Henry Vacuum Cleaner

[Jamie123]

Every month me (and another bloke called Alan) have to vacuum the church. I do the back area around the piano and the organ, and the nave (where most people sit) and Alan does the "holy end" - the vestry and the area around the altar. I guess it's similar to what you people call a "calling".

Anyway, the vacuum cleaner I use is "Henry":

I have no idea whether you have "Henry" in America but he is really popular here. He has a top that looks like a derby hat, with a long cord that pulls out and you wind a handle to get it back. And you drag him around to where the dirt is, and he sucks it up his long extended nose. If you pull him too fast he topples over and his "hat" comes off.

Anyway, I have seen Henry vacuum cleaners in B&Q for about £150. I have often thought of buying one and taking him straight to the rubbish tip and chucking him with all the other used appliances. That would wipe the smile off his smug little face, don't you think?

[Jamie123]

[Carborendum]

18 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

I have no idea whether you have "Henry" in America but he is really popular here.

The original brand in the US is "Shop-Vac".

Now there area a dozen other brands both large and small.

 

[Carborendum]

2 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

With what shall I vacuum dear Henry, dear Henry?

[Grunt]

That's a calling?  Interesting.  Who cleans the rest of the chapel?   Does each area have a calling?

[Jamie123]

2 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

The original brand in the US is "Shop-Vac".

Now there area a dozen other brands both large and small.

 

Similar...but doesn't quite inspire the same level of evil glee as abandoning "dear old Henry" to the horrors of the landfill!

[Jamie123]

Just now, Grunt said:

That's a calling?  Interesting.  Who cleans the rest of the chapel?   Does each area have a calling?

The nave, vestry and sanctuary, plus the choir stalls and the piano area - are pretty much the whole church. It's not like our local Methodist church, whose internal arrangements remind you of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There is the porch too, which sometimes needs sweeping out of dead leaves. It's a very small church - but very old. It predates the town, and was originally a stopping-off chapel for soldiers on their way to the Crusades. We do have a church hall too, which is a lot larger, but the cleaning of that is organized separately.

[LDSGator]

8 minutes ago, Grunt said:

That's a calling?  Interesting.  Who cleans the rest of the chapel?   Does each area have a calling?

I think there’s a specific calling that deals with cleaning the chapel, but I’m 100% sure about that.  

[Jamie123]

11 minutes ago, Grunt said:

That's a calling?

Maybe "calling" isn't the right word. People agree to be rostered to do different things to help, but there's no sense that God is "calling" them to it. Another of my "things" is to collect my friend Marjory from her house and drive her to church, set out all the tables and chairs for after-service coffee in the church hall. Then put the coffee machine on, while Marjory sets out all the cups and saucers and gets the biscuits ready. When the last hymn is starting we rush out, run around like headless chickens when we discover the coffee machine never switched itself on, get the tea ready, pour out the tea and coffee when people arrive, afterwards wash up, put the tables and chairs and cups and saucers away. Go into another another panic because Room 5 is locked and no one has the key. Find the key. Put the coffee machine and the tea and coffee and uneaten biscuits away, and then drive Marjory home. All good fun.

[Grunt]

16 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

Maybe "calling" isn't the right word. People agree to be rostered to do different things to help, but there's no sense that God is "calling" them to it. Another of my "things" is to collect my friend Marjory from her house and drive her to church, set out all the tables and chairs for after-service coffee in the church hall. Then put the coffee machine on, while Marjory sets out all the cups and saucers and gets the biscuits ready. When the last hymn is starting we rush out, run around like headless chickens when we discover the coffee machine never switched itself on, get the tea ready, pour out the tea and coffee when people arrive, afterwards wash up, put the tables and chairs and cups and saucers away. Go into another another panic because Room 5 is locked and no one has the key. Find the key. Put the coffee machine and the tea and coffee and uneaten biscuits away, and then drive Marjory home. All good fun.

Ahhhh.  Got it.  Here we have a Building Representative who's calling is also responsible for creating the building cleaning schedule.

[zil2]

1 hour ago, Jamie123 said:

I have no idea whether you have "Henry" in America but he is really popular here.

I see him and another model with another name (George? - he's green, anyway) on restoration videos done by folks in the UK (and Europe?).  Anywho, I love them - it's absolutely hilarious.  Some guys make great use of the face on them as part of their videos.

[zil2]

58 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

This clearly belongs in our stickman thread!

[LDSGator]

14 minutes ago, zil2 said:

This clearly belongs in our stickman thread!

