- Background music in restaurants and shops, especially music I dislike. I prefer silence so I can focus on conversation.
- Music blasting out of people's cars
- Souped-up cars with roaring engines
- Car alarms and security alarms
- Motorbikes
- People having loud phone conversations on public transport
- Leaf blowers. Why can't the leaves just stay where they are?
- People rustling food wrappers in a cinema or theatre
- Mild background noise when I'm falling asleep
- Jenny's occasional snoring
- The sound of pigeons
- The sirens on emergency vehicles
- Planes taking off from the nearby airport
- Chewing noises
- People tapping their feet
- The noise from washing machines
- Chainsaws
Now excuse me while I go and sabotage a few leaf blowers.
Boy. Is that ever true. Quiet has become a rare treasure these days. Some people seem to perceive any silence as a blank canvas they have to fill up with some kind of racket. The loud cell-phone people are especially bad. They seem to feel a need to advertise to the world the importance of whatever stupid conversation they're having, to show off how in-demand they are.
ReplyDeleteInfidel: Indeed, so many people think silence has to be filled with something. Er no, silence is golden.
DeleteI stick earplugs in to focus on something. I now find it comforting. :)
ReplyDeleteLiam: Good idea. But I can focus on things quite easily, even with a bit of background noise.
DeleteI need a lot of silence. My Dave needs music. We've compromised by simply agreeing on the volume of his music. And, if he occasionally gets a song that hurts my ears, he skips that one. And I finally got used to our neighbors talking loudly outside our loosely fitting door. I no longer have the urge to shush them. Most of the time. :)
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: I usually listen to music on headphones, so Jenny isn't disturbed. Our neighbours are pretty quiet, the most noise comes from parents dropping their kids off at the nearby schools.
DeleteI am driven mad by the stuff my husband watches on Netflix. He is driven mad by the cricket stuff I listen to on BBC... we agree to turn down the volume.
ReplyDeleteHelen: Luckily neither of us is interested in cricket and we don't have Netflix! Even Jenny doing scales on the piano doesn't bother me. In fact there's not much she does that bothers me.
DeleteJoanne says "Most of the noises you mention are temporary, but loud music over a public venue is just off putting to me."
ReplyDeleteJoanne: They may be temporary but they still irritate the hell out of me! And yes, why are we constantly followed around with loud music?
DeleteThe music blasting from cars and from neighbors in my apartment complex is what bothers me the most.
ReplyDeleteMary: Especially annoying when it's music you absolutely can't stand!
DeleteWe once had an apartment neighbor who came home from work at 3 am and blasted reggae music. Fortunately, he wasn't there long. I'm guessing someone else complained since I didn't do so even though I thought about it.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: Some people are so self-absorbed they're utterly oblivious to other people's well-being.
DeleteI can usually tune out anything but the scraping of chairs on tiles will have me going mad for some reason. I realized how intolerant I was getting last time I stayed in Toronto and just about everything drove me mad, the sirens the subways the noise from a highway quite a distance off. It was then I realized that the peace out here had changed me completely, thus the chair noise now irritating me.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: I can imagine if you're used to the peace and quiet of St John's all the city noise in Toronto would really get on your nerves.
DeleteWhat can I say? I work in absolute silence. I jump out of my skin when the phone rings.
ReplyDeleteOutside noises, those that are necessary, think bin men at six in the morning, I have a way of blending out. Even a bee in my bonnet I will tolerate, particularly when it sits still for a moment.
U
Ursula: Our bin men don't come round till at least 7 am, by which time I'm getting up so I'm not bothered. Luckily I've never had a bee in my bonnet, but I did once get a wasp up my sleeve.
DeleteMy kitchen extractor fan is something i can tune out but theres a huge sense of relief when I turn it off. I'm noticing the same with the air conditioning at work and the hum inside aircraft.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time I just didn't notice those noises and now I notice them mostly by their absence
Kylie: Our extractor fan is pretty loud too, so we tend not to use it. I certainly notice all the school traffic by its absence when the schools are closed!
DeleteI've never seen the point of blowing leaves around. I am getting deafer so miss a lot I think.
ReplyDeleteLiz: I've still got good hearing but I no longer have any sense of smell.
DeleteI agree about loud cars with things done to make them even louder! Why?!? People talking on speaker phone in public or offices without closing their doors is the one that really annoys me. I don't want or need to hear either side, and certainly not both sides, of their loud conversations.
ReplyDeleteDanielle: The car thing is just attention-seeking, isn't it? "Look at my fancy souped-up motor, don't you wish you had one?" As for phones, I suppose even before mobiles/cells some people would always talk loudly on phones, as if the other person was deaf.
DeleteThe list of loud dislikes was a good one, Nick, and I can agree with so many especially loud music in eateries. I have been known to ask if it could be tuned down because like yourself, I would like to talk and hear what's being said by myself and others. Another one I can add to the list is people carrying on cell phone chats while in a line, anywhere. My husband has been diagnosed with tinnitus and tells me it's a constant ringing in his ear. His has been diagnosed from his service days when he served on an aircraft carrier and planes landed on the deck.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: We occasionally ask for background music to be turned down. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. We're probably dismissed as sad weirdos. Sorry to hear about Grenville's tinnitus. It must be infuriating at times.
Delete