What's all that Noise?

     Have you ever sat in a big city, major league traffic jam? All the noise and nonsense of horns honking seem to drowned out any sane thought you could muster. Hours of endless honking! That is one major reason I moved away from the big city. Up until now the only pollution that makes the paper is "Light" pollution. How can we ever hope to see the northern lights if we install more street lites? The lights at the local grocery store are a real buzz kill when I'm trying to focus on the aurora borealis! But tonight wasn't about street lighting polluting the night sky, the was a traffic jam of sorts that went on for hours. Oh the honking!
    The last times I remember listening to such a racket was first in 1980. I was 12 city blocks away from Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was game 6 of the world series, around 11:30 at night. I was watching Tug McGraw strike out Willie Wilson to win the world series. No sooner had the umpire called strike 3, I heard the roar coming all the way from the stadium. Wow! The noise of that crowd gave me shivers as if I were there. So far and yet so close.
     The next noise extravaganza happened in 1997. I was living 18 miles from Joe Louis arena in Detroit. I was watching the Stanley Cup on TV, and as the Red Wings beat the Flyers in game 4 to win the cup, here came that wave of cheering again! It seemed to last all night. Yelling and horn honking roared well into the early morning. 
     Now I find myself in a land far far away from the hustle and bustle. Peace and quiet abound. I stepped out into my yard to let my pooch relieve herself and all I could hear was honking; major league horn honking. What a racket! I couldn't even tell where exactly it was coming from. It seemed like miles and miles of traffic jam, and it didn't stop. It went on for almost 2 hours. It seemed to go from one end of town to the other. I called a pal that lives on the other side of town and asked him if he heard it. He did! I bundled up in warm cloths and stood outside in disbelief. I pulled my beautiful bride outside in her robe and slippers and said, "listen to that." I know what your thinking, who in their right mind would stand outside in the cold and snow listening to a traffic jam? Not me.

     Truth be told, I spent, over an hour standing outside marveling at an endless sea of snow geese migrating overhead in the midnight sky. The honking was music to my ears. With the snow keeping the visibility ceiling to near nothing, I was left to only wonder what was going on. There had to be thousands! It sounded as sweet as Billie Holiday singing what is this thing called love.  Sometimes you need to go back to the basics.................................