I spend a good deal of the not wide awake and in the summer time when the night air is warm I always have my bedroom windows wide open,with the breeze blowing through the room it sometimes feels at times as though I am out side in the dark orchard.
Ten until midnight voices are the main feature, people arguing. Very occasionally a fight breaks out mostly boy girl arguments...very dull as I rule and on one memorable occasion a poor soul totally inebriated and hopelessly lost banged on the doors of various houses in the lane for hours until ,worn out he fell asleep in a garden shortly before the police arrived to put him in a safe place while he sobered up.
After midnight the voices cease and cars,usually being driven much to quickly whiz up and down the lane. Aeroplanes are fewer but still noisy.Gradually these sounds cease and then for me the night begins.
Sounds unheard during the busy noisy day are wonderfully audible. Soft summer evenings bring the sibilant sound of the leaves rustling softly, soothing and calming after a busy day.
Nights can be so still that even these sounds disappear and nights such as this the rustling is made by hedgehogs foraging below my windows. Foxes call to each other,a greeting,a warning and cubs snarl as the play fight among my flower beds.
Blackbirds rally do sing in the dead of night ans we have Nightingales too...bliss.
Ear splitting crashes are not uncommon when the badgers visit,their favourite trick is to upturn the flower pots in search of chaffer grubs;so many pots have been smashed in this way that I am replacing them with plastic ones,not as attractive but much more durable.
Annoying sounds like the high pitched hum of mosquitoes worry me no longer as last year I equipped us all with mosquito nets...no more bumps in the night! From time to time an ambulance or a police car scream by after which the silence is ,for a time absolute,but never for long.
A moth battering its poor wings against the window glass can be deafening and should a flying beetle manage to get in to my room bumbling and bumping about the ceiling I have the amusement of catching them and releasing them again.
In the light of the street lamps bats try their luck among the many insects drawn to the brightness,some of the hornets are almost as large as the pipistrell bats which haunt our lane in their dozens.
Four in the morning brings the return of the aeroplanes,not many at first but the number increases as the time passes,now the cars return,using the lane s a short cut to avoid the traffic lights. Delivery drivers,milk men ,post men join the procession until at last the lane is busy again with people taking Rover or Trixy for an early morning walk. Night is over and the noisy day begins.
From five to seven with the television on I sleep.
The past week has seen a departure from this comparatively “easy country charm” for every night for the past six days the burglar alarm at the house opposite has blared,bleeped and flashed for hours. He house holders are away,and the police;who have been called several times a night by several sleepless householders) do not,and I quote”Usually turn out for burglar alarms on private dwellings,”
Makes you think doesn,t , all those companies selling security appliances which only serve to keep the neighbours awake.
The person I spoke to when I called asked me if I could see any lights on in the property,my view of the large house concerned is the rear view of the house and I could see no sing of either lights or life.
The person informed me that unless I could see something like a flash light beam she could not pass the message on to a patrol. I pointed out that
1. I could only see a small proportion of the house so that only the Gods knew what was occurring at the front .
2. The occupants could all be lying with their throats cut.
3. Surely no self respecting burglar would signal hiss presence by flashing a torch about for all to see.
Unimpressed by my remarks the person asked if I could go out in to the street to have a look,so of course I told her that I was disabled and not in the habit of mooching about the lane at two in the morning at the best of ties an certainly not when their might be burglars about.
She sounded quite put out and made me feel that *I was being singularly unhelpful and that since I was unable to help any further at the moment I should call back should anything else occur. This seemed tantamount to asking me to stake out the place... no thank you.
For the past few nights I and the rest f the residents in along the lane have resorted to earplugs and to hell with the police! If they cannot be asked we are sure that we are all better off in bed. There is just one thing which worries me, no one has seen the occupants who are reputed to be on holiday.....or their staff who are not...odd don't you think?
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