Jingle Bells (and 100 Posts!)

Jingle bells. Today’s title is not a holdover from the holidays, nor some last desperate grasping to that “special time of year.”

No, it refers to a certain quirky detail I’ve noticed since my return to Paris. A small, but funny mystery.

My jetlagged haze might have kept me from registering this the first few days, but since late last week, I’ve been hearing an odd jingling of bells at random intervals throughout the day. The sound is audible in my apartment, though it’s not in my apartment. I have no idea the source.

These are not church bells. Nor are they like clanging cow bells (though they’re much closer to this!)

You know I don’t shy away from mysteries (and have been known to be sneaky), but I don’t even know what I’d go around doing to try to figure this one out. Listen behind neighbors’ doors? What good would that do? I already know what it sounds like! I want to see this thing.

I’m also lamenting my failure of imagination (and I call myself a fiction writer!) I cannot for the life of me imagine what these clattering bells might be.

The best explanation I can come up with is that they’re somehow attached to a toilet and they ring every time there’s a flush. The frequency of the bells, their duration, and the fact that I hear them most clearly in my own bathroom have led me to this conclusion.

I can’t quite fathom the contraption, though. What would clang this way? What exactly does a flushing toilet need bells for? Is this some water-saving device? Does it simply spread joy in the loo?

Another theory is that it’s somehow tied to the elevator. Some squeaky machinery that for some reason, sounds like bells to me.

I’m letting go of the questioning for now, though. Kind of a goal for this new year: accept the random, quirky joys, these little mysteries of life. Nothing wrong with jingling bells each time someone’s on the john, right? Or an extra lift in the elevator. (What will they think of next?)

Any theories? A bit afraid to ask as I’m sure there’s a simple, obvious answer and I’ll be embarrassed by my silliness. Then again, I am silly.

Any random, wonderful little mysteries in your life these days?

Oh yes! And this is post #100! Another joyful thing to me, too. Thanks to Keith for doing a nice little write-up for my blogiversary. I wonder what I can celebrate next.

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