“I hear a sound so fine there’s nothing lives ‘Twixt it and silence.”
Today looks like yesterday. It’s dark, overcast and cold. A wind is blowing and even the thickest branches are swaying. It’s a day to stay cozy and close to hearth and home.
My friend had an aunt who used to sit up until 2 a.m. so she could turn her clocks back an hour. She wouldn’t do it do it before she went to bed. Because the paper said 2 o’clock was her reason.
I used to like the sound of a rotary phone when I was dialing. First there was a click then a whirring. The phone really rang when there was a call. I could hear the click-clack of the blades when my father pushed his mower back and forth across the lawn. The clock in my school ticked off the time in minutes. When the class was quiet, I could hear time passing. AÂ record, when it got old, made crackling sounds. The TV always had a snow sound in the off-hours after the Indian was gone. The card attached to the spokes of my bike made a staccato sound which got more furious the faster the wheel spun. Going downhill was always the loudest. In grammar school, a hand bell marked our movements. It meant line up to go into the building, change classes, eat lunch, go out for recess, come back inside and then be dismissed at the end of the day. A police car’s siren wound in its mount then screamed as the officers raced to an emergency. The town’s alarm rang when there was a fire, and we could figure out from where the fire was. Each street had its own signal.
Those are the sounds from my childhood which have disappeared.
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November 7, 2010 at 12:25 pm
One year I stayed up until 2AM to watch my computer reset the time for either daylight savings or standard. I only did it once for fun.
Many of the sounds of yesterday are gone forever. There are adults who have not only never wound a clock/watch but they have no idea what winding a clock is all about. They are surprised to learn that watches and clocks ticked. The sound of radial, piston engine, propeller driven airliners are gone from the sky. A nearby airport has a warbird museum, owned by a billionaire, with aircraft from WWII that are flyable. Every Memorial Day and Independence Day they put on an air show and my ears are treated once again to the droning sound of those engines. It was a sound that was common in the 1950s when the sky was filled with Constellations and DC-3s sixes and sevens.
However, I don’t wish to go back to those days. Last week I flew from Dallas to Santiago Chile in nine and a half hours each way in a coach seat. It made me long for the return of the Concorde. I could never afford the price but the idea always intrigued me. Yet another sound that is gone forever. The roar of those four Rolls Royce Olympus Engines at full power in after burner will never be heard again.
November 7, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Bob,
I too would not want to go back to the days of endless time spent traveling, but I have always wished for a ride in a Pan Am Clipper.
I remember my first plane ride. It was in a small prop when you had to walk uphill to your seat. I loved the sound of those propellers starting and taking me on my adventure.
Some of the great sounds have disappeared.
November 7, 2010 at 5:24 pm
In those days flying was for the elite and it was an event. Today the jet airplane is the Grayhound bus of yesterday. EDS even calls their line of commercial arplanes ‘Airbus’.
You and I are to young to have flown on a flying boat Clipper. They were gone at the end of the Second World War.
November 7, 2010 at 6:27 pm
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkBd30ge4QQ
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdVf8Rb365Q
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZV31EQPCPQ
… every day.
Cheers
November 7, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Minicapt,
I haven’t ever been in a seaplane, but I think I’ll put it on my to-do list. That looks so very cool.
November 7, 2010 at 12:44 pm
There’s an old Stearman in our area that quite often takes to the air and the sound of that rumbling, grumbling Pratt & Whitney is absolutely beautiful.
The sound of railroad trains in the distance, the music of industry, also give me pause to stop and enjoy a small moment of life’s simple pleasures.
November 7, 2010 at 10:31 pm
John,
I went looking and found a picture of a Stearman-what a beautiful plane. I have seen a bi-plane in the air but never up close. The idea of flying with the wind in my hair-amazing!
November 7, 2010 at 1:18 pm
So many familiar sounds are gone now and I do miss the old telephones 🙂 But I do hear those propeller driven airplanes here now and again. Sometimes I have one of those planes that does tricks in the air practicing over my cottage. It looks great but I have always wondered if they are allowed to practice over houses, what happens if they just drop down? 🙂
I sometimes hears the sound of cards on a bicycle too, that seems to stay forever 🙂
I do miss those old alarm clocks that had to be wind up too, I loved that ticking sound and always sleep better when I can hear it. They are hard to come by now days, but I have placed my old America clock so I can hear it ticking in my bedroom 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
November 7, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Christer,
I can still take a prop to Nantucket, an island off the coast. I can hear the whirr of the propeller for the whole trip-a great ride.
I haven’t heard a bicycle with a card in forever.
