the bells

2016-04-01 11:20 · 1 min

Kundera turns 87 today.

I went up to Petrov this Friday morning to hear the bells. In Brno the cathedral rings noon at eleven o'clock. The story is that in 1645 the Swedish army was besieging the city, and their general promised to give up if he hadn't taken Brno by noon. So the bell ringer rang twelve an hour early, and the Swedes went home.

So here noon comes early every day, and nobody minds. Tourists check their phones. Locals don't.

I counted the strokes. Twelve, at eleven. Then I came home to have lunch at the wrong time, on purpose.