See how YOU like it

Phil_aka_Pip

@mudslide73 persactly!

Phil_aka_Pip

@fatherjack it would seem that I just don't know how to do the former. The latter always happens

TTony

fatherjack said:

That's because there are two ways someone can respond to a recurring noise:

One is to get used to it until just becomes part of the background, and you don't notice the noise specifically.

The other (especially if you find a noise annoying/disturbing) is unconsciously to wait for the next occurrence, and the next, and the next - in other words, you become sensitised to it instead of accustomed to it.

I watched a BBC documentary series on the west midlands motorway network a few weeks ago.

One episode focused on the maintenance work needed on the M6, which (for obvious reasons) was typically scheduled to happen overnight.

The programme featured a couple of people who lived - literally - next to the motorway.

They were there, 10pm, house windows open, waiting for the repair work to start so that they could complain about the disruptive noise and the flashing lights.  They wanted "compensation".

Now;

1.  You've bought a house next to the motorway.  What do you expect to see and hear ???

2.  If you open the windows and wait for noise to start, you're going to hear it even more.

3.  Waiting and watching for noise to start, so you can make a complaint, is one way to spend your evening, but there might be slightly less stressful and more enjoyable ways.

I think it's fair to say that they'd become very sensitised.

Bogwhoppit

TTony said:

I think it's fair to say that they'd become very sensitised.

Whereas if they lived next to a sewage treatment plant, they would have become sanitised.

xSkarloey

Ha ha. I live under the approach to Heathrow. I mean directly under. I'm sure the motherfuckers use my gaff to navigate by.

That said, you do get used to it.

Take off is a whole noisier thing though.

I think if it was me I'd just close Heatrow completely and tether Boris Johnson to a block of cement at the bottom of the Thames estuary.

fatherjack

TTony said:

fatherjack said:

That's because there are two ways someone can respond to a recurring noise:

One is to get used to it until just becomes part of the background, and you don't notice the noise specifically.

The other (especially if you find a noise annoying/disturbing) is unconsciously to wait for the next occurrence, and the next, and the next - in other words, you become sensitised to it instead of accustomed to it.

I watched a BBC documentary series on the west midlands motorway network a few weeks ago.

One episode focused on the maintenance work needed on the M6, which (for obvious reasons) was typically scheduled to happen overnight.

The programme featured a couple of people who lived - literally - next to the motorway.

They were there, 10pm, house windows open, waiting for the repair work to start so that they could complain about the disruptive noise and the flashing lights.  They wanted "compensation".

Now;

1.  You've bought a house next to the motorway.  What do you expect to see and hear ???

2.  If you open the windows and wait for noise to start, you're going to hear it even more.

3.  Waiting and watching for noise to start, so you can make a complaint, is one way to spend your evening, but there might be slightly less stressful and more enjoyable ways.

I think it's fair to say that they'd become very sensitised.

Actually, they're probably accustomed to the everyday motorway noise.  It's the new sound that they're griping (and, by the sound of it, being pillocks) about.

Emp_Fab

I've never really got airport complainers.  Fair enough if you live somewhere and they then slap a giant airport next door and don't offer you any compo.  However, in all other scenarios, it's your choice.  If you don't like aircraft, don't move anywhere near a bloody airport !  If it was down to me, I'd expand Heathrow and Gatwick and build Boris Island.  We need to move forward.  Nimbys whining on and interfering with progress for the rest of the country is just a PITA.

No offence Phil ! :-)

holnrew

Emp_Fab said:

I've never really got airport complainers.  Fair enough if you live somewhere and they then slap a giant airport next door and don't offer you any compo.  However, in all other scenarios, it's your choice.  If you don't like aircraft, don't move anywhere near a bloody airport !  If it was down to me, I'd expand Heathrow and Gatwick and build Boris Island.  We need to move forward.  Nimbys whining on and interfering with progress for the rest of the country is just a PITA.

No offence Phil ! :-)

See also: rail expansion.

Antique_Guitars

Grew up in Teddington which used to get all the flights over for Heathrow, probably not as bad as other places but you get used to it. The only thing you would really notice was concord as that was royaly loud and obnoxious.

