It’s oh so quiet.
I can’t believe how much background noise there was in the house. The washing machine and the tumble drier are in an annex to my kitchen. The ‘kitchen’ is the room where I tend to live and write all my letters and emails and posts etc and generally do things because it is a lovely room with a fabulous view. It’s not a noisy room unless there is an Easterly or North-Easterly hammering rain onto the windows. Of course there are the sounds that you don’t hear consciously: the fan over the cooker or a kettle boiling or the many other subliminal sounds which we do not hear or rather which our brain filters out including computer, phone and gadget warning noises. For many years I’ve had tinnitus. I don’t hear it because if I did I’d probably go mad. But when all the other noises stop I realise just how noisy the tinnitus is and I want it to go away or rather I want something as a distraction.
I used the past tense because an hour ago from the time I am writing this the house went absolutely quiet. Not a single sound could I hear. The sudden quiet was deafening.
The power went off. I still had a 3G (instead of 4G) signal so immediately went onto the app of the electricity generating company. There was no indication of a fault in the area. Messages on WhatsApp told me I wasn’t alone though so I reported the outage.
Then the phone signal went off as well.
Since then there’s not been a sound in my house because, for once, there’s not a breath of air outside either.
My emergency generator is kaput as well and I’ve put off getting a new one. After all, power cuts these days are rare.
I have plenty of light and emergency gas heating and a big camping stove.
So I think I’ll get myself some lunch.
It’s now an hour since the power went off and it’s returned. It’s possible that if there is a major outage off the Island or the subsea cable has been severed again then the Island’s old huge diesel generators have been started up.
I can now hear odd sounds again. We have power. It was or maybe still is for many a major outage. Looking at the map it would indicate that there is a supply break on Skye. It would not be the first time we have been affected by a power line down in Skye because our supply come across Skye and under the sea to Harris and up overland to the main distribution station outside Stornoway.
Short power outages can be quite a relaxing experience. We had some spotty outages with our last snow storm and all over social media was questions: how do I keep food from spoiling in the refrigerator. There were a great many people quick to point out that you could simply set it outside in a cooler.
ReplyDeleteDebby, I have to say that power outages always seem to come at a most inconvenient time and I can't actually ever finding one relaxing. I do understand where you are coming from though.
DeleteI guess that it is one of those things that tends to be pretty short lived where I am. We have a wood stove for heat, and a gas stove for cooking, and it is nice to sit and quietly read without that feeling that I should be doing laundry or vacuuming or whatever. I suppose it would be more stressful if I had to worry about being without it for inordinate amounts of time.
DeleteGlad the power returned
ReplyDeleteHearing silence is what I thought tinnitus is until I was 18 years. There are times when it is louder, like when I take aspirin. I ignore it. I can't say it has been annoying because I don't know what silence sounds like.
Maywyn, for me that's a very interesting statement about tinnitus. I've not always had tinnitus so am very aware of it. I have, however, learned to live with it or to ignore it. I do know some people though who find it deeply irritating.
DeleteI hope it wasn't a Russian submarine cutting the cables!
ReplyDeleteJayCee, the last time our cable was cut it took over a year to repair and was cut by a UK trawler.
DeleteGood job it didn‘t last long. I wonder how people cope who depend on something like an oxygen supply. Hospitals will have emergency generators, but at home?
ReplyDeleteI so need quietness. Not absolute silence, but I am very aware of noise pollution and what it does to us stress-wise. That is one reason why I dislike noise for noise‘s sake, such as the kind of fire crackers that just go bang without making a beautiful display of light, or cars tuned to make more engine noise than what they need to.
Meike, I'm not sure of the answer to your question but as power cuts/outages used to be very common here I presume there are backup arrangements of some sort. Like you I like silence and can find some noises (like the music when I was having coffee with a friend this morning) quite intrusive and irritating. The examples of unnecessary noise that you gave can, I agree, be infuriating.
DeleteI am surprised you don't hear your tinnitus in the quietness of the bedroom.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I suppose that I do hear it but I have learned to ignore it. As I write this response I have no radio or music but there are gale force winds which, despite my house being very solid, are quite intrusive. However, when I think about it, it's not loud enough to cover the tinnitus.
