Thanks for the replies.. does show how differently we all work.
At me previous airline we did a full meal service on the ground in SSH whilst delayed due to ATC strike.. its was deemed that the a/c is parked not going anywhere so why should there be a need to evacuate (I know you cannot predict emergencies) so we did the meal service fine.
Also we used to have a cart out in the L1 door area of the 767 whilst boarding LH flights to put the news papers on.
I understand the points about evacuations but would it get to the point where pax board one at a time take there seat before the next pax can board to prevent the huge build of pax in the aisle "just incase" we need to evacuate? etc etc I SOMETIMES think certain airlines go OTT with saftey.