Sound waves

It's Thursday afternoon and I just listened intensely for 5 minutes. I set the timer on my iPhone and I'll explain the reason for it at the end of this post...

Here's what happened:

Closest to me I heard Antonia's breathing and the light touch of her blue pencil while she was highlighting her history book. I think she is reading about Athens. I am amazed by how well she has adapted to her new school, she has been so good with all this learning and doing her homework. I am pretty sure I wasn't half as organised at her age. At 13 I was quite unstructured and often lost important stuff but she is just so determined to do well and seems to have found the perfect place to for her. At one point I took a photo of her concentrated work. She heard me and asked what I was doing but then she dove right back in.

Pretty close to me I heard the ticking of the clock next to the sofa, something that is only audible when it's really quiet.

Next to the flat I heard the elevator at least once, it makes a lot of noise and I can always tell on what floor it is and often who uses it. Somehow everybody who lives in this appartement building has a sound of their own (there are 9 flats in the building). I also heard the front door close, which is quite far away but kind of makes the whole building shake a little.

Outside I heard the wind flow through the leaves on the trees next to the balcony. The trees are full of these maple thingies that will fall down soon. They make a rustling sound and together with the lovely fall sun light it is really beautiful.

Even further away I heard the construction site close by. There was a deeper constant noise and then there was a higher drilling sound a couple of times.

Furthest away I think I heard the tram. Usually I only hear it first time in the morning, around 5am when the world is still mostly sleeping and when it's wet on the ground. Otherwise it's too soft to be heard.

...

I just found this blog (actually I've seen people using it before but have never actually gone there myself) which apparently posts 5 writing prompts for each week. I decided that I wanted to try it and here I am ;-)

The prompt I chose:

2. Listen to the sounds in your house for 5 or 10 minutes. Write about what you hear.