june gloom on 11/4/2011 at 07:46
75 degrees at night in April is just wrong, somehow, so I open a window, which doesn't help. Sure, I could put my headphones on, but with the window open I can hear everything. A distant siren provides a chorus wail to the staccato of a barking dog. The quiet ocean noise of I-75 is occasionally broken by the distant thud of a truck finding a pothole.
Passing trains just after 3 AM on a Sunday night, their whistles a mournful cello crescendo in sharp contrast to the industrial rumble of wheels on rails. It just might be the loneliest sound in the world.
Even out here in the bricks there's still a whistle of wind, a sudden gust shaking the trees, a hopeful hint of thunderstorms to come.
Half the world's gone to bed; the other half's gone to work. No matter what the hour, someone, somewhere, is awake. Someone's got to keep the lights on. Cities are ghost towns at night, vast empty streets, the towering glass monoliths lifeless and dark. The square lights of passing cars crawl across the walls before fading away, and you have to wonder who these people are, driving down lonely streets at this time of night.
I think nighttime is dark so you can imagine your fears, your insecurities, your all-consuming terrors, with less distraction. Is this what adulthood is really supposed to feel like? Awake at impossible hours; wait, worry, who cares?
How does the rest of TTLG fare on their journeys through the night?
Kolya on 11/4/2011 at 16:33
I need some sounds to sleep, preferably city sounds of a tram creaking through a curve somewhere, some drunks laughing down in the street, cars passing by. That's when I feel safe and snug.
I used to have a backyard apartment where you could barely hear a thing. Felt like a grave to me, like I was cut off from the world, all alone. If there's no sound anywhere then everyone could be dead already. :o
Soon I'll be moving into another city. My girlfriend has picked the apartment, I haven't seen it yet apart from some pictures. But I was relieved to hear it's right at a big street.
Koki on 11/4/2011 at 17:38
What the fuck man?
demagogue on 11/4/2011 at 20:33
Manhattan was a special place at night because it literally doesn't sleep like the song says, and you'll hear people still shouting outside at 4:30 am, and the early trucks come in for deliveries 4-6 am, and they're the loudest of all with their shrieking air brakes. Cars are perpetually passing by, sometimes there are massive parades and street fairs and the occasional bagpipe brigade. Since I left it's also left deep images in my dreams and imagination of living 50 stories high, teetering over a maze of buildings and alleys that go on forever, with sights of a vast sea peaking in the distance, from which the horns of distant ships howl as they careen into some hidden port.
DC by contrast is quieter and *slower*! I swear if these pedestrians were put on a street in Manhattan they'd literally get their asses kicked forward by the people walking behind them, or just stampeded into the ground. FFS it's like somebody pushed the slo-mo button on the whole city. Less evocative to the imagination too. What sticks in your mind is how green DC actually is, and of course the blossoms this time of year. This last weekend was the sakura festival, the coming out day for all the Japanese, Japanophiles, and outright otaku. Nothing by NYC standards, but we take what we can get.
Martin Karne on 12/4/2011 at 02:30
I've really bad bad sleeping, when lucky I can sleep without interruption for no more than 3-4 hrs.
I spend mostly of the time looking at the night shadows and stars (not really when outside is cold).
Watching TV cable, playing games, for 1-2 hrs then back to sleep for a 2-3 hrs again.
When I have really bad luck I sleep just 1 hour, and simply have to spend the rest of the night awake, because of several bodily pains.
No complains though I enjoy the blood sucker time schedule mostly.
Peace and calm like no time you can find during the day normal work hours.
Tocky on 12/4/2011 at 04:03
You rarely hear a whippoorwill till around late July when the heat still lingers long after dark. This time of year you get the spring peepers, frogs that peep a chorus in the hollows near ponds and creeks. Mostly there is a steady background of crickets like a ringing in the ears. At some point a dog will bark and be answered by others standing sentinel outside thier dark and scattered homesteads, some quite distant. Rarely a hoot owl will do the same and get that distant answer. When the creek is up the gurgling water covers most other sounds. Except the screaming.
Vasquez on 12/4/2011 at 04:47
Quote Posted by Kolya
I need some sounds to sleep, preferably city sounds of a tram creaking through a curve somewhere, some drunks laughing down in the street, cars passing by. That's when I feel safe and snug.
Eeerrk :D For me human voices are the most alarming, and traffic noise is really disturbing. I sleep the best in sounds of nature. When it's warm enough at the summer place, I get up at sunrise (around 2-3 am in summer) to open the door wide, let in the cool air and bird song and rustling of moles and mice and buzz of waking flies and bees. I sleep well even through thunderstorms, but even a murmur of human voice stirs me up instantly.
Dia on 12/4/2011 at 13:33
I used to live in a rural area where, except for the occasional car or truck, all you could hear at night were the sounds of nature. The sound of the crickets was punctuated only by the croaking of frogs & toads and the wind; the smell of newmown hay from the farmer's field next door permeated the air (no really!). I'd fall asleep feeling that all was right with my world. Now I'm living in a small city suburb and hating it; I can't hear crickets or frogs anymore; just sirens and overly loud car stereos that have the bass turned up to the point that it rattles my windows. The only thing I smell at night are exhaust fumes from cars and the smell of the cooking oil from the next door neighbors' dinner of tacos and refried beans.
Last week there was a drug bust on the house next door to (the north of) mine (who knew?!) involving guns & a swat team. Last evening two police officers came to my door asking if I'd seen a man who'd been living in the house two doors down (to the south) of mine. It appears he's wanted by the law for deadly assault. The man in the picture they showed me didn't look familiar at all, and after they left it took a few hours for my heart to stop racing.
How do I sleep lately? With one eye open.
P.S. Good news is that I'll be moving as soon as I can find a house closer to the Wisc./Ill. state line; some place in a more rural area. I've decided I'm definitely NOT cut out to be a city-dweller.
I miss the smell of manure in the morning.
Kolya on 12/4/2011 at 15:02
Quote Posted by Vasquez
Eeerrk :D For me human voices are the most alarming, and traffic noise is really disturbing.
I think it has mostly to do with where you were born. I'm a city child, so I like the idea of a never resting city where no matter what the hour, people are awake outside and keep the machine running and the neon lights buzzing. And I like the idea, that I can go out at any time and find a bar that's open and people to share a drink with. Not that I do that constantly, but I like the idea. :D
