4 ms·

God I love not living in a dense city. I haven't heard a car horn in days. The air outside smells better than the air inside. Visiting NYC my biggest impressi

God I love not living in a dense city. I haven't heard a car horn in days. The air outside smells better than the air inside. Visiting NYC my biggest impression was how much a nightmare it would've been for me to live there. It sounded like a vacuum running all the time. It was all dark because the buildings blocked sunlight. The air made my nose burn. Seeing a tree and a patch of grass on a streetcorner was like an oasis in the middle of a concrete desert.

lupire 8y ago
In the suburbs we get the buzz of gas-powered motors all day when we are home.
- nullc 8y ago
  Some places are doing something about that: https://www.marinij.com/2016/11/11/marin-voice-why-larkspurs-proposed-leaf-blower-restrictions-go-too-far/ https://www.marinij.com/2016/11/11/marin-voice-why-larkspurs... http://claycord.com/2018/12/06/group-looks-to-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-in-walnut-creek/ http://claycord.com/2018/12/06/group-looks-to-ban-gas-powere... The trimmers and leaf blowers were the worst part of living in mountain view for me. My apartment had no AC (didn't really need it 99% of the time), so that meant open windows... and almost every day had a different neighbors lawn service blasting noise in the morning. Sometimes waking me up, almost always making it impossible to work from home.
viburnum 8y ago
I swear the quietest place to live is a pretty narrow street in a medium density urban neighborhood. All the buildings and trees really deaden the sound. When I lived in the boonies there was always a wood chipper going somewhere or barking dogs and nothing to break up the sound.
adrianN 8y ago
I live in Berlin. There are many very quiet neighborhoods and the city in general is a lot quieter than London or San Francisco. I never heard a car horn from my apartment.
- Causality1 7y ago
  I meant at all, not just from my house. Not on my drive to work or back home, or out to eat, or while running errands. City-dwellers, at least in the US, seem to use the horn like it's a legal requirement every file miles.
  - Sharlin 7y ago
    Car horn use seems to be extremely culture-dependent. I almost never hear it in Finland except when someone does something stupid in traffic. Though if I have understood correctly, "doing something stupid in traffic" is also considerably more common in the US than in Northern Europe.
    - clarry 7y ago
      > Car horn use seems to be extremely culture-dependent. I almost never hear it in Finland except when someone does something stupid in traffic. Can confirm. It's quite rare to hear the horn here. I haven't ever used the horn (having had a license for 10 years) except by accident.

lupire 8y ago

In the suburbs we get the buzz of gas-powered motors all day when we are home.

nullc 8y ago
Some places are doing something about that: https://www.marinij.com/2016/11/11/marin-voice-why-larkspurs-proposed-leaf-blower-restrictions-go-too-far/ https://www.marinij.com/2016/11/11/marin-voice-why-larkspurs... http://claycord.com/2018/12/06/group-looks-to-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-in-walnut-creek/ http://claycord.com/2018/12/06/group-looks-to-ban-gas-powere... The trimmers and leaf blowers were the worst part of living in mountain view for me. My apartment had no AC (didn't really need it 99% of the time), so that meant open windows... and almost every day had a different neighbors lawn service blasting noise in the morning. Sometimes waking me up, almost always making it impossible to work from home.

viburnum 8y ago

I swear the quietest place to live is a pretty narrow street in a medium density urban neighborhood. All the buildings and trees really deaden the sound. When I lived in the boonies there was always a wood chipper going somewhere or barking dogs and nothing to break up the sound.

adrianN 8y ago

I live in Berlin. There are many very quiet neighborhoods and the city in general is a lot quieter than London or San Francisco. I never heard a car horn from my apartment.

Causality1 7y ago
I meant at all, not just from my house. Not on my drive to work or back home, or out to eat, or while running errands. City-dwellers, at least in the US, seem to use the horn like it's a legal requirement every file miles.
- Sharlin 7y ago
  Car horn use seems to be extremely culture-dependent. I almost never hear it in Finland except when someone does something stupid in traffic. Though if I have understood correctly, "doing something stupid in traffic" is also considerably more common in the US than in Northern Europe.
  - clarry 7y ago
    > Car horn use seems to be extremely culture-dependent. I almost never hear it in Finland except when someone does something stupid in traffic. Can confirm. It's quite rare to hear the horn here. I haven't ever used the horn (having had a license for 10 years) except by accident.