Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Are you thinking the grass is greener?

If you’re considering moving out of the city for a quieter life may I humbly suggest that you stay put. Yes, there’s less traffic and the silence at night is black and velvety. But the days…good grief, the days are a whole different ballgame.

When you don’t have concrete, you have grass. And when you have grass, you have to mow the stuff. And the good citizens of Fibrotown could mow for Australia. Well, in my block they could anyway.

I say block but I could say blocks. I can hear every mower start up within a 3K radius. There’s no other interference, you see, and not much competition to occupy the sound waves around here. I swear that there are residents of this area that are mowing daily. They must be. There’s no other explanation. If the grass grows a millimetre, they’re on it. Perhaps they’re practising lawn bowls in the backyard, who knows?

All I know is that the quiet of my days is shattered regularly by the throaty roar of a petrol mower and the whine of a whipper snipper. They start as early as 8am and last until dusk (that’s usually us, admittedly). In a strange phenomenon, you never hear two at once. It’s as though they can’t bear to challenge each others’ noise superiority. Like soul divas, each awaits their turn in the spotlight.

The only consolation is that the blower is not in fashion in these parts. The preferred method of clean-up is the mower with catcher and the good old-fashioned rake.

Small mercies.

All I’m saying is that the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence – but there’ll be someone waiting there to cut it.

7 comments:

  1. Haha....ah, the joys of country living!
    There's nothing more annoying than being woken by a mower. It's such an irritating noise. :)

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  2. It's the sam e here in Somerset UK. people think it is quiet, but you go for a walk and there is more noise than in the centre of the nearest town. Mowers, tractors, saw mills, you name it we get it!

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  3. Hi-followed over from Jens...I live in the country-rural Maine in the states. I feel your lawn mower pain..I hate them I do! We have the added bonus here in the winter of snowmobiles-lest we forget what noise is. :D

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  4. We get that even in the city and I think it's made worse because everyone is in such close proximity and they DO use the leaf blowers. I don't think there was ever a day that my daughter wasn't woken up from her nap by a mower or blower...and this was in San Jose, California.

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  5. My kids can't sleep well in the country "too quiet and too noisy" (crickets!). Visiting from Blog Gems, glad to have found you!

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  6. Hi~Nice to met you! I'm stopping by from Blog Gems~Thank you for the reminder of summer~my husband is usually the one who wants to mow grass at some ungodly hour! Take Care~Amy

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  7. Noooo, thats not your neighbourhood, you are talking about MINE!! My neighbour always waits to start mowing the garden just as I put the baby down for her nap!! In winter then he might drill a few holes in the wall (again, at nap time) dunno how he has any walls left! Jen

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