The Bells.

Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clement's, You owe me five farthings say the bells of St. Martin's.
All very lovely and very poetic, but church bells are not quite what they used to be. Well not in Chelmsford at least.
Church bells are believed to have come to use in the Christian churches about the year 400 although the sounding of bells goes back well beyond that date back into an age when the bell was the loudest sound around and could be used to call the faithful the pray or warn of impending danger.

The world has changed just a trifle since those days, yet as I walked into the town at the weekend the cathedral bells were ringing.
Against the traffic noise, the rumble of a thousand shoppers and the nearby station public address announcing the 10.15 to Liverpool Street, the sound was anything but poetic or melodic.
The bell ringers, safely protected from the noise within the centuries old stone bell tower, were desperately trying to produce their designated peel but always someone was just a little bit early or late resulting in the impression that Les Dawson was involved somewhere.
Chelmsford was listed in a recent survey of noisy cities, although its not officially a city so someone got that wrong too, and listening to the row from the cathedral bells it is no wonder. What a terrible din. In a world that is full of so much noise church bells no longer have a place, I suggest that an ASBO is needed as soon as possible.