To get into my room I'd had to turn the key 4 times. That's 3 times more than I'd expected initially and once more than the most I thought you'd be able to turn a key! Turned out it had two deadbolts - extreme for a hotel room I thought.
The room was nice but appeared to be missing the most important thing - a "Do Not Disturb" sign. I decided to be clever - I locked the door (4 times) from the inside and left the key in the lock.
Finally got to sleep at 3:30am. At 7:30am a maid waltzed right in. Apparently 2 deadbolts and a key left in the door are no match for a cleaning lady. If there's no 'Do Not Disturb' sign then a room needs to be cleaned. I was impressed by her Houdini trickery - I figured she'd hidden a screwdriver in her slippers and unscrewed the hinges. Or maybe she just had a special key.
I asked her to go away. Please.
8am was apparently a good time for the church bells to start ringing. They were very loud. I can see that they'd have been useful once upon a time when people didn't have watches or clocks. These days isn't is just annoying? Especially at that time of the morning. Plus, I couldn't even figure out what they were trying to tell me. There were a few high pitched ones then some low pitched ones to follow. I'd begun counting but wasn't quite sure when they'd changed from high to low and I had to wait until they'd finished to get an idea of what they were trying to tell me. I concluded it was 10am, but on consulting my phone I discovered that it was still only 8am. I wasn't sure whether I was happy about that or not. I decided not to think about it and go back to sleep. 15 minutes later they were kind enough to tell me the time again - whoever tried to switch them off the first time must have missed and hit the "sleep" button. I was hoping they weren't going to make a habit of it, but sadly I was wrong.
8:30am the maid walked in again! Maybe it was her who'd been ringing the bell - trying to wake me up and get me out so she could do her job. I politely asked her to come back later. She took 'later' to mean 9am! Despite all the interruptions stubbornly remained in bed until midday. I left my room around 1pm. The maid had set up camp outside my room like she was waiting to by an iPhone.
I headed out into the city with Guy and Andy. We saw lots of churches and cool buildings - lots of them had bells. I remember a 'fun day' when I was at school. It was part of RE. We were allowed to talk to a buddhist monk, learn about bell ringing, or some other random activity. I did the bell ringing thing. I seem to recall that there's a bit of an art to it. Say there are 6 bells and 6 ringers - the idea is to ring them in a different order each time and work your way through all the possibilities (of which there are many). So, maybe you begin - 1,2,3,4,5,6 - then you go - 1,2,3,4,6,5 - then - 1,2,3,6,4,5 - or some progression like that. I think there are books with them listed.
Sounds kind of dull to me. Like playing triangle in an orchestra, apart from the fact that it's on the end of a massive rope that can lift you 6ft in the air if you're not careful. I wonder if bell ringers feel it's a really manly activity. I wonder if there are special bell ringer magazines and a world of bell ringer celebrities. Maybe there's one guy who can work all 6 on his own. He could anchor himself to the ground at his waist and attach a rope to each limb. One in his teeth. Oh, that's only 5.
Usually when I hear church bells they start off sounding ok and gradually get more and more messed up. It makes me wonder if they've had to get a dep in (musicians term for substitute). Maybe Frank couldn't make it and Steve had to fill in last minute. Perhaps he'd only had time to listen to half the set and figured he'd wing the last part. He's always on time though and he's got a van (for taking the bells back afterwards)
Or maybe bell ringers are party animals and they play bell ringing drinking games. Every time someone screws up they have to down a pint.
It's 3:08am now. I intended to go to sleep ages ago. I have a do not disturb sign tonight though so it's ok.
J
