Brain bashing noise
Do you have to suffer much noise where you are? Have you noticed how noise has increased in general?
Another sunny day, the grass is green, the birds are singing, and someone is using one of those stone excavating machines that drives a rock through your brain. It’s chtchtchtchtcht sound as it bores down into rock is causing severe distress to my friends who live right by where it’s happening.
A day that started off so well has deteriorated into a bad day. The noise epitomises the complete lack of concern of people who don’t give a damn for the neighbours. Needless to say, the operator of the machine is doing a job for someone else who doesn’t have any idea of the disturbance and anxiety he is causing. Or if he does, then he’s a miserable bastard. This machine is one of the noisiest machines on the planet, only a bullet fired from a gun is louder. We might hear the occasional shot being fired but that’s all it is, not a constant noise like this damn machine.
It is a fact that the world has become a noisier place, with more machines than ever making our lives theoretically easier but screwing with our hearing and mental health. Not only this machine but also leaf blowers make our lives so miserable, on a daily basis. It’s not for nothing I gave in and bought myself some noise cancelling headphones… I find myself wearing them quite a lot.
This little note is dedicated to my dear friends F, L and C who are being traumatised right now by this machine. Last time we were forced to go to the local government’s ecology department to get the machine to stop, and it took weeks and weeks to get it stopped. Let’s hope we don’t have to do that again.
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Tell me about the noise you have to endure. What makes the noise?
How do you cope with increased noise levels?
We live in the historic Old Town (of Hastings) and in a conservation area. At any one point several houses will be having works done and scaffolding up. I don't know what it is about scaffolders but they seem universally unable to 1 work without a radio blaring 2 communicate without shouting 3 shouting without every other word being a swear word. There are currently two competing lots of builders within 50 metres of our house. I had to shout out of the window at one bunch the other day as I couldn't hear a call I was on even with headphones!