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I am on week 51 of WFH, p20 is at work, the kids next door are at school, only 1 plane a day leaves the next door airport and apart from the old guy next door coughing every now and again (not covid - dicky heart, but he still cycles 100+ road miles a week!), it's silent. It's starting to drive me mad - I need more interaction with people! I do put music on whilst doing some work, but find I can't work with stuff on all the time. I just need that background office/student noise that you get on a big Uni campus.
Nothing to be said - the tapping on my keyboard whilst writing this has helped make some noise!
I’d kill for a slice of that
I am solo WFH now my partner and kids are back to work/school. Just a few days in and it is different. I am aiming for a daily lunchbreak ride while it stays dry.
Yeah. When my daughter was back at school & Wife no longer home schooling I realised that I should have recorded them to play on a loop downstairs, so there was some background hubub....
I wonder if there are background noise videos on youtube I could stick on the telly....??
EDIT - there is a ton of ambient office stuff on YouTube!! Who knew?!
I just need that background office/student noise that you get on a big Uni campus.
https://open.spotify.com/track/71OwSWLR3HNjHf8hlR2HvN
Or try http://www.imissmybar.com/ for a bit more customisation
@ahsat, There are office noise soundtracks on Spotify (and other providers I imagine), they've really helped me with that silence. Sometimes I don't want music or talking but do want something in the background and these have been great. Some of the nature noises are quite nice too, albeit a bit too relaxing at times!
Ha! Thanks - literally never crossed my mind that is an option (D'oh!)! Thanks all - will give some of those links a go!
I’d kill for a slice of that
Perchy - totally understand. But after a year, it presents its own challenges.
At least Hermes have said they are delivering my new mtb helmet this morning - I can have a chat with our very lovely local delivery guy.
I can send you my Tinnitus if that helps.
#neveraquietmoment 🙂
(NSFW language)
@fasthaggis - I feel for you - had that on and off over the last few months with long covid. You are right - silence is very preferable.
Thanks @lunge - I have spotify open as we speak - appreciate the links 🙂
I've got Paris-Nice running on my laptop, of the two hour programme I'll probably watch 2 or 3 minutes but it's constant noise that happily settles into the background.
Hasn't kept me focussed on work though, that's my biggest personal challenge now. I've little interest in work to the extent I am trying to work out a career move.
It's been just over a year since I was last in an office and I was really keen on getting back a day a week from January - little way on not sure if it'll make a difference or I am just done with it now.
If I was putting ten hours' of cafe noise on Youtube, I wouldn't be able to resist splicing in an 'In the air tonight' drum solo halfway through hour six, just to see if anyone noticed...
I do my bit to help others in your situation by playing my guitar with the windows open. It must be effective because after only a minute or so they shout “That’s enough! Give it a rest!”
Maybe I should sell recordings of it.
I’ve got Paris-Nice running on my laptop, of the two hour programme I’ll probably watch 2 or 3 minutes but it’s constant noise that happily settles into the background.
I use cricket for the same, Test Match Special is perfect work noise.
@chipps, I hope to see that uploaded soon!
Personally I talk to the dog more than I talk to anyone else these days, whole one sided conversations with a canine, I'm not sure the walls are padded enough!
Water sounds are great, they are evolutionarily built into us as a ‘positive’ frequency and induce relaxation and happiness
Researched it with work for acoustic impact of our turbines. Some frequencies are really bad, like that of a baby crying, for similar reasons. It was actually found that more ‘volume’ of a positive sound is better than a quieter negative frequency
Bit of a tangent there but maybe you’ve added the office noise to your positive frequency bands
I’d kill for a slice of that
Bigger taser?
Water sounds are great
Very seriously considering taking a power bank, a lawn chair and a tarp out into the woods once it gets a bit warmer.
Bigger taser?
I’m considering tasering myself instead.
I'm enjoying the silence today. Both kids at pre-school so won't have to listen 'The Final Countdown' by Europe for on repeat today. Why? It's the soundtrack to a video on youtube which is a slideshow of pylon photographs. The older boy loves it and often dances around naked to it (or with socks on). I probably liked the song when it was released too, similar age to my boy now, but now that shreaking is starting to grate on me. But today, it's just low volume traffic, a pigeon or two, and the hum of a NAS drive.
Radio 4 works for me....
(Just turn if off quick if you ever hear the words "Dan Saladino")
Water sounds are great, they are evolutionarily built into us as a ‘positive’ frequency and induce relaxation and happiness
The reason you get fountains and water features in public squares and large lobbies is because they are effectively white noise generators and block out other distracting noise. The sound of coffee machines in cafes works in the same way really - in the 'before times' I used to be able to get a surprising amount of focused work done in a cafe waiting to pick up my car from the garage just because the din of the cofffee machine cuts out the outside world.
Often the problem with 'silence' isn't so much that you can't hear anything its more that you get distracted by stuff you normally can't hear.
