Rob Bignell's article on the scarcity of silence reminds me how nice it is to live outside city limits. I rarely hear cars when I open my windows at night, just the crickets and frogs. One winter a few years back I lost power for three days. I kept the fireplace stoked and toasted things in there or outside on the gas grill. It was inconvenient, but peaceful. You wouldn't believe how deafeningly loud the fridge and furnace sounded when I finally got them back. It showed my how much background noise pollution can be generated even without the traffic and tv. Amazing what we can get used to.