“Silence, something about silence makes me sick, ‘Cos silence can be violent sorta like a slit wrist…”

So sang Zack de La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine. I can’t say I agree. Having spent most of my adult life wanting to listen to music or the radio or to at least have some sort of background hum recently I’ve started appreciating peace and quiet, and even silence.

We live on a fairly quiet suburban street on the edge of a reasonably sized town – but it ‘s surprising how quiet it can be. It struck me once when in the garden a few years back. I stopped for a second and could hear pretty much nothing. No road noise, no trains (we’ve a line across the bottom of the garden, but it’s not a busy one) and just the occasional snatch of birdsong. It was quite calming and I almost felt.. relaxed.

Having small children means silence is a luxury – I tend only to get it now just after I’ve woken up, and just before the little ones do. But are there any other fans of silence on here? And do you find it calming or irritating?