Simplifying Life - Mark II

ceridwen

annie123

That night's sleep in the Thai cove sounds lovely!

I've often argued that silence is rejuvenating. I guess that part of the reason why its so difficult to get some peace and quiet in our noisy society is because there are some people who start feeling anxious and apparently sort of "threatened" by silence. If we all found it pleasurable and rejuvenating - then I think it would be easier to get what I regard as a necessity of life. I do know what you mean by being able to "hear the silence".

Well - if theres no reasons keeping you there in London anymore - it does sound logical to move now to somewhere where you will feel more at home. Let us know how the discussions with D.H. go..

mardatha

I couldnt stand city life, I would go mad fast. We are very quiet here but can hear traffic on the A7 very faintly. My son had a rented cottage a few years ago, a gamekeepers cottage, and the silence was so loud you felt your eardrums ready to burst. That was too quiet!
We have no light pollution either, tons and tons of stars, fabulous.
On our break a few weeks ago we sat one night on a concrete jetty up in the north west of Scotland, watchig the sun go down behind the mountains on Mull. The water was inky black on both sides and smooth as silk, the only lights were the buoys out on the water twinkling, and very faint sounds of a boat coming home. It was the most magic time I've had in ages.
People who live in cities are deprived of life & its so sad.

ceridwen

Mardatha - your "sit" on the jetty sounds good as well. Being able to see loads of stars would be good - I do have light pollution blocking a lot of them out where I am (so miss out on one of my little pleasures - of gazing on the night sky and remembering how small our problems are compared with the vastness of the Universe). I know what you mean by "silence so loud you feel your eardrums could burst" - errr....well actually.....I even like it THAT silent if I get the chance. Though - best in my book - is just a total absence of "manmade" noise - but some wind/rain/birdsong is fine. I dont even like a distant quiet road level of noise.
"In silence cometh wisdom" is a little phrase I have - not to mention a quieter mind/greater peace of mind.

.....and I live in a city...cant think why the phrase "round peg in square hole" comes to mind!;)I found it amusing on a foraging course in the country recently that the conversation was about "city people" (said in a derogatory tone of voice) at one point - to which I pointed out that I am a "city person" and got told "You're different - you're a country person!" (Must have been how scruffily I was dressed!) I do like the level of activity that goes on in a city - the amount of events happening and the large choice of places to eat out if required - though I think a quiet location in a (right for me type) market town with reasonable countryside nearby would probably suit me best..


Well....maybe..once retirement comes....though there is a certain mother of mine nearby who would object strenuously if I moved very far away from her...:cool:

mary43

ceridwen - I live in a small market town.........sadly there's not enough green quiet space for my liking though.
Where I lived before was also a small market town but with a massive natural park, somewhere to take a walk or just sit and contemplate life in the silence -all that could be heard was the birds singing...........a sound I just love.
Nearest I get to that now is sitting in the garden near our wildlife pond when all the kids in the neighbourhood are at school or when I visit my friend - she's got a brilliant place in the country - no neighbours, just fields.......beautiful.
Mind you, I do like having neighbours - nice to know there's someone around if I need any help of any sort and OH's not around.

beemuzed

I love the sound of silence too! We live on the edge of a lovely market town, somewhat bigger than when we arrived 25 years ago, but still pretty peaceful. We have a fantastic view over fields and woodlands and I always love coming home after visiting DS and family in London. Makes me count my blessings!
Yes, December does mean retirement. Folks keep asking what I'm going to do - I'm stopping for goodness sake! Seriously, am just looking forward to being less stressed and with more time to enjoy living at a more leisurely and more OS pace. I think I'll be dropping in here more often, if that's OK?

PasturesNew

I need silence. When a neighbour makes a noise or there is an unexpected noise from outside that disturbs me (last night teens shouting to each other as they walked home), it can be 2-3 hours before my heart rate comes down again and my body is off "high alert".

I was brought up in quieter times and in a village, our 1/4 acre garden ended in fields and fields of corn.

What annoys me often (you see it on TV) is when people who have a noisy lifestyle, on house programmes, say they want to move to a more rural area. They then move in and inflict the noise of their hobbies/children on the surrounding peace. "We want somewhere peaceful so XXX can enjoy his motorbike hobby, our child XXX can have a big trampoline in the garden and our son XXX can play the drums without neighbours banging on the walls"



At night I go outside (I smoke), 2am, 3am, 4am, all sorts of times. I live 2 miles from a city centre but there's a bit of grass and there are lots of trees locally. At night, it's just me and some lovely widlife. I've got squirrels and a hedgehog, the occasional cat, a few birds (one sits and sings all through the night in his tree which is under a streetlight, I think he doesn't know it's night).

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

I know myself how I want my home environment to have total silence (apart from anything I am doing) - though I enjoy "natural" sound - I like hearing rain, wind, birds. Its the "unnatural" variety that can be a nuisance sometimes.

I often think if I were able to have some "impossible" wishes - one of them would be an invisible "sound blanket" surrounding my home and garden - that only "natural" sounds could get through - well one can dream....

I have almost exactly that.

I once lived opposite a railway and tube station with good yard, in London. I got used to the noise except on Saturday nights when a gang of labourers with a whistle (to coordinate the choreography of throwing the rails into position) mended the train lines at regular intervals. Neighbour also had very noisy, frequent parties, to which they invited us but we wanted our sleep more than to boogy at 3am.

Each time I moved I got a better property until I ended up in the sticks on a retirement estate. So quiet you could hear a gnat's eyelash drop. It's not the paradise it would seem. The warm air central heating was old and clapped out so during the winter it sounded like sleeping next to the engine room of a ship, no other sounds to drown it out. It's now replaced and not so bad. When DS is away overnight I can hear the tiniest noise and have been woken by a screech owl, a wailing cat and a cuckoo. Anything that makes the slightest noise, like a neighbour's cat climbing the wooden fence, sounds soooo loud when it's so quiet. Then the bombshell. I realised that the distant humming I could hear wasn't the combines getting the harvest in. I have permanent tinnitus which gets worse if I have a cold. I'm thinking about getting a ticking clock so I can blot out the tinnitus and a dog on whom I can blame all the things that go bonk in the night when DS isn't here.

ceridwen

beemuzed wrote: »

I think I'll be dropping in here more often, if that's OK?

But of course.....we'll get t'kettle on!:rolleyes:

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

I have almost exactly that.

I once lived opposite a railway and tube station with good yard, in London. I got used to the noise except on Saturday nights when a gang of labourers with a whistle (to coordinate the choreography of throwing the rails into position) mended the train lines at regular intervals. Neighbour also had very noisy, frequent parties, to which they invited us but we wanted our sleep more than to boogy at 3am.

Each time I moved I got a better property until I ended up in the sticks on a retirement estate. So quiet you could hear a gnat's eyelash drop. It's not the paradise it would seem. The warm air central heating was old and clapped out so during the winter it sounded like sleeping next to the engine room of a ship, no other sounds to drown it out. It's now replaced and not so bad. When DS is away overnight I can hear the tiniest noise and have been woken by a screech owl, a wailing cat and a cuckoo. Anything that makes the slightest noise, like a neighbour's cat climbing the wooden fence, sounds soooo loud when it's so quiet. Then the bombshell. I realised that the distant humming I could hear wasn't the combines getting the harvest in. I have permanent tinnitus which gets worse if I have a cold. I'm thinking about getting a ticking clock so I can blot out the tinnitus and a dog on whom I can blame all the things that go bonk in the night when DS isn't here.

Perhaps one of those "white noise" machines might help with the tinnitus? I gather, as well, that theres a support group for it - where you might pick up some ideas.

I'd hate to have that from what I've heard of it - so you have my sympathies on that. I've been in a place for some days before now where I could hear "The Hum" (which is just that - a constant low-level Hum). I dont think anyone has worked out for sure what causes it - but I guess modern technology is at the route of it somewheres - and that drove me "nuts" and I could really sympathise with people who have a combination of sensitive hearing and living somewhere where "The Hum" is audible.

Just a quick thought - I guess you've already checked whether you hear this noise when you are elsewhere (ie some miles away) - to see for sure that it IS tinnitus - rather than "The Hum"??

ceridwen

I've found a couple of useful links for anyone wondering what I am on about mentioning "The Hum"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

http://homepages.tesco.net/~John.Dawes2/