The Calming Sound of Traffic Out My Window

2/22/2025

Surviving the trump administration, A Daily Thread. Episode 31: The Calming Sound of Traffic Out My Window

The side of our house is on a 4-lane highway that is frequented by semis, city buses, and speeding commuters. Since we moved in 11 years ago, I’ve been on a journey of acceptance of the highway and all the annoying realities it provides.

For example: we don’t have central air conditioning (most Portland homes don’t, because summers here are mild! Well, except that we smashed heat records a few summers ago, hitting 116 degrees in June… but climate change isn’t really happening, right?) But ANYWAY, it’s important to open the windows on summer nights to keep the house habitable, which amplifies the traffic noise by AT LEAST a factor of 10.

Also: we’re responsible for maintaining the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the aforementioned highway, which means that mowing the lawn in the summer involves a game of chicken in order to trim the outer edge of grass before a distracted SUV or FedEx driver clips the lawnmower and drags whoever is pushing it into the street. (Whoever is pushing it is no longer ever me – I refuse to mow that section of lawn anymore for this reason).

But the reason this is on my mind today is because traffic noise is louder when the roads are wet. I can’t explain the physics of that, but it’s true. Thankfully, it doesn’t rain very often in Portland. Oh, wait. It rains nonstop all fall, winter, and spring – except, to be fair, this winter has been unique in that we had a solid 4-week stretch with zero rain, which NEVER happens. Today though, we’re back to our expected rainy weather, and I’m sitting next to one of the side windows, appreciating each vehicle as it whizzes by.

Oh, an additional delight is that a few months ago, the city fixed our curbs – previously the corner had been without an accessible ramp for bikes or wheelchairs or strollers. The fix is very nice, except sometime during the process, they created a sizeable pothole right next to their handiwork – so now, approximately 50% of the cars and trucks that speed by hit the pothole with a satisfying WHAM that reverberates through our living room.

Tommy challenges me to imagine the traffic noise is the sound of calming ocean waves, and like I said, I’m on a journey of acceptance with this idea. It’s a work in progress.

#survivingthetrumpadministration #fightfascism #notmypresident #standupspeakout #strongertogether