Sounds I Remember

The sound of our " 10 o'clock whistle every nite. It meant that all of us kids were supposed to be off of the street, but mainly in the downtown area. Usually, we were supposed to be in the house by that time, anyway, but in the summer, we were often still out on the streets playing until well after 11 pm sometimes. As long as there were no problems, the police cruiser that drove by every now and then, just slowed down, but didn't make us go inside.

My dad had one of the old radios with the little green eye for tuning, and it was a multi-band radio, so he could tune in shortwave stations. I loved listening to the sound of the Chinese sounding stations , even though we had NO idea what they were chattering about .
Along the same lines, another favorite sound was the two-way radio in Daddy's big line truck ( he was a power lineman), and the familiar call of "KOB569" that was the office of Northern Lights calling to tell him where the next outage was at. Mom and I often went along with him, especially on the after-hours outages he sometimes had to take care of at night.

We weren't close to the railroad track, but there were several that ran through town, so we still heard the lonely whistle blowing as they came through. I remember the old steam engines chugging along, and then being replaced by the colorful new Diesel engines.

One of my most favorite sounds was at Christmas, when our little church would load everyone up in the back of someone's stock truck, and we drove slowly through town, sitting on bales of hay, and singing Christmas carols as we went. How I loved that every year ! People would come out and wave as we went by, and sometimes they even made hot chocolate for us back at the church to warm everyone up afterward.
 

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I remember a guy going down our street ringing a bell on his bicycle.. He would sharpen knives, scissors or anything to be sharpened.. He had some sort of contraption attached to his bike that would turn a grindstone while he peddled......
 

Churchbells on Sunday, and listeniing to the choir sing at practice, as we lived close to the church. The bells tolling when someone in the community passed away...one for each year of life.
 
Like a lot of you, I remember the old school bell only it was this metal thing that was in the hall. It would scare us half to death.

The sound of the lucky kid who got to clean the chalk board brushes by banging them together.

The sound of the waves hitting the rocks when I stayed at my Grandmother's house.

The sound of our neighbors turkeys while they communicated with each other.

The sound of the snow shovel scraping across the front steps every morning so we could get out the door.

The sound of bacon being fried on Sunday mornings

The bells of the icecream truck!!

The sound of my brother's volkswagon which wasn't very often as the thing was always broken, but when we heard that engine start, we know
he would be taking us for a ride.

The sound of the bat hitting the ball in the vacant lot between the houses.
 
The only thing I can remember about sounds (apart from some that others mention) when I was a child and living in the UK was the Air Raid siren, which meant we all went to sit in the cupboard under the stairs, with two Grandmothers and my brother - not sure where everyone else went to?? As it was said that would still be standing, if bombs destroyed our houses.
We did have an