Hells Bells

9/20
I’ve heard those bloody bells for a total of 2 hours today. No joke. From noon until 1 they went off a total of 4 times at 15 minutes a piece. They start off slow – one dong after another and then another bell is added, and then others until they are all going. There is a set pattern to the ring that lasts 15 minutes. Then they started right back up again. And again. And again. Then early this evening, they went off twice before a wedding, and now at 7:45pm they are going off again…that’s a lot of bells when they are right outside your window. They are kinda driving me insane at the moment.

The good news is that it was cool enough today to go the entire day without using the air conditioning. Just kept the door wide open and got a nice breeze. In the shade it was cool enough to need a sweater.

The whole town practically shuts down on Sundays, with the exception of the McDonald’s, the theatre, a handful of restaurants, and some mobile food carts. Well, and obviously those bells don’t shut down. It makes it hard to do much of anything. There is a set of stairs right next to the Café Cordina that is kind of out of sight so today I did my internet-ing from there for as long as my butt could stand it on the cement. I only spent 2 Euro today – 2 pastizzi’s and 2 bottles of water. That’s pretty good. I bought the water from a place in Independence Square called “Red Café” because it was the only place open. I’ve now had 2 “bad” experiences there so I don’t know that I’ll go back. The first time I was there, the girl in the kitchen was having a psycho spazz attack yelling and screaming at her family and slamming things around. I was just about to give up when she approached the counter and I felt if I didn’t order something she might murder me. Then today I walked in and there were about 6 men watching the Man U vs. Man City game (the score was 3 – 3 at the time) and NONE of them got up to take care of me. So I finally asked one of them if I could still buy something and he said yes and then just yelled to the back for the woman to come out and take care of me. I then stood there for a good five minutes (I’m not sure the poor woman heard him) waiting. Would it have killed him to get up and ring me up for 2 bottles of water? I realize the game was on but jeez.

…oh good lord – I just realized those bells are being rung by HAND. There are dudes up in that bell tower ringing them! HS. And they are going on a solid 25 minutes here….Hahaha – I think I hear a young girl in the square yelling at the guys in the bell tower to shut up! You tell ‘em girl! She’s about 5 and pushing a little doll around in a stroller. I’m sure it’s gotta be tough to get a baby to sleep in these conditions!