While friends and I were taking our early morning walk in the Berg River Boulevard on Monday and were once again left with our hearts racing when another loud motorcyle came screeching past us.
This often occurs, and many times it is scrambler-type motorcycles that speed, with exhausts that are either faulty or purposely modified to make a huge racket.
This brings me to the thought of noise pollution and the “Toringkerk” saga.
The church was forced by just two people living close by to shut down the ringing of the church bell, because of supposed noise pollution. The municipality vetoed this complaint, but many years later the church’s historic bell, which for years had been the heartbeat of Paarl, was shut down.
It remains a disgrace that Drakenstein Municipality has not assisted the church, a historical and important beacon in Paarl, in continuing to ring its bell just as it had done to everyone’s pleasure for well over 100 years.
