sound

traveller "...

The cabin rattles... A child suddenly starts to yell and is shushed by a parent. The train is not comfortable. A panel in the ceiling reaches resonance with the train and begins to growl loudly and deeply. [notebook: Virgin Trains pendolino service 1st class to Lancaster 14 July 2004 7pm]

Throughout the journey so far, I have heard the tapping of keys from a laptop, distinct and faintly irritating. [notebook: Virgin Trains voyager service to Birmingham New Street 10am]

A man, a few seats away, has a walkman on. I can hear the tinny sounds, like a small world echoing... I can hear a crisp packet rustling... The man behind me is rustling again. It sounds like crisps. I try to peer surreptitiously through the gap... He is rustling magazine pages... Lots of rustling of food, the rip of a can opening... The woman opposite me has a piercing mobile phone ring. [notebook: Virgin Trains London Euston service 10 March 2004 3pm]

system "...

"The Quiet Zone is a dedicated place where you can relax in peace and quiet. If you are seated in the Quiet Zone, please don't use mobile phones or create unnecessary noise. You may use personal stereos and laptops, but we ask that you consider others if doing so." [extract: 'Travelling with Virgin Trains' leaflet collected Lancaster 25 March 2004)

ethnographic guide

Travellers extend themselves into other travellers through sounds, intermittent and incessant. Some sounds impinge on a journey more than others, and the interaction with another person may change the experience of time (as an irritation) so that the journey is made longer. Possible strategies to adapt to noisy journeys are to extend into other, imaginary, spaces and times: for example, by reading a book.