CabbageCat

Some people are able to put regular noise into the background while others can't. I'm the former - at university the fire alarms were so regular that I literally slept through them; whereas a colleague has lived in Brighton area for 35 years and still complains about the seagulls' noise. I guess Phil is in the latter group. I'm sure there are measures he could take to persuade himself to become one of the former group but I suspect that he prefers expending misdirected anger towards air travellers to actually being comfortable.

Phil_aka_Pip

@Emp_Fab You're right. I have to say though that I didn't know HOW MUCH I disliked aircraft noise until I moved there to be closer to my job. Since then I have been much more picky about where I live, even to the point of foregoing lucrative employment in order to have a quieter existence.

I will take issue with your notion of "progress". When it makes life a misery for a lot of people it can't be called progress. 

chillidoggy

"How often do the trains go by?"

"So often you don't even notice it."

Emp_Fab

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I will take issue with your notion of "progress". When it makes life a misery for a lot of people it can't be called progress. 

I'll take issue with 'a lot of people'.  Only a tiny number of people are affected by airport noise, compared the number that benefit from them.  Besides, they are huge employers too - they bring employment to thousands.  What's the alternative ? Close all the airports ?

Phil_aka_Pip

So there are people who are not entitled to a quite life because of a so-called majority who want cheap holidays abroad?

stickyfiddle

Phil_aka_Pip said:

So there are people who are not entitled to a quite life because of a so-called majority who want cheap holidays abroad?

It doesn't matter how much the flight costs, the plane will still be noisy. How shit would the world be if anything bigger than an A320 was banned overnight? And I'd happily argue all day that anyone who bought a house near an international airport that's been there longer than the house has is absolutely entitled to complain, and the rest of the world is entitled to tell them to get over it. 

In any case you can get decent soundproofing these days. I stayed in the Ibis next to Heathrow last year. Couldn't hear a thing.

boogieman

You definitely do get used to noise and filter it out. I lived directly on the North Circular Road as a kid. ..... A three lane slightly slower version of the M25. The only time it bothered me was at 3 in the morning when there was virtually no traffic and it got quiet. Once I moved out, it took me months to adapt to sleeping in the quiet of my new place.

Phil_aka_Pip

The plane is there because of the people wanting a cheap holiday. Everyone is entitled to quiet life. The "decent soundproofing" of which you spoke is only available to a select few.

The house I bought was built in 1948, when aircraft noise from Heathrow was not an issue. I moved in, in 2002, knowing there would be some noise, but not appreciating how much I would dislike it (see previous post). Those of you who want other people to suffer noise so you can have your convenient travel can fuck off.

chillidoggy

I wouldn't say it's 'convenient' travel.

It's a real pain in the arse getting to Gatwick, or Heathrow, from here, the traffic is so horrendous at times, it's almost enough to put me off all my cheap holidays I like taking during the year.

Phil_aka_Pip

chillidoggy said:

I wouldn't say it's 'convenient' travel.

It's a real pain in the arse getting to Gatwick, or Heathrow, from here, the traffic is so horrendous at times, it's almost enough to put me off all my cheap holidays I like taking during the year.

I would, when you compare it to walking or riding a horse to a port and then waiting for a boat to sail on the next convenient combination of tide & wind.

CabbageCat

Phil_aka_Pip said:

The plane is there because of the people wanting a cheap holiday. Everyone is entitled to quiet life. The "decent soundproofing" of which you spoke is only available to a select few.

The house I bought was built in 1948, when aircraft noise from Heathrow was not an issue. I moved in, in 2002, knowing there would be some noise, but not appreciating how much I would dislike it (see previous post). Those of you who want other people to suffer noise so you can have your convenient travel can fuck off.

The people you speak of are being maybe 2/10 on the selfish-o-meter. You, on the other hand, are being about 618/10 on the selfish-o-meter. People should feel bad for using air travel because you don't like the noise they make for a few seconds as they fly by?

No-one is entitled to a quiet life. That's totally made-up horsecack that you've dropped in to make your own selfish opinion seem reasonable. Granted, no-one is entitled to air travel either - they have to pay for it. Just as if you wanted a quiet life you would have to pay for it too.

Feel free to be miserable and angry - I know that's what gets you up in the morning - but if you think for a moment that your misanthropic stance is justified or justifiable they you are very definitely the bad guy here.