I find when I'm doing quite solitary work TV and radio are are a better background that music / streaming etc. At home I have the TV on with the sound down. Broadcast media has a 'broadcast clock' - the hour is broken up by scheduled features. While people tend to moan about the DJ's banter between the songs it provides a really useful meter to subconsciously measure the day by
At least Hermes have said they are delivering my new mtb helmet this morning
Good luck with that. Apparently, the industrial unit I work at was closed yesterday between 1pm and 3pm...
Pretty sure it's not purely the noise. I have music on, or TV sometimes. Got sick of the bollocks on the radio. I was never that big on interaction, but its really needed occasionally.
Online chats really don't cut it. It's all become so boring. Completely understand why so many people have got dogs... seriously considering it myself.
@Martinhutch
That reminds me of the story about when Joanne Milne's cochlear implants were first turned on (google it).Her long term friend had made a special playlist for her to celebrate and it was broadcast live on a Lauren Laverne Memory Tapes session. It was a beautiful piece of live radio and the video of when she hears things for the first time is a joyous thing.:-)
@ahsat - maybe it's an opportunity to set up the "STW WFH but really need some idle chat club" ?
Some of us are on Zoom/Teams/Skype most of the day so an interesting distraction with some real people might be a nice way to spend 25-30mins?
Ooo, must look Joanne Milne up!
Soundofcolleagues.com is pretty good, especially the opportunity to add an office dog to thecmix. 🙂
I feel utterly blessed as I've been allowed back into the office for a few days this week - mentally it's been a real boost, hopeful I can have the odd day here and there, serves as a reminder after a year WFH that there IS something to look forward to.
Happily trade you the Mrs, my 3yr old and 7 month old. All in the same room as me trying to WFH. There is only so much noise cancelling headphones can do. House isn't big enough to work elsewhere 🙁
I'd kill for actual silence, rather than blasts of long Coivid increased tinnitus intermixed with frequent screams coming from the TV... Better half on long Covid sick leave has taken to watching horror films through the day, often while knitting farm animals! 😆
Vampiric cuddly goats?
Cricket is now on Talk Sport, it always seems to have a nice tempo for home working.
Telly on with nothing too taxing, news, masterchef, wheeler dealers whatever floats your boat.
I’d love a week working from home, on furlough etc. Or a month. My life has been pretty much normal the last year, the only difference being the initially nice customers (generally not specifically) have now become super demanding asshats and we’ve hardly spent any money for 6 months.
But yeah. A month off would be lovely.
I’d love a week working from home, on furlough etc.
And I'd love to be in a busy office/shop surrounded by people.
it's tough working alone in your spare room for many people, a bit of ambient noise can help that.
Go for a walk. A couple of laps around the block will do you the world of good.
House across the way is having some work done and the builders have been cranking out shit techno all week. I've heard nothing but BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH-BM-CH since Monday and I'm about ready to murder them to death.
Am I the only one who's tapping his foot and nodding along to that?
Depends. Are you my neighbour's builder?
Very seriously considering taking a power bank, a lawn chair and a tarp out into the woods once it gets a bit warmer.
I fell asleep last night to the sound of frogs at a local lochan. Interspersed with one noisy duck it has to be said.
I've been WFH for 7 years, I hate background noise. I'd really struggle to work in an office again.
Hey Ahsat. I'll send you a 12.5h recording of my almost-4 year old chatting away without pause for breath for every single bloody second that he's awake 😉
Your knowledge of obscure dinosaurs would certainly increase, but you'd be longing for that silence after about 20 mins!
Only just logging back in as I ended up having a pretty productive afternoon thanks to nickjb’s library YouTube video, and it being warm enough to open the window and listen to the neighbour who is on furlough clear his garage out.
maybe it’s an opportunity to set up the “STW WFH but really need some idle chat club” ?
Haha. Love the title. I really don’t need any more meetings, but need the time in between to be more productive and just feeling less isolating. Anyway, something in that direction was achieved this afternoon. Probably helped by 20 mins fitting a brake to my new frame. Haha
@legolam - haha. If you were closer I’d swap you F for my silence, but maybe max 30 mins 😅
Alright, alright....who sent round the pneumatic drill, chain saw, digger, and scrap merchants outside my house this morning?
Where is that silence.... 😉
Ah - the old "be careful what you wish for..." 😉
How about 12 hours of the engine sounds from the Nostromo as background noise?
I quite the the Bladerunner one as well
Harry Hill's podcast?
It's mainly silence or background ambient sounds for half an hour, but at some unpredictable moment he makes an unpredictable noise, then returns to silence.
I used to work for an an American TV company - they had a saying that there are two types of people: those who walk into a room and turn the TV on and those who walk in and turn it off!
I'm one of the latter, not that I dislike TV, I just like quiet.
I now work outside and the only real noises I suppose are bird calls and the occasional sheep bleating. It's not silence but it's quiet. Well apart from the pair of F15s that flew over on Tuesday, they were effing loud! Had an inkling they were approaching and managed to get thumbs into ears before they got close.
