Every day I wonder what drivers are in such a rush about. Doesn't revving motors waste expensive gas? There's been a dramatic increase in fatal accidents, mainly involving motorcycles, and pedestrians keep getting killed here. In the time it took to write the above three sentences, I heard three speeding motorcycles, one revving engine, and two sirens. It's not even 8am yet. Where are they in such a hurry to get to on a saturday morning?
But I'm being brave and not wearing headphones at the moment. I use earplugs to sleep through the night, then spend about an hour bare-eared while drinking my morning coffee and eating breakfast. Sometimes it's so loud I delay breakfast. Then I wear headphones again until bedtime, excluding meals.
I have stronger noise canceling headphones on the way, more earplugs in the mailbox, and ordered more thick curtains. The weatherstripping needs repair. There's still a few more holes to spackle around the windows. N was going to help me install cork on a few walls, but I'd rather struggle with it myself or postpone until he's calm and grounded, if that ever happens. I have playlists full of white noise, green noise, brown noise, nature sounds, etc, and air filters I leave on throughout the day for noise masking. Every day is a battle.
Except when it rains! Oh glorious rain! Rain scares all the motorcycles away, and only then do I experience blissful, recharging, heavenly silence. Then I can even open my windows.
Summer is hell. I love the warmth, but summer now comes with packs of angry dirt bikes and tourists rumbling their shitty motors everywhere. Without any peace, I'm a tired zombie all summer. So now is the time to fortify my sanctuary.
They're trying to introduce new laws to keep people from speeding, but the auto industry will likely suppress efforts toward improved quality of life. There's an elementary school next door but people carelessly roar past the kids at 100mph without remorse. My animals are stressed by the noise, so it can't be good for humans. People who live near major roads die younger, with higher rates of strokes and heart attacks.
I inquired about expensive window panels but they may not be very effective due to my windows being weird. I keep browsing redfin but the only places for sale are on major highways or near an airport. It would suck to move all the way to the forest, only to encounter the same problems as here, but in a food desert.
It's wild that just one narcisstic motorcyclist can disrupt the sleep of thousands of people at once, scaring animals and making babies cry, yet we all protect his freedom. It's a weird society we live in, where robots and motors and fossil fuels are king, and nature and humans are backed into a corner.
They say exposure therapy works, but I've been exposed to the noise since 2009 and it's only gotten worse.
There's a town in Spain that transitioned to a car-free city, when they realized everyone in town had become depressed as a result of constant noise torture. The changes didn't happen overnight, but little by little, they made roundabouts to reduce speed and revving engines. They made car-free zones in residential areas. They realized that most traffic was caused by cars looking for parking, so they made a parking area in a car-designated zone, clearing up the central area of the city for pedestrians. It was good for business, as more people wanted to be out enjoying the day and walking around. Crime fell dramatically. People started living longer. Tourism skyrocketed and their economy improved. Why doesn't everyone do this?
saturday - 2024-01-27