bee in britain: DAY HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT - www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1YTI6XGrg

Myfanwy asked as I was going out the door this morning, a little before noon: ‘got an umbrella?’ No, no rain in the forecast. ‘Taking more of a coat than that? You’ve dressed like it’s practically summer.’ No, it’s warmer than it was yesterday. (I was wearing a hoodie.) Man, it’s practically balmy out here today – a lovely 54° Fahrenheit!

Today’s ‘Christianity from Jewish Sect to Roman State Religion’ discussion centered on the influence Gnosticism did or did not have, as the case may be, upon the development of early Christianity, specifically as seen in The Gospels and other early texts. Professor Philip was the first to admit Gnostic ideologies are weird stuff, way outside our modern way of thinking, can definitely be interpreted as mixed up and complicated. He said he preferred to attack it from top down, rather than bottom up – which concept I especially liked. Another interesting point to me was that soon after Jesus had left the earth the question as to what constitutes being a Christian – who is and who is not – began. (Sound at all familiar?) Seeing as how we have a fairly stoic group, Phil said he really appreciated the several questions/comments I made - anything to help stimulate the class. Along the similar lines, a little different lecture methods, on the professor’s part, led to improved classroom interaction today – somewhat more than usual – and greater synergy resulted. (Interesting that in taking roll, the first and second years (freshmen and sophomore students to us) are found together on the same list, while the third years appear separately.)

One can hardly envision the university without thinking of its eye-catching clock tower, affectionately known as ‘Old Joe.’ Without question it is the most prominent of any landmark in all of Selly Oak and surrounding burghs – thus Oliver’s corrective comment when I said I looked right across at it from window atop my bedroom loft – ‘oh, you don’t either!’ thinking how could that be true when you can behold it from pretty much EVERYWHERE in his world. Couldn’t possibly be the same clock tower! Makes sense. Anyway, the bells ring out every quarter hour (all night long, as well), with the exact same tones as the carillon bells at BYU – the Westminster* chimes, or quarters.

*[When I first came to England, coming from my American English context, I assumed that when I heard the word ‘minster,’ meaning church, found in a number of contexts, it had a second ‘i’ in it and was really ‘minister,’ just being said differently. (There probably is a connection – actually no, there’s not. While the word ‘minster’ derives from Latin for ‘monastery,’ ‘minster’ comes from a totally different word meaning ‘to serve,’’ also Latin.]

Hearing that sound, I can’t help but feel right at home! (In fact, I am within closer walking distance to this university than I am to my own back in Provo.) The only difference is that from this clock tower the time is EXACTLY two minutes off, Greenwich (pronounced Grenich) Mean Time. (At least that’s what I THOUGHT until I finally humbled myself enough to discover that in truth it was MY computer that was off. Oh, cheeky girl, so sure of yourself – I am no better than four year-old Oliver! Leah had suggested that idea as the culprit, but I rejoined confidently, ‘Definitely no, the time on a computer is tied to a satellite somewhere out in space, beaming it impeccably down to earth – so IT can’t be wrong.’ Yeah right! Well, here’s me once again with egg ALL over my face!!)

In the mid-19th century, the chimes (originally known as the Cambridge chimes from its place of origin, the church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge) was adopted by the clock tower known by its nickname Big Ben, at the Palace of Westminster in London, meeting place for the House of Lords and the House of Commons, from whence its fame spread. (Okay, now I’ve totally confused myself? I see there is a Palace of Westminster, a Westminster Abbey, AND a Westminster Cathedral – AND each of them is a totally separate entity. Now, how bewildering is that?!) The Westminster Chimes are now possibly the most commonly used chime for striking clocks in the entire world – Big Ben, no doubt, the most famous of them all. It is traditionally believed to be a set of variations on the four notes that make up the fifth and sixth measures of 'I Know that my Redeemer Liveth,' from Handel's Messiah, though the claim is unsubstantiated. I’ve been trying carefully to listen to the tones, trying to make sense of them – to get my head around some sort of pattern, but so far it escapes me. Never fear, the internet has an answer for that: this particular chime – tuned to the key of F major with the hour bell sounding E – strikes four notes on the quarter hour, eight notes on the half hour, twelve notes on the three quarter hour, and on the hour chimes sixteen notes, at which point it then strikes the appropriate numbers of hours – up to twelve – unless, of course, you’re the clock in Tom’s Midnight Garden, where it contrarily strikes thirteen!

For those who care to take a closer look: