Smells and bells

Sunday morning.  As usual, somebody was cooking bacon as I came back from the park with the dog.  I do wish they wouldn't do that; it makes my mouth water!.  Mind you, I could always cook myself a proper breakfast, I suppose - if only I wasn't so idle.

There is just one problem I have with the smell of frying bacon.  Years ago, when I was working in London, I travelled every day on the tube.  My mainline train stopped at a station shared with the London Underground and all i had to do was walk over the footbridge to the next platform but one on my way to the office.  One day, somebody either fell or jumped off the platform and landed on the live rail.  It was several weeks - if not months - before I could face a bacon sandwich and even today the smell of frying bacon reminds me of that morning.

The phrase 'smells and bells' is commonly used in a slightly derogatory way by low church folk when they refer to services in high C of E or RC churches: incense and the ringing of a bell when the host is lifted up.  Of course, Sunday is the day most people associate with the ringing of church bells to remind people that the service is about to start.  Not that we hear the sound of bells very often nowadays.  In fact, I can't recall when I last heard a church bell here in England.  I do hear the bell of our village church in France most weeks that we are sur place - not that I have ever attended a service there.

Talking of bells, let me give you a little snippet of trivia.  I expect most people will either know this already or be completely uninterested, but what the heck.

Londoners are often referred to as Cockneys (although I have yet to learn why that should be - possibly a reference to cock sparrow) but true Cockneys must be born within the sound of Bow Bells.  Bow is a part of East London but people born there are not Cockneys even if they are born within the sound of the bells in the church at Bow.  No, Bow Bells are the bells of the church of St Mary at Bow, which is in Cheapside in the heart of the City of London.

As this post seems to be much about bells, here's a picture of a rather unusual church tower/spire in a village not very far from our in France - but I failed to make a note of which one and have forgotten it.  Sorry about the overhead power lines.