Since I moved to the French countryside I noticed that Sundays sound different. Well, at least they used to! During lockdown we finally experienced the often talked about “month of Sundays”. What was strikingly different about Sundays was the silence. You could open the front door in the morning, step outside and the first thing you’d notice would be silence. I’ve heard that kind of silence more frequently than ever because most activities have ceased or been significantly cut back, there’s less traffic and fewer planes flying overhead.
The Sunday silence is a particular kind of silence. It’s full of bird songs and calls. So, more the silence of humans than the silence of Nature.
This week a big heat arrived – a “canicule” they call it here – with temperatures hitting high 30s every day. With the heat came a different kind of silence. No bird song. All of Life it seemed was stilled by the heat and the silence reached a depth well below that of a Sunday.
Here’s a video clip I recorded. Turn your volume up to max. The only sounds you’ll hear are me moving my phone!
There’s another silence I know well but which I haven’t experienced since moving here – the silence of the snow. When you wake up one morning and it’s been snowing all night you know it has snowed by the silence before you even look out the window.
The silence of heat and the silence of snow are surprisingly similar!
Well, what do you know? All silence doesn’t sound the same!
Heroes Not Zombies 
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