As long as it wasn’t the type where you have 5 musholla’s within 200 meters of eachother all cranking the volume to 11 - at that point it’s more like a death metal concert and not as pleasant…
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I forgot to mention that… as well as the church bells across the road… we have 3 chiming clocks in our house… which all sound very different from each other… and never actually chime at the same moment… always a little bit here and there… 
When I moved to France many years ago it was the silence that I found disturbing to start with.
After living on the outskirts of a large town in the UK with all the traffic noise, light pollution, music etc; it was strange to actually have dark and silent nights.
After several weeks here I wondered how I had actually managed to live so long with such noise around me.
I still live in a very rural part of France, the only difference is that I now live very close to a large farm. I actually find the noise of the cows calling to each other during the very early hours quite soothing. 
The first thing that hits me when I get to the house isn’t the beautiful scenery , it’s the silence
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This matter of melodiousness is never going to be settled without a referendum.
Clanking ironmongery versus tortured tonsils?
The people must decide! It’s a once-in-a-generation decision that will be binding on us all.
There will have to be provision for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, of course. For deaf people signing may well be melodiouser than lip-reading.
And I was under the impression that France is a secular country? 
As a Buddhist I favour gongs and trumpets made out of human thigh-bones. That’s music!
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I have a lovely gently chiming clock which both my children hate. Fortunately my 6 year old grandson loves clocks so it will be his when we die.
Mine have come on down the generations too… nothing fancy, but all have lovely mellow chimes just in slightly different keys…
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I can’t be comfortable with that, Ann. Cows mooing, coughing and panting grates on my nerves. Now if it were pigs grunting, snorting and squealing, we might be on the same page. Dogs howling, whining and yapping is not at all bad, but my small-hours meditations are best served by many lambs bleating sorrowfully and incessantly to be fed. Bliss.
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Wendy,
This is particularly sad for me, I went to school in Sandwich & lived in a near by village & on a cold clear winters day could hear the church bells of Sandwich ringing whilst on the marshes.
" France is a Christian country "
We are not, we are a secular republic with an historic christian culture, but it has been over a century since the law on separation of church and state was passed and there is no recognition of religion qua dogma in public life.
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Thank you, Veronique, for making those facts clear. Is it true that it is illegal to wear anything to signify one’s religion ie, a crucifix or headfscarf?
Yes a real shame, my mothers family lived in Moat Sole, but we had a flat above the tobacconist right by the church (Jezzards) for a year in 1966. My dad used to be on the rota to ring the 8pm curfew bell too, I think that is now a recording!
I’m sure Vero will come back on this… but, as far as I am aware… and certainly from observations…
Where I live in general… and at the Mairie, the school and the post-office… there are no overt signs of any religion. If someone is wearing a crucifix (or whatever) under their clothing… and thus hidden from view… well, that is impossible to say…
Of course, there are the ancient crosses dotted about the countryside/chemins… and some in the cemetery… and the church has a large cross right at the tip-top of its steeple…
Public servants must not overtly display any signs of religious or other affiliation, whatever they may be.
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That makes sense! I lived in a Mulsim country for 40+ years and wore my crucifix necklace, a gift from a Muslim lady, under the advice of a friend. My husband always introduced me as being ‘mutawa’ (religious). I also wore hats which had been a childhood habit as we lived in a hot country, nothing to do with religion.
Well a crucifix makes you ahl al kitab, so a monotheist, so OK in theory. Which country did you live in? It makes a huge difference, tolerance isn’t evenly spread.
I don’t know where you live, but if I go into Macon about 30k from here, there is an abundance of women wearing Islamic clothing.