If there is one thing I will remember about the pandemic in 2020, it would be noise. The year was noisy, full of the sounds of boring, drilling, hammering, chopping, sanding floors, heavy construction, renovation, vacuuming, loud radios playing while all of the above occurred, and the loud coarse voices of the construction workers to accompany it all. It seems as though every apartment in our co-op complex decided to embark on some type of renovation project. It’s been a super annoying year in that respect. Apartments to the left of us, over us, under us. This is what the pandemic has wrought—young couples with money to burn, ripping out kitchens that are under three years old to put in new trendy state-of-the-art kitchens (that no longer even resemble kitchens), knocking down walls to create open spaces, moving kitchens to where the bedrooms used to be, and so on. Nowadays, the sky’s the limit when it comes to apartment design. There’s nothing you can’t do, it seems (except knock down a support wall). The problem of course is that someone’s kitchen ends up being situated over someone else’s bedroom. Or someone’s extended bathroom ends up situated over someone else’s walk-in closet. It’s a mess of rooms; no one really knows where bedrooms or kitchens will be located from apartment to apartment; it’s anyone’s guess.
2021 will hopefully be a less noisy year. But there is no
guarantee. Last week and this week saw the installation of new fire alarm
equipment in the hallways of our co-op complex—with the attendant drilling and
boring through concrete to run new electrical cables from basement to attic. Working at home has
been and is a challenge when faced with this kind of noise and last year’s
noise. During the spring and summer I could take refuge in my garden, where
there is peace to be found. The only noises there are the buzzing of the
bumblebees and the chattering of the birds. Those are sounds I love.
I read recently in the NY Times that marine life is dealing
with a similar problem—unbearable ocean noise (In
the Oceans, the Volume Is Rising as Never Before - The New York Times
(nytimes.com). The article states “But
humans — and their ships, seismic surveys, air guns, pile drivers, dynamite
fishing, drilling platforms, speedboats and even surfing — have made the ocean
an unbearably noisy place for marine life”. It doesn’t surprise me that this
is a problem at sea, when it is a huge problem on land. Again, I conclude that many
human beings are uncomfortable with quiet, because when they experience quiet,
they might begin to think and reflect upon the state of their lives, and they
can’t abide that. Better to have the television on 24/7, or the radio, or to
have their earphones on listening to music on their smart phones. Whatever can
distract them from the unbearable experience of getting to know themselves.
Not me. I want quiet, I crave quiet. I crave the absence of
noise. I look forward to the day when the boring, drilling, hammering,
chopping, sanding floors, heavy construction, renovation, vacuuming, loud
radios playing while all of the above occurred, and the loud coarse voices of
the construction workers, come to an end. I will pop open a bottle of champagne
and happily listen to the cork popping and not much else. I will rejoice in the
silence. I will raise my glass in a toast to the silence.
