Although there are a lot of sounds of the city I could probably live without (garbage trucks at 6:30AM, drunken students at 2AM), sometimes living close to your neighbors has its rewards.
A couple of houses down there's a guy who sits in his backyard and plays the accordion.
It feels so civilized to sit on the porch and listen to him play tonight, after a long day laboring painting the fence.
My favourite experience of a "city living" sound is walking along a street after dark and hearing the sounds of someone practicing on the piano. Granted, this happens a lot more often in Vienna than in Boston.
ReplyDelete1 sound I could live without - the street cleaner announcement truck PA.
ReplyDelete1 sound I love - the clicking of the cicadas(?) in the Fall.
One of my neighbors in Cambridge played the accordion... it was the oddest thing when I first heard them one evening.
My first apartment in Boston was a dilapidated brownstone near the Fenway. One of my roommates was an electrical engineer who played the cello. Waking up to a grey morning and the deep sounds of his music, I'd stare up at the peeling, cracked paint on my ceiling and imagine this being the opening scene of some Wim Wenders film.
ReplyDeleteThe picture that you describe is crying out for a porch swing for both of you to sit on and enjoy the breeze as it swings from summer to autumn.