I’m sitting in silence at the moment, wishing with all my heart the other half was asleep on the couch while I rubbed her feet, snoring away. Instead she’s in a Bristol hospital waiting to undergo surgery for a bleed inside her brain. I can’t bear the thought of music or the TV, but I hate the silence of her absence.
Sorry, I’m just not coping too well right now, I just want her back; she’s survived one, hopefully this one won’t be any worse.
Everyone's experience of lockdown is so varied
I have 4 kids, 4,4,8 & 10
During the first lockdown I was wfh & the school didn't really have work dialled
It was the very opposite of what you described, I'm amazed im not divorced now,u wife and I were both on the edge
Oh crap CZ, just read that, am so sorry, stay strong, lots of complete strangers on an Mtb forum are behind you both
@CountZero - that sounds like the worse kind of silence. Sending you so many best wishes, virtual hugs and good luck vibes to your OH. As Kimbers, we are all here with you x
Thank you all, I was at the ICU at Bristol Southmead, which has a top notch neurological unit, and there’s nothing they can do, the worst had already happened by the time she got to Bath, and the damage is to the brain-stem, and is unsurvivable; it was a thrombosis in the vein that drains the blood from the brain, so pressure built up and caused massive injury to the surrounding tissues. She’s on a ventilator probably until tomorrow, but I’m going to lose my beautiful girl very soon, and I’m in pieces.
She came into my life at a rather dark time, after I hadn’t seen her for over twenty years, and she brought light with her. I’m sitting here in silence, I can’t bear the thought of music or telly at the moment, just reading to escape the inevitable tears.
I’ve got a couple of her snuggly fleece jackets that have her favourite perfume on, which I keep holding for some sort of comfort, but it’s just so hard at the moment. She was lovely and was loved by everyone who she worked and shared time with.
And I miss her so very much.
Oh fk, am so sorry CZ
Nothing I can say really, other than send u virtual hug
CountZero, that’s truly awful. Massive virtual hug
Been thinking about you all day CZ,it's truly heartbreaking news.
I hope that there are friends and family that you are able to have close just now.
Take care.
Oh my goodness CZ. I am so sorry. Absolutely devastated for you. Sending so many thoughts and virtual hugs your way. Remember this forum is always here for you. And please seek out support if you need it - looking after yourself is so important.
Just leaving this here, just in case you need someone to talk to: Calm
Really sorry to hear about your partner CZ! My thoughts are with you at this difficult time. If you need a stranger to chat to, I live 15 minutes walk from Southmead Hospital!
Thanks everyone, I got home half an hour ago, that’s 1am, more or less, after being at the hospital since midday, and I’m just empty now. I have to say, the staff in Southmead ICU are truly wonderful people, the care that they took with my beloved Joey was incredible, they’re such warm, and compassionate people, and despite it being fairly obvious that there was almost no hope for her even before she arrived at Bath RUH, they sent a team to pick her up, and gave her every chance possible to try to reverse the damage, but it became obvious that the injury to her brain-stem was catastrophic and non-survivable, but she was still treated as if she might recover. Sadly, she was officially declared dead earlier this evening, and I’m now sitting in my quiet house, completely unable to figure out where I can go from here. She reappeared out of nowhere, having lived in southern Eire for over ten years, with no online presence, but reappeared on Facebook after her daughters made her a page, at a time when I found myself alone, apart from my brother, and she changed my life.
And now she’s gone.
I love her, and I miss her so very much.
I left her with these words:
Nos da a chysga’n dda - Good night and sleep well
The only Welsh I could remember, she was constantly trying to teach me, but with little success.
I won’t be able to sleep well.
So sorry to hear of your devastating loss! She sounds like an amazing woman! I don't know what else to say, but if you need it there's always help and support on here and charities like Cruse can be a lifeline at these emotionally challenging times. Take care of yourself!
Sorry for your loss, CountZero.
CountZero, I don’t have the words to express how sorry I am to hear this devastating news.
Look after yourself, my thoughts are with you.
So sorry to hear this CountZero
I am so sorry for your lost CountZero. Sounds like an amazing lady who has bought real light to your life. Look after yourself.
Sorry I haven’t posted back to this, I think everyone will understand why, but I thought I really needed to say to everyone who posted here, and to those who took the trouble to PM me just how much I appreciated it, and to each and everyone of you, thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. This week has been incredibly difficult to cope with, not just for myself but for Jo’s family, especially as her 24 yo daughter is having to deal with everything, and also her best friend of 45 years, who Jo grew up with at school in North Wales, and is heartbroken and bereft, as I am.
She has a sister in New York, and her aunt in Belgium, so with the obvious travel restrictions, it’s impossible for everyone to get together, making it an even more difficult and stressful time.
We’ll get through it, but it’s heartwarming to know there are such lovely people here.
Thank you all, and zen hugs - they’re the hugs that I would give you, if I were there, but I’m not, and I can’t.
Read this thread at the start, and enjoyed it... but missed your initial comment @CountZero - I'm really sorry about your partner, and sending a virtual hug from Spain. Stay strong and take care of yourself!