Today is an eerily quiet day.
I live a few hundred metres away from the busy M6 motorway which brings constant noise. I rarely notice it because it’s always there.
Today is different, today is quiet, very quiet. It’s so quiet that the keys on my keyboard sound loud, even the click on my mouse is too loud today.
This morning at around six as I was in that semi-asleep state just before waking I heard a load of sirens but didn’t think anything of it. I still didn’t think anything of it as I went out for my morning walk, but I noticed that something was different, I wasn’t sure what.
It wasn’t until I got home that I knew what was going on. As I walked through the door Sue told me about a chemical fire at a nearby industrial estate closing the motorway (BBC, LEP).
I hadn’t really noticed the difference while I was out walking because I was listening to a podcast from Willow Creek.
When Sue told me it was obvious, the level of background noise was so markedly different. Once it had been pointed out to me it was eery, it took me a good while to relax into it.
Quiet is very valuable, especially today, with so much of it around. In the Proverbs it says this:
Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
Today I am going to try and make the most of the quiet that I have available. I’m sure the motorway will be open very soon and life will be back to normal but until that happens I’m going to work without music and enjoy the birds singing outside.
Today is also a day when I’m reminded how much a blessing working from home can be. The roads are apparently madness out there. Today was Jonathan’s first day on two weeks of work experience and his bus was 30 mins late before he’d even started. Emily is having a taster day at the high school she will be going to in September, Sue did a great job of fighting through the traffic to get her there.
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Graham Chastney 