Boadicea's Chariot

Shortly before Christmas there was an article in a local paper about the church clock and bells in a nearby village.  A decision had been taken to stop the church clock striking every quarter during the night.  I must say this seems reasonable to me.  I’m sure there is no long-standing tradition of bell-ringers ringing during the night, before the advent of clockwork mechanisms. I looked up this church on Wiki to learn a bit about the bells, a peal of six, each with its own history.  This reminded me of the Dorothy L. Sayers’ novel “The Nine Tailors”, which I then started to read again.  Not very cheery reading at Christmas, perhaps, but the narrative starts just before the New Year.

The story is set in the Fens where there are some outstandingly beautiful churches, and the hero, Lord Peter Wimsey of course, ends up stranded in a small village after a car accident. The village bell-ringers are intending to ring in the New Year with a record-breaking peal of Kent Treble Bob Majors, but an epidemic of influenza has reduced the number of change-ringers and Wimsey is pressed into service, having admitted some previous experience.  The whole book is centred on the fictitious village,  Fenchurch St Paul, its church and its bells.

What is still relevant is part of the foreword:

“From time to time complaints are made about the ringing of church bells. … England , alone in the world, has perfected the art of change-ringing and the true ringing of bells by rope and wheel, and will not lightly surrender her unique heritage.”

It always annoys me when people who have bought a place in the country as a weekend retreat then complain about the church bells ringing on a Sunday morning,  as they have probably done for centuries.

For anyone who is interested in change-ringing, I can recommend this book.

Although not a regular visitor any more, I do have fond memories of the old MyT site that morphed into Boadicea’s Chariot and some of the folk that used to inhabit it, some of whom are still posting on here. I would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Aka that damned cat!

You may remember that Oz’s cat took to his new jumper and misappropriated it as a new sleeping blanket?  Fortunately I had a couple of ounces left and some other stuff, eh voila, a new cat blanket.  Needless to say I have not actually uttered these heretical words in this canine orientated household.  Hairy horrible hound denizens would wreak havoc at such betrayal!!

NOW OZ, what we/I want is to see you in your new jumper and the cat on her blanket in a picture. Get to it!

My God, Christmas presents for cats, I’m truly in my dotage!

This is a splendid idea. I wish I had thought of it!

PS Boiler now fixed at no little expense, so I am in a somewhat better mood! 🙂