Every place has its sound, that ambient noise which you become accustomed to over time. Here in Summerside, the wind is the one which has impressed me. The days without wind or a breeze are remarkable.
Our few days in Halifax recently did not give us time to settle on a sound which represented that city. However, the sounds were different from those we hear daily.
The fog horn was busy. While we are Newfoundland born, for most of our lives we lived in central Newfoundland where there was little fog. Now in Prince Edward Island, Summerside has fog occasionally but we have not heard a fog horn. Halifax was reminiscent of my youth in eastern Newfoundland where fog is a way of life and the fog horn signals a way through the atmospheric pea soup.
We stayed downtown in Halifax, not far from the train station. The sound of the train is also reminiscent of our younger years. As children, both my husband and I knew the sound of a train but it impacted our lives in more important ways as family members worked with the railway. That sound put food on the table. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island lost their railways in 1989. The sound of the train in Halifax was a welcome comfort.
The air conditioning in the hotel room was noisy. Living in eastern Canada, there is usually a breeze and temperatures are rarely high for long. At home, our air conditioner is an open window, not a noisy machine, though we have one which we have used on one occasion.
We turned off the air conditioner in the hotel room and opened a window. The downtown traffic was much noisier than in our neighbourhood in Prince Edward Island where many nights, not a car goes up our street. The question became, traffic noise or noisy air conditioner? We opted for the traffic which decreased on the city streets over night.
What is the ambient sound where you live?
42 comments:
Good Morning, We once lived near a train track, and I loved the lonesome sound of the train whistle during the night. I have always disliked air conditioners (like in motel rooms or hospital rooms) that run so loudly. I love to hear wind rustling the leaves on the trees behind our house.
Wishing you a very nice weekend.
Our bedroom backs onto a somewhat busy road although it is certainly not busy as in urban. Anyway, the noise doesn't bothered hearing-impaired me. Sue, who has excellent hearing, manages as well for the most part.
Bellingham has an interstate that goes right through the middle of town, so there are few places where you don't hear it at all. When we were hiking yesterday, you could hear it until we went over a few hills. From my house I can hear it, too, but usually it's more like a faint white noise. And we have train sounds, too. I love the sound of a distant train whistle. :-)
I live right downtown so traffic noise is a constant here too. When I was a kid, I grew up beside the CPR tracks so the sound of trains was my ambient noise in those days. Trains and meadowlarks on the prairie.
I didn't know what ambient noise meant until I read this post. Neato. I have birds singing as I type. It's just part of here. I like it.
Air units is one noise that I never get used it. Ack.
Growing up I did hear a train from a distance, but I also heard cows mooing from a nearby farm. But...I loved to go over my one grandma's house and sit on her porch and watch the traffic! ha. Andrea
i love the sound of a train, people coming, people going...traveling, enjoying life. my first apartment was along a railroad track, we couldn't open the windows, too much dust!!!
It is always amazing how experiencing one of our senses can immediately take us back to our childhood. Our background noise is often the howling wind or if the wind is the right direction the waves crashing on the beach. There is so much birdsong at the moment especially at the beginning and end of the day. Sarah x
One of our homes had a railway line running through a paddock near by. I grew to love the sound of the trains in the small hours.
Here? It changes with the time of the day. As I type, birds are just starting to wake up (it is still dark), later there will be birds, some traffic and a hum of peoples activity...
Here the noise is cars and tractors but as the evening goes on, the noise becomes softer until it's quiet. Then it returns with the morning.
Very silent around here, the wind makes very weird noises as it passes through the trees. Most of the time it reminds me of a calf crying looking for it's mother and for seconds it can be like Gregorian chants. I never lived by a train track and don't think I would like that. I like silence to sleep I must say. Mother's Day weekend here so I wish you a great Mother's Day!!
The leaves in the trees are glorious sounds, Mildred. You are fortunate to have such music in your yard.
I think traffic sounds can become their own music in a sense and you can become accustomed to it over time.
There is something haunting about a distant train whistle, Jan. Love it.
The train sounds on the prairies must carry long distances. The meadow larks would be wonderful!
The birds songs eould be great ambience, HW.
I guess the traffic is an attraction to those who don't see much of it, Andrea.
Trains can carry dreams of travel besides passengers and freight, Debbie.
The sound of the waves would be amazing ambience, Sarah.
Those early morning hours with the birds awake and busy make the loss of sleep by waking early almost worth it, EC.
The lull in the evening is like a signal for rest, Bill.
You would likely grow accustomed to a train, Angela. It would be strange at first though.
Happy Mother's Day to you as well.
When I go to my son's house for overnight child care, I hear a train..... a nice sound when I am safely tucked up in bed.
Loved that post Marie, got me thinking 😊 Here the first thing I hear when I wake up is the birds waking up too. We're four streets away from a main road so early morning and late afternoon there's the faint sounds of cars heading into and out of the city, thinking about it it's pretty quiet around here!
It is a nice sound, Shammickite.
Quiet is good for me too, PDP.
We live in a fairly quiet neighbourhood, the odd dog barking but the prevalent sound is the symphony of birdsong which I love.
An interesting subject for a blog entry Marie. I've never lived in a place with a fog horn but have visited one once and I loved the melancholy tone of it. We have a single train track where I live so the trains are daily but few and far between. Our station is just about the halfway spot between NY City and Tampa, Florida ... it takes 12 hours for us to get to either place ! I love the sound of the train whistle, it's either at 6:30 am or close to midnight.
i forgot to say it is quiet where we live now. only occasionally do i hear children playing outside!!
The fog horn sound is melancholy for sure, Ginnie. Trains to me are comforting. I miss them.
The birdsong is such a great ambient sound. Nature at its best, Judith.
Our neighbour has a daycare, so the sound of children in the backyard is one I hear on fine days as well. Love that sound, Debbie.
Good Morning and blessings to you today. I have the windows open this morn, and the birdsong and rustle of the leaves in the wind are very peaceful.
We are having the same experience here is morning, Mildred. Sunny day, windows open and the birds serenading us through breakfast. It is wonderful we can share the same experience when we live so far away from each other.
The sound where I live is just the glorious sound of silence. I live far out in the country and it is peacefully quiet. I've3 often compared that to the city sounds of where I used to live when I started nature blogging. Traffic sounds used to kind of ruin a good nature video.
I live on the edge of town where it is very quiet and peaceful, except for Wednesdays, and the weekend. I wake up early in the morning and just lie and listen to the dawn chorus and the occasional cat fight, except for Wednesdays, and the weekend. I make a continental breakfast with buckets of coffee and sit in the early morning sun on the patio, listen to the distant mooing of the cows at the farm, except for Wednesdays, and the weekend. On Wednesdays, and the weekend, the roar of the motor bikes and racing cars from the nearby Race Track drowns out everything from dawn to dusk!
The sounds of silence are glorious indeed, Ratty!
I enjoyed your description, Keith. Excepth Wednesday and the weekend.
I remember the wind and how it never stops blowing! Oh my, I do remember! I think I would take the noise of the traffic over the air conditioner too, as bad as a choice that would be!
Where we live, it's the breeze in the trees. But what I remember is the trains out west. When we travelled across the country with our children camping, the long freight trains were hardly ever out of sound!
The wind is part of the landscape, as you well know, Marilyn.
The breeze in the trees is soothing to me, FG.
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