I love your stick figure cartoons. 

[askandanswer]

It was my family's turn to clean the chapel a few weeks back. We typically have two families rostered each week. One family does the "wet" areas - toilets, kitchen and cultural hall, and the other family does the chapel, library, classrooms and offices. For vacuuming the classrooms, library and offices, most people choose to use the backpack vac, and for the chapel, most people use the upright vac. For some reason, there was no chapel cleaning roster prior to the visit of Elder Christofferson in May, and the chapel often looked uncared for. 

[LDSGator]

20 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

It was my family's turn to clean the chapel a few weeks back. We typically have two families rostered each week. One family does the "wet" areas - toilets, kitchen and cultural hall, and the other family does the chapel, library, classrooms and offices. For vacuuming the classrooms, library and offices, most people choose to use the backpack vac, and for the chapel, most people use the upright vac. For some reason, there was no chapel cleaning roster prior to the visit of Elder Christofferson in May, and the chapel often looked uncared for. 

When I would clean the church all of us said the vacuum (one from the 1950’s) was the one God used to drag the souls of the damned to the underworld.  

[zil2]

Meanwhile, here's the page showing Henry and all his friends: Hetty, James, George, Charles, (and various other forms of Henry).  Given the names, one might think this company is trying to suggest that kings suck...

[Traveler]

It is interesting to me that in English we call the machine a vacuum cleaner.  In German the translation is “dust sucker”.   I think the German term is more logical.

There are basically two types of vacuum cleaners that are commercially built.   One is what is called a canaster – this vacuum cleaner is designed around powerful suction.  The other is usually called an upright.  It was discovered that when vacuuming a carpet, that agitating the carpet loosens the dirt in the carpet making it possible to clean with less suction.  Also, an agitated carpet cleans more completely that with just suction.  The purpose of the vacuum cleaner ought to best indicate the type of vacuum cleaner that ought to be used.

A very important physics principle for cleaning with a vacuum cleaner is air flow.  In essence, it does not matter how much suction is applied if the air flow is blocked.  What is best is to concentrate as much moving air as needed surrounding the dirt to move it into a container.  Hard floors need different equipment than carpets.  Most beating action for carpets has a rotation action that cleans best when the action movement on the carpet is in a reverse movement – this design is so the person performing the work does not have to walk on the area that has been cleaned.  In other words, it is most efficient to vacuum in a reverse motion.

The reason I bring all this up is because most of the general public do not know how to vacuum a floor.

 

The Traveler

[LDSGator]

3 minutes ago, Traveler said:

The reason I bring all this up is because most of the general public do not know how to vacuum a floor.

 

I think the general public can handle the complexities of vacuuming a floor.   

[zil2]

18 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

I think the general public can handle the complexities of vacuuming a floor.   

I'd be perfectly happy if @Traveler wanted to drop by once a week and demonstrate the finer techniques of carpet and hard floor cleaning.  I think after a hundred or so lessons I might be ready to try it myself.

[Grunt]

1 hour ago, askandanswer said:

For some reason, there was no chapel cleaning roster prior to the visit of Elder Christofferson in May, and the chapel often looked uncared for. 

 

It is VERY difficult getting people to show up for their cleaning assignment.

[LDSGator]

20 minutes ago, zil2 said:

I'd be perfectly happy if @Traveler wanted to drop by once a week and demonstrate the finer techniques of carpet and hard floor cleaning.  I think after a hundred or so lessons I might be ready to try it myself.

Hahahahahahahahaha

[LDSGator]

10 minutes ago, Grunt said:

It is VERY difficult getting people to show up for their cleaning assignment.

It’s certainly one of the less glamorous callings. 😞  

[LDSGator]

It’s important to remember that even though it’s inspired counsel, it’s still not pleasant to clean toilets and 9am on Saturday morning, for free. It helps to make it as laid back as possible. I would often listen to music or an audiobook when I did it. I also asked someone else to clean the toilets and instead I would clean the doors, vacuum, dust. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by LDSGator

[askandanswer]

1 hour ago, LDSGator said:

When I would clean the church all of us said the vacuum (one from the 1950’s) was the one God used to drag the souls of the damned to the underworld.  

How did you escape? O, wait, your'e in Florida - you didn't escape, you got dragged down even deeper. 

[LDSGator]

28 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

How did you escape? O, wait, your'e in Florida - you didn't escape, you got dragged down even deeper. 

Lol!!! Dude, that’s awesome!! Lol!!!