From Michael de Petrovsky.
IT was particularly gratifying to learn the good folk of St Ouen enjoyed a quiet and peaceful Christmas. How pleasant it must have been to suddenly become aware that the monotonous, intrusive boing of a tuneless funereal bell had ceased.

The sense of relief must have been similar to that felt when a burglar alarm shuts down, that neighbour’s nasty, little yapping dog is silenced, the beeping, the electronic toy of the horrible child in the seat behind falls apart or the moron in the car with the windows down and mindless music blaring drives on.

In the parish of St Mary, we were not so fortunate. God did not smile on us that day. The clapper of the church bell did not fail. Thus the perpetrators of unnecessary noise were able to inflict their torment, undisturbed, hour on hour for the best part of two days. What a jolly little parochial pastime! Fine if you’re within earshot for only a few minutes but Hell if you have to listen to it for over 12 hours at a time. Shame we can’t lock the organisers in the church belfry for the duration. They might well have a change of mind or emerge having lost it.

One doesn’t want to be a killjoy and one knows children get a lot of fun swinging on a rope’s end. No one would wish to deprive them of this simple pleasure, though I would recommend rock climbing or sailing as better ways of getting involved with cordage.

However, I would suggest the hours of ringing be limited to a couple in the late morning and a couple in mid afternoon. That ought to be sufficient to satisfy the real enthusiasts, while leaving us the rest of the day to enjoy the peace that should be Christmas.
Le Sellier,
Rue du Rondin,
St Mary.