, what with convoluted rules that I cannot even remember now.
I had already taken off all that I could modestly take off and the additional heat was bearable, but the light was not. Infrared heaters heat up objects directly rather than air. They emit the same radiation as the sun and in some respects are very healthy because they do not dry out the atmosphere and make contact lenses stick to eyeballs. However, they do transmit wavelengths as far as the cornea and the unaccustomed light had me temporary blinded. It was like looking too close to the sun and afterwards experiencing dancing blind spots. I had to sit out until the heater was switched off because it felt dangerous. Apparently, glassblowers are prone to cataracts caused by infra-red radiation. Perhaps my eyes have become particularly sensitive to the heater or perhaps I was so impressed by its performance that I stared into it, which was a mistake.
I think that there are 2 options
- Switch the heater on and I will wear dark glasses on cold days. I think they cut out ultra violet light and allow infra red waves through so I would need to check they block both UVA and UVB wavelengths. I may trip over things.
- Keep the heater off and everyone else concentrates very hard, because that is remarkably warming and has the additional advantage that it costs nothing and will not upset the church treasurer when they receive the electricity bill.
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