Oh the Noise!

It is true that Tactic is not a big city. It is a town. Yet in the Yellow House, it is surprisingly loud. There is no insulation in the walls, and the windows don't seal, so everything that happens outside is heard inside. As well, chairs scraping the kitchen floor upstairs echo in my bedroom. I have been talking on skype when the person on the other end asks, "What was that?!" and I respond, "Oh, that was just a truck on the street." However, I no longer wake up to the roosters, the church bells, barking dogs, or squealing pigs.

To add to this regular noise, one of the three main roads into Tactic from the highway is under construction. I won't say it's closed. It is closed to vehicle traffic, though there is nothing but mud and deep caverns in the road to keep people from walking it. The trucks that bring in bulk quantities of produce for the market usually use this road, and the bulk market is just up the road from where the construction is. I don't know if that is the reason, but the bulk market has moved to the empty lot beside/behind our house (the one where the circus was in January). So, not only do we get the noise from the vendors in the bulk market at 5am each morning (including weekends), we also get the big truck traffic delivering bulk produce going past our house all day, honking their air horns as they pass traffic over the speed bump in front of our house. And did I mention that the camionetas (microbuses used for public transit) have started coming down to the market too?

The nice peaceful empty lot behind our house

The beginnings of the bulk market in the empty lot, visible from our roof.

The produce trucks all lined up delivering their goods in the bulk market

As if it is not enough to have a noisey street out front and a noisey market out back and to the side, they are now putting a road in behind our house. I knew it wouldn't take long, once I realized the market was staying there somewhat permanently. The other day I was in my room and noticed it was unusually loud. I went up on the roof to take down the laundry, and there was a backhoe, a dump truck, and a pile of logs for telephone poles right behind our place. Definitely a road going in. So if you do the math, that's traffic 360 degrees around our house. The market and road will do a loop around 3 house lots: the Yellow House, the Red House (where the Chupa's live), and a mechanic shop. It might be hard for you to picture. Unfortunatly the photos I've added don't have sound.

The view from the roof of the Yellow House overlooking the Red House, the mechanics shop, and the empty lot to the left.

The backhoe and pile of telephone poles being watched by a Ministry of Transportation worker.

The dump truck. Notice the clothes lines on our roof? So much for privacy.

And for all of you who wear earplugs to sleep because of the occasional roudy neighbour, car alarm, or howling dog, I wish we could trade places for a day.