Sound Observations

Chandler's Warf
I sit on a bench with a thud and close my eyes. I hear an airplane that must be flying very low, it is loud. A woman is on her cell phone talking loudly, but I can't tell where her accent is from. I hear tires in the parking lot next to me, crunching slowly on the gravel. The water in the little wade pool behind me is slapping rhythmically on the cement slabs. The wind is wooshing in my ears, and rustling the leaves on the trees. There are a lot of trees, so there is a lot of rustling. I can hear the feet of little birds on the concrete slabs in the wade pool behind me. They sound like they are hopping around on rocks, concrete, and twigs, probably looking for food. They are making soft chirping noises at each other. Two men are walking on the boardwalk talking. Their voices are very low, and their feet make a deadened thud on the wooden walkway. I hear those birds again, plopping their beaks or heads in the water. I hear a constant noise, and since the restaurant behind me is closed, I realize that I am near the bridge, and the rather low rumble is the cars constantly going over the bridge. A motorcycle engine is revved, and a man coughs. My notebook flaps in the breeze. Cars drive by the nearest street and I hear the radio in the car. Stupid rap music. A woman's cell phone rings on the board walk, and it sounds like a chandelier tinkling. A man jogs past me, I hear his heavy breathing coming in gasps, and his feet sound like they are dragging so much I wonder if I will hear him crash to the ground. I don't. Three women walk by, two slurping on some kind of drink through plastic straws. The third is licking her ice cream cone so loud its embarrassing. As they walk past me I hear three pairs of plastic flip flops flapping on the wood. I hear a car door open and close, then a car trunk close. An engine starts, it sounds like a newer car. A speed boat rumbles past me loudly. A family walks by with a stroller, the wheels make an uneven thumping rhythm on the boardwalk. The kid is running ahead, his feet making that little kid thumping noise that always seems like a louder noise than their body weight can create. He is laughing, and his dad is running after him calling.

Bella's Cafe
The air conditioning is loud and low, and blocks out a lot of other sounds. The ice machine adds its own even louder, even lower monotonous tone. There is music playing quietly in the background, it is generic alternative music. A woman is tapping her plastic pen on the granite counter very quickly. Two other women are whispering so quietly that all i can here are their "s"'s. The door opens, and the classic two note bell rings, first a high note then a low note. The blender is now grinding ice, and someone is walking across the floor tiles. A man is talking, and I hear footsteps that are so uneven I have to look up. Oh, he has a peg leg. A flier next to me rustles from the air vent. Some piece of machinery is squeaking. I don't know what it is, but it is high pitched and constant. The peg leg man sighs as he flops down on a vinyl couch. The noise sounds like plastic deflating, if thats even possible. A girl is tapping her foot on the floor. A newspaper is crinkling. A plastic water bottle is plopped down on the granite counter. The cash register opens with a pop, there are high pitched buttons clicking, the noise of fingers picking up change from the register, the register closing, and finally the clinking of the change as it moves from cashier to customer.