To the tolling of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells

Turns out there is a tradition of bell ringing in Durham. All the old churches have bells that are rung manually, often by the Durham University bellringers club. It is a very lovely tradition. For about a week. I may have mentioned previously that my house is St. Oswald's Church adjacent. In fact my window overlooks the churchyard. The cathedral is about a 10 minute walk and can be seen from my house. It seems that the cathedral and other local churches ring their bells all day, and I mean all day, Sunday, only stopping briefly for services. And then there are the practices. It's a little shocking that they actually have to practice since there is no discernible melody, only about 6 or 7 notes repeated over and over in a cacophonous sort of scale. As I write this, I am listening to the rehearsal at St. Os's which has been going on for nearly an hour. I'm supposed to be reading for class, but my brain is a little vibratey thanks to the constant ringing. I'm hoping I'll get used to it before too long. I'll be able to test that theory pretty quickly as rumor has it there are more rehearsals on Thursday...