Hullo!!
Now back in London, but on Tuesday I joined the practice in Glasgow at one of its other cathedrals, St Mary. They were a lovely group, albeit slightly advanced... lots of Surprise ringing, then call changes and plain hunting for yours truly.
In my email asking to join, I mentioned that I'd only been ringing for a year which the gentleman running the practice translated to "this could be iffy," as the bells aren't the easiest to handle with their long draught. But after sussing me out he progressively moved me further towards the back, and for the final piece asked me to ring the tenor(!), which was delightful and the new heaviest bell I've rung — 32cwt, or 1,641kg. It was also a nice touch (i.e. piece we rung); we did call changes on 10 to "rollercoaster" — lovely triplets — with the bells in order 3216549870. It has a very pleasing rhythm of da-ba-da ba-da-ba da-ba-da BONG.
The bong, it was me:
Then on Saturday I was back in Warwickshire where a fellow ringer got married, so we rung before and after her ceremony. That was just lovely, and really nice to catch up with the ol' band.
And today! Service ringing at Camberwell and St Magnus (for which I did the call changes, i.e. swapped the bells around for some musicality), and then onto a quarter peal at Aldgate... we attempted Bob Doubles but fucked up, and only rang 360 of the expected 1260 changes. It was still fun, and nice to have the practice. You can't win them all:
And this evening, another quarter in Bromley for evensong. I tenor'd to Bob Triples and this one we did get; there were some lovely, flowing sections, and it was nice to attempt to keep the rhythm going as the metronome...
ALSO in bell-adjacent news I played an organ for the first time today, which I've discovered is my next instrument... slightly obsessed with the sound. I was nervous with someone watching (James <3) but here's a little Springsteen/Patti Smith:
It's like a piano but also very much not like a piano, and yet SO MUCH FUN!
Until next Sunday,
- Nick