DeleteGosh 3g hasn't been around here for a while, everyone is on 4g now. I love the quiet, apart from the traffic outside I relish being at home by myself when everyone else is at work. Enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteAmy, we are on 4G but when the electricity went off it went to backup 3G for a very short while until the cellphone signal disappeared. We have come to rely on our cellphones in an emergency but, in this case whether it was just the local mast or the main network there was no signal at all for a good while. One thing I can say is that there is no traffic noise here at all! My house is set back off the road but I'm almost the last house so only one or two cars a day go past.
DeleteFor years we lived in places where the power used to go off on a regular basis, sometimes for a several hours. Old habits die hard, and I still have a supply of candles and a little gas stove stashed away in a cupboard.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I always believe in being prepared!
DeleteYes it can get oddly quiet when familiar background noises we're used to suddenly stop. I like silence, though... Living in a block of flats, as I do, there is often too much background noise of which one is not in control. On the other hand, power outages are rare in the city; and if they do happen, they usually get fixed rather quickly. I hope your power stayed on after it came back!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Monica. The power stayed on although I've since discovered that my part of the Island came on long before most other parts. I presume it is because we are nearer to Stornoway and the generating station so out network would be re-set first.
DeleteIt's a wonder you didn't swing into Simon & Garfunkles, "Sound of Silence"! :)
ReplyDeleteTake care....
Anonymous, I though I was being quite clever using Björk's song as my title. I didn't, I confess, think of S & G's song which might have been more appropriate.
DeleteI live in a quiet environment but during the recent cyclone I was 5 days without power and, once the storm had passed, became very aware of the absence of the purr of the refrigerator and the various beeps different electrical appliances make. I wish I could disable those beeps! I'm glad your outage wasn't long.
ReplyDeletePauline
Pauline, I wish you hadn't mentioned the refrigerator. When I answered one or two of the earlier comments I had filtered that noise out of my consciousness and now I can hear it!
DeleteI know the sensation you get when the noise stops and it's very quiet. Igloos are great insulators And you her your heart beating.
ReplyDeleteRed, I'd love to experience that. I have been in an anechoic chamber many years ago but I can't recall the sensation.
DeleteIn France our house is at the end of a line, so if the power goes off I have to walk to the nearest house to see if their lights are on, or ask for info. My fingers are always crossed that everyone's power is off and not just mine. Here in the UK I get-up at 5 am every morning, which is when the heating is also timed to come on. I love sitting on the edge of the bed for a few seconds and hearing the house come alive to the very gentle sounds of the radiators clicking, and the pump whirring.
ReplyDeleteCro, now that you mention it I am very puzzled. My central heating doesn't make a sound when it comes on and heats up in this house but I have no idea why. The pump is insulated and above a room I'm not usually in when it comes on. However why the radiators don't click when they expand I have no idea. Hmmm.
DeleteI forgot to mention, Cro, that I have an app which tells me about outages and whther they are general or if it's 'just me' and enables me to report them and usually gives an estimate of when the power will return.
DeleteIf it's a planned shutdown of electricity it's no big deal. I am afraid that it's when you don't know if it's two minutes, two hours or two days. When you have another person in the household it helps. Lesley
ReplyDeleteLesley, I'd never thought of the difference company makes in the event of an outage but I think I would feel better if I wasn't alone. Odd because I'm usually very happy on my own in the house.
DeleteOur last power outage lasted six hours or would have done had we not started the big Lister genset. Lewis has an abundance of windmills can't they use those?
ReplyDeleteAdrian, it's a very strange irony that all our windmills feed into the national grid but if there is a power outage and the grid is isolated all the windmills stop because they can't feed the electricity anywhere. I don't know anything about the workings but it does seem a little odd.
DeleteIt's not odd Graham. It's incompetence. The windmills need an exciter current from the Grid but your back up diesels could provide that. They are not wired up right. Probably on purpose.
DeleteI'm hopelessly ignorant when it comes to electrics but do know the basics. I can wire an outside light with a switch from the cheapo loop. If a 3 phase motor runs backwards swap any two leads, if it smells, sparks or worse catches fire, Switch it off and run.
