It used to be quiet here. Town crept closer as the population grew, with accompanying light and noise pollution. The rural area built up, and more rude Californians moved in, rumbling around on assorted motorized toys. I also wrote a Snap a few days ago about visiting a friend in a neighboring town, and finding the noise from children shrieking and people blasting music at high volume quite disconcerting. I know kids make noise, but these were frequent shrieks of the sort that triggered my "someone is hurt" emergency response several times. Meanwhile, while I wasn't exactly raise with a "children should be seen and not heard" strictness, there was a general incentive to quiet. The Mother Thing was dealing with health issues and required midday naps. We kids learned to play quietly, and it suited my temperament anyway.