November 7, 2010 at 2:16 pm
The only sound left is the Ice Cream truck. Still plays the same music in our neighborhood and ya know, it also looks the same. But they can’t ever take away the sound of a fire burning in the fireplace. That cackling sound is a wonderful sound and goes great with a glass of wine.
November 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm
When I was a kid the ‘Good Humor’ ice cream truck had several bells atop the cab to call everyone to the truck as it made its way through our neighborhood. I stll remember the taste of those cold delights on a hot day before we had airconditioning.
November 7, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Bob,
I loved popsicles-they always tasted the coldest of all the ice cream.
November 7, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Z&Me,
The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays music. The one of my childhood rang a bell with a sound only the truck had.
I too love the sound of the fire crackling.
November 7, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I don’t miss the sound of the clock ticking away in school. If I could hear it, it meant we were doing something really boring and soporific. The addition of the endlessly ticking clock just added more pain to the pile. 🙂
Wrist watches with analog dials are the very in thing with young people now. Not sure if they can tell time by them or even it they know that’s what the thing is for. Most have laptops at their sides and cell phones in their hands so they always know what time it is anyway.
November 7, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Caryn,
Most kids only know how to tell time digitally. I really don’t think they don’t have any idea how the hands work. I’m glad that analog is coming back so maybe telling time will to. It’s is always 9:45, never quarter to 10 any more.
November 7, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Just an added thought; my “sound so fine” is the sound of geese honking high up over head as they fly by moonlight. It makes the present day disappear and brings to mind the great animal plains.
November 7, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Caryn,
They always call my eyes to the sky when I hear them!
November 7, 2010 at 5:45 pm
The rag and bone man, the Walls ice-cream van, concordes flight path, the silent electric trains gliding in to Ashtead station forcing my commute, Marge Verdon’s whistle calling her children home for lunch, Walley from the Co-Op dairy clanking his milk bottles and loitering too long at Mrs…..
The wall clock in the kitchen is circa 1820, the Vienna wall clock In my study around 1890, their sounds resonate and warm the air. My little square case Omega Deville has been on my wrist for 40 years and is carefully hand wound each day. It cost almost three months of a clerks salary but it was a lot like Bryan Ferry. I knew that once I had that watch, I would start dating….I was right 🙂
November 7, 2010 at 10:40 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Too many familiar sounds have disappeared. They used to be voices and real people instead of computer simulation. The personal feel and the comfort of a person have been gone for far too long.
I still wear watches with hands.
November 7, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Not all of us have given up on the old sounds . . . I have half a dozen shelf and mantel clocks (only one of which actually runs, but that’s a different story), and last year a friend who knows how much I like old technologies found a rotary dial phone, reconditioned it herself, and sent it to me for a gift. It’s right next to the computer on my desk, and it’ll still make calls on my digital-cable network.
November 7, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Marchbanks,
I have two old clocks, both of which make a ticking sound. I would love an old rotary phone.
November 7, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Bob,
I know I am far too young for the Clipper, but it has been my back in time dream!
November 7, 2010 at 11:46 pm
I only flew a float plane once and it was very interesting. It was a Cessna Caravan on floats. It had an 800 horse power turbo-prop engine. While in the water it handled much like a boat which was very foreign to me. During takeoff I was instructed by the other pilot to hold the elevator control full aft until the aircraft was up on the step. That was like a water skier riding on the water. The torque from the propeller required a lot of right rudder to keep the thing going straight in the water. We were in a bay and keeping it straight was not as much of an issue as on a runway. Once on the step it accelerated quickly to took off speed. Landing was equally easy. I set up a slight sink rate until the airplane touched the water. I went to idle power and again used full up elevator to cause the aircraft to plow into the water and it became a boat once again.
This aircraft also could land on the runway as it had four wheels. One wheel at each end of the two floats was retractable for water landings and takeoffs. When approaching the river for landing, which was next to the airport, the control tower issued the following clearance. ‘Cessna 345CF, check wheels up, cleared to land in the river.’ After landing we water taxied to a ramp, lowered the wheels and taxied up onto the airport.
November 8, 2010 at 8:58 am
Bob,
I envy you those flights. They sound wonderful even on paper. I was in a glider once, and it was the most wonderful ride. Years ago my uncle owned a Cessna and flew me home to the Cape from Boston. I think my mouth was wide open in wonder the whole trip.
November 12, 2010 at 4:26 pm
The sound of stream train whistles and the chugging of the engines, and where I live many factories had whistles too, for starting time, lunch time and quitting time. Churches used to ring bells or chimes for Sunday services too. All these sounds are gone but things seem noisier than ever outdoors.