My car has an MOT due next month, the engine warning light is on, this is now a fail and one can't just disconnect the battery the morning of the test to reset it as the new test centre computer knows you have been naughty. It is usually caused by some minor fault that could make the wee Golf hoik out something bad to the atmosphere or worse politicians pockets.
I've got myself an OBD reader. It's not a posh one; £14.95p from Aldi. It showed so many faults that I gave up and cancelled the lot. I'll have to connect it up and wizz the car about for twenty minutes and then read all the codes. I did investigate two.......The sodding fuel cap 'O' ring was past it's best and the air filter wasn't in the first flush of youth. They really are making life hard. These are the folk that can't be relied upon to organise a bloody windmill but think travel is impossible without a jet aircraft with a couple of slappers on board.....To be fair that sounds good to me as long as they aren't piloting the thing, I wish I could afford the jet. Bugger the slappers. That isn't fair or PC. I have no desire to bugger anyone. Buggery is much worse than popping windmills up and having no way of working them.
It's surprising how many things you do automatically that don't work when the power is off. I'll walk into a room and flip the wall switch before remembering. How long will it last is the main worry. Glad your outage didn't last too long. You might want to get your generator working just in case... Why have one if you can't use it? Stay safe, Graham!
ReplyDeleteEllen you made me laugh. It was daylight so I didn't try any switches. I did, however, ask Alexa to do something. The story of the generator is infuriating. Last winter we had a day long planned outage for upgrading the local substation. I checked the generator and had it working for a good trial period a few days prior to the outage. On the morning of the outage it would not start. I have looked at it and an engineer has done likewise and neither of us can find out why. The engineer (and he was not alone in those I asked) was not prepared to spend any more time on it because he said that 'cheap domestic generators' cost more in parts and labour than people will pay. This summer (when it is warmer!!!) I will take it apart and if I have no success I'll take a decision then. After all outages are rare now. They used to be common.
ReplyDeleteGB - fellow tinnitus sufferer here... I didn't know you had it as well! I suppose mine is from too many loud heavy metal albums/concerts in my youth. The fact that I spend 8 hours a day listening to static through headphones for a living probably doesn't do me any good, either. But yeah, when the power is off and there is no noise in the house, that's when I notice it most of all.
ReplyDeleteLiving where I do, there is almost never silence. Sirens, ferry horns, train whistles, stupid neighbors with their damnacious power tools, dogs barking, planes going overhead. Even the local military recruiters take their hundred boys down our street on Saturday mornings, running and shouting their "I don't know but I've been told" songs at top volume. There just is no such thing as real silence in the suburbs of NY, even in the middle of the night, there's always something.
Since we don't have a garage, we don't have anywhere to keep a generator, so when the power goes out (usually caused by a car accident in town that takes down a pole) we just have to wait it out. We keep candles and flashlights at the ready. Normally it doesn't take that long to rectify, so we don't end up having to ditch the contents of our refrigerator, etc.
Marcheline, as you know I am fortunate that the wind is probably the noisiest thing in my environment but the house does shield me from that to some extent because of its solid construction. However all the tiny noises that I have got used to in the house make it seem noisy when they disappear. I have absolutely no idea what started my tinnitus or even, to be honest, when it started. although it was many years ago. I certainly never listened to heavy metal!
DeleteAnother fellow tinnitus sufferer here ... because I have a very quiet home in a very quiet neighborhood my tinnitus has full reign in my head without other noise interference every waking moment! However, I do prefer the quietness around me and my buzzing head!
ReplyDeleteJill, I'm sorry to hear you, too are a sufferer. Being able to live with it is the saviour. I do know someone who can't and she has been driven almost mad over the years trying to get it cured.
DeleteIt is eerie when there is no sound, mechanical or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteMy husband also suffers from tinnitus as a result of his Navy service on an aircraft carrier and listening to planes. A few years ago, his uncle, also a veteran, told him to apply for disability benefits, which he did and after a hearing test and evaluation, he was determined to having a hearing disability for which he receives a monthly compensation. Of course, he told me he would much rather not have the constant ringing in his ears.
Beatrice I know that nothing can compensate for the discomfort but it's good that the disability is at least recognised.
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