Shhhhhh

While we all turn off our lights at night so that scientists in Tucson can study the sky, another kind of sensory pollution assaults us: noise. I have only recently gotten over my duck-and-cover reflex every time a pair of screaming A-10s flies over, but I still cringe when the windows rattle from the noise overhead. I moved out of my neighborhood to the south of the U of A when it was upgraded from 'moderate' to 'high' on the noise meter. A lot of people lost money on their property values when that happened. Besides, the planes come in so low that you wonder if they're planning to land on the street. Who wants to live in what looks like a crash-pad for wayward jets?

Another common complaint is the infestation of ghetto birds. If you live near a hospital, you have to expect medical helicopters, and that's just what you signed up for, but if you live miles away, no one suspects that every weekend night they will feel like they are in the center of a prison break. I have woken up to circling helicopters, police megaphones and even a searchlight shining from the sky into my very bedroom window. I was followed by a helicopter when I was on my bike (!) all the way down the street with a light shining on me from above. E.T. phone home. I fully expected to be beamed up, but apparently they were looking for someone else.

And if I may share a very unique experience, I actually had a neighbor with a rooster. Every morning it would crow around 4:30am. Turns out that's illegal. You're allowed to have 3 hens, but no roosters in the city. That would make it a farm.

All that, coupled with the Tucsonan's natural inclination toward honking unnecessarilly in traffic, and the increasing popularity in street racing near my house mean that I get very little satisfying sleep.

Post Script: Last night a ghetto bird braved the microburst to continuously circle a location nearby. It passed over my house some 20 times, shining a search light on some neighbor's place. It came so close to the house that I could hear the individual chop chop chop of the blades. I wonder why, when the news had just told me not to go outside because of strong winds, lightning and flood damage, it was then safe for a helicopter to fly repeatedly over my house.

Post Post Script: Last night for the 4th of July we went over by A-Mountain and got treated to a lovely fireworks display, constantly interrupted by a circling police helicopter that was shining its spotlight on who knows what.