I grew up in a small house in England

The commuter train for Liverpool was close by

The train tracks were literally at the end of our back yard

Less than 100 feet from our home

Every time a train went by the house shook

It was so noisy you could not hold a conversation

We simply paused mid sentence

Then continued after the train had gone

Its amazing how you can get used to things

I can honestly say the train noise never bothered me

I enjoyed watching the trains go by

Looking at the sad faces of the tired commuters

Track repair trains would pass by at night

Sometimes making a lot noise fixing the rails

I looked forward to being woken by all that noise

It was exciting to see all the bright lights and banging

Occasionally the train drivers would go on strike

Often these strikes would go on for days

People would ask me if I enjoyed the silence

I never even noticed that the trains had stopped running 

Many years later I am much more sensitive to noise

I no longer live next to a train track

I usually wake up to the dawn chorus of happy singing birds

Or the gentle engine hum of a crab fishing boat on the bay

Occasional visits to a city center fill me with dread

Cars roaring by and trucks clanging along

Planes flying low overhead from the nearby airport

There is no escape from the constant background roar 

I suspect the city dwellers become immune to the noise

Drowning it out with the volume button on their TV remote

My best escape from noise is the Bose headphones

They cut out all external noise while playing my favorite music