I thought I’d try something new today and offer you the noises of my neighborhood. Listening to five minutes of audio might be a bit tedious, so I thought I’d try giving you a more wordy version. If you find this interesting, I invite you to play along in the comments or on your own piece of the internet. If you do take part, consider telling us your town, your location (work, home, cafe), and the day and time:

D.C., The Burrow, Saturday, 2:15-2:20 p.m.

The apartment is quiet. The cats must be asleep. The only noises inside are the humming of my computer and the typing on my keyboard. Outside is another story:

Cars passing.
Two car doors.
Children talking. An adult woman is with them.
Something drops.
Muffled laughter in the distance.
Woman explaining something to a young child.
A siren in the distance.
A single toot of a horn. The light must have changed.
Squeaky brakes.
Motorcycle accelerating and then fading into the distance.
Birds.
More brakes.
A car idling at the light.
Cars passing.
More brakes.
A deep rumbling truck in the distance.
An airplane heading in to land at National.
A child.
Birds.
Door slam.
A woman’s voice, then the child again.
Traffic, including a bus.
The breeze.
A car passes.
Brakes.
A car horn toots.
Traffic.
A loud bird cheeps repeatedly.
Brakes — probably a taxi.
A child.
The bird is angry.
A man.
Cars idling.

Probably the part you’d notice if this were audio, rather than narration is that the cars passing by are pretty nonstop, although not necessarily heavy. And, actually, for my neighborhood on a Saturday, this was pretty quiet.

An interesting study. I think I’d like to try it again sometime.