LONDON SOUND SURVEY BLOG | COMMENTS
Occasional posts on subjects like field recording, London sounds past and present, other websites worth looking at, articles in the press, and news of audio-related events.
Volcano makes London plane-free
Posted by IMR on 15 April 2010
THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION in Iceland has flung enough ash into the sky for Air Traffic Control to stop all flights over Britain until seven o’clock Friday morning.
Not so great for Icelanders having to flee their homes, but this is good news for Londoners living under flight paths. The last time London had some measure of noise reduction imposed on it was for Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, when traffic was barred from the city centre and flights to and from Heathrow were suspended.
Categories:
Ian,
I was thinking yesterday what it must be like to be in London right now - not just for the lack of flights, the ash - is it falling in London? Someone wrote from Ireland saying it was falling there . . .) - but for the absence of the sound of jets. A sound you’re never quite away from anywhere in London, and a sound that, for me, is as much a part of the experience of London as pubs, double decker busses etc. It must be a touch un-nerving.
T.
Posted by Tim on 20 April 2010
Hello Tim, some people in London who claim not to be hayfever sufferers have blamed invisible volcanic dust for the sniffles and watery eyes they’re having.
It’s been really pleasant not having jet noise over London. The American acoustic ecologist Jim Cummings once defined ‘lo-fi soundscapes’ as being ‘characterized by distortion, broad-band noise, and discomfort’, and in London the drone of jets must be a significant contributor to that.
Posted by IMR on 21 April 2010