Usual Noise

Background or frontal noise? Jarring or subdural hum? Comforting or annoying?

Yes, many descriptors for noise. Some are OK, others complimentary (imagine!), while still others are related to the maddening nature of a common pollution of our lives.

A rattle in my car was always a mean discovery, especially for a car with low mileage. Used to be car rattles appeared around 12,000 miles on the odometer, while common rattles were caused by contents of the car, not the car itself.

I have driven many cars in recent years where no rattles were present, other than the contents thing. Thinking about this I realized that no rattles came with owning foreign brands. This embarrassed me somewhat as I never owned a foreign car until buying Mercedes for frequent travel to wintry northlands for business. That’s when I discovered the quiet rides.

Soon I was replacing those cars with subsequent Mercedes, and still the rides were silent with the exception of personal contents finding a way to make their presence known.

Later, with failing fortunes and finally retirement, I returned to American made cars. The rattles returned right on schedule. Until one day, I bought a South Korean product and was amazed by the quiet of their cars. Three models later I was still pleased by the quiet rides.

Then, with the final car beckoning, I bought a very used Mercedes for the cash realized by the sale of my used Hyundai in a crazy used car market. That Mercedes had rattles. I expected them, knowing the car was 18 years old and had nearly 100,000 miles on it. Then one day I realized the car wasn’t rattling. It was the stuff I was carrying in it. As a test, I removed the junk, took a ride, and found the car amazingly silent. I didn’t expect this result but was very pleased.

Yes, foreign brand cars are better and quieter than American models. But then, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Imagine my further surprise when I came to the end of this blog posting realizing that I set out to write about the political noise at election time and knowing blessed relief from that is a week away.

Some noise we just get used to. Others are truly beyond annoying!

November 4, 2022

 

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