A pondering...
*warning "hippy Megan" alert*
I am sitting at home listening to the wind howling outside and it has got me thinking about something that has been bouncing about my head for a while now...
As I walk about Glasgow (or anywhere for that matter) as I tend to do now rather than use my car I watch all the other people walking by. Nowadays there are a huge number of people walking around with earphones on with the little wire leading down to the pocket that houses either the MP3 player or the iPod.
So what?
Well just after I moved here I received an MP3 player courtesy of
fostware and
ruzawench (thanks guys loving your work!) and I dutifully loaded it up with my collections of "songs du jour" and would listen to them as I walked.
I don't do that anymore. Why? Because it stops me from hearing all the sounds around me - all the sounds of the world that so many people now seem to want to shut out. I realise I am in the city and that most of the noises are traffic but walking not far from my house I hear the sounds of the Cartvale River which is nearby. You can tell even before you cross the bridge just how fast the river is flowing from the noise. You can hear the ducks on the river, the magpies in the trees and a whole number of other birds that I do not know well enough to identify. The leaves on the trees rustle in the breeze or crunch underfoot. The wind whistles about the buildings or causes branches to creak and groan... every now and then you will hear squirrels up above...
There is so much to hear... and no one seems to listen anymore. Maybe if we listened more we would care more... *shrug*
Don't get me wrong - I love music and listen to it all the time. My MP3 player is always in use when I am in the car or when I plug it in to the computer at work. I would not be without music. Similarly though I would not be without the sounds of the earth, including the sounds of the city which should also never be forgotten. After all they are just the sounds of one more type of animal!
I dunno, more inane ramblings of my inner hippy... sorry...
I am sitting at home listening to the wind howling outside and it has got me thinking about something that has been bouncing about my head for a while now...
As I walk about Glasgow (or anywhere for that matter) as I tend to do now rather than use my car I watch all the other people walking by. Nowadays there are a huge number of people walking around with earphones on with the little wire leading down to the pocket that houses either the MP3 player or the iPod.
So what?
Well just after I moved here I received an MP3 player courtesy of
fostware and
ruzawench (thanks guys loving your work!) and I dutifully loaded it up with my collections of "songs du jour" and would listen to them as I walked.
I don't do that anymore. Why? Because it stops me from hearing all the sounds around me - all the sounds of the world that so many people now seem to want to shut out. I realise I am in the city and that most of the noises are traffic but walking not far from my house I hear the sounds of the Cartvale River which is nearby. You can tell even before you cross the bridge just how fast the river is flowing from the noise. You can hear the ducks on the river, the magpies in the trees and a whole number of other birds that I do not know well enough to identify. The leaves on the trees rustle in the breeze or crunch underfoot. The wind whistles about the buildings or causes branches to creak and groan... every now and then you will hear squirrels up above...
There is so much to hear... and no one seems to listen anymore. Maybe if we listened more we would care more... *shrug*
Don't get me wrong - I love music and listen to it all the time. My MP3 player is always in use when I am in the car or when I plug it in to the computer at work. I would not be without music. Similarly though I would not be without the sounds of the earth, including the sounds of the city which should also never be forgotten. After all they are just the sounds of one more type of animal!
I dunno, more inane ramblings of my inner hippy... sorry...