Sitting on my front steps at lunch time yesterday I could not believe how quiet everything was. I am 3 small alley ways from the main intersection. I live in a city with over 25 million people. There are always cars and scooters dominating the roads and sidewalks. But yesterday, there were no cars, no scooters, no motorcycles or trucks on my little alley. A rare occurrence.
But as I sat quietly on my steps having an Ice Americano from my small local Cafe Lewis, I realized it was still anything but quiet.
Just in the ten minutes I sat there I could hear dozens of sounds, a cat meowing, a dog barking, people in the apartment across the street talking, a washing machine somewhere, a few bird chirping, the distant sound of those motor vehicles milling through the streets, a dead leaf tumbling down my steps, the high heels of a woman marching down her marble steps, maybe a water pump across the street, a lady 2 buildings down dumping her leftover foods into the food recycling can, a short but louder sound of a helicopter flying overhead, a slight breeze could be heard hurrying down the narrow alley, the megaphone perched on top of a truck passing by streets away with the Korean voice selling what sounded like fruit 7 pieces for 5,000won, there is a playground maybe 2 alleys down and the children were laughing and playing, a lady hanging up laundry to dry maybe 4 doors down (did not know this made a sound but it does), the ice stirring around in my cup and finally the bass line of the song I was about to practice.
My quiet street had so many sounds that are ignored when walking up my steps right in the apartment, but because of the great weather and having no need to rush I got to enjoy those sounds.
But as I sat quietly on my steps having an Ice Americano from my small local Cafe Lewis, I realized it was still anything but quiet.
Just in the ten minutes I sat there I could hear dozens of sounds, a cat meowing, a dog barking, people in the apartment across the street talking, a washing machine somewhere, a few bird chirping, the distant sound of those motor vehicles milling through the streets, a dead leaf tumbling down my steps, the high heels of a woman marching down her marble steps, maybe a water pump across the street, a lady 2 buildings down dumping her leftover foods into the food recycling can, a short but louder sound of a helicopter flying overhead, a slight breeze could be heard hurrying down the narrow alley, the megaphone perched on top of a truck passing by streets away with the Korean voice selling what sounded like fruit 7 pieces for 5,000won, there is a playground maybe 2 alleys down and the children were laughing and playing, a lady hanging up laundry to dry maybe 4 doors down (did not know this made a sound but it does), the ice stirring around in my cup and finally the bass line of the song I was about to practice.
My quiet street had so many sounds that are ignored when walking up my steps right in the apartment, but because of the great weather and having no need to rush I got to enjoy those sounds.
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