And Some Days It Rains

There is a big rain storm here in New England this weekend. Actually it has been raining and blowing impressively since early in the day on Friday.

Sometime between when practice ended yesterday at Old North at around 1 PM and when we arrived there this Noon for Service Ringing, the tower sprang a leak. The rope of the #5 bell was so soaked that the red part of the sally looked black, while the ropes of the #6, 7, and 8 eight were simply unpleasantly wet.

Early arriving ringers mopped the floor and emptied wastebaskets so they could be placed to catch steady drips. Occasional drips were dealt with by strategic arrangement of the tower socks (don't ask).

After a break for some sustaining chocolate and some actual ringing on all eight, we had fun making the stiffened ropes do unusual things, like the free-standing loop in the #7 and the ledge over which the tail was draped in the #5.

There was some discussion about whether the truism that you can't push a rope might be proved not to apply today. Then rope of the #6 was subjected to punishment knotting when its stiffness led to its behaving poorly during a touch.

We relented, however, rang the full time, lowered the bells -- wouldn't want them to fill up -- and launched our drenched selves back out into the rain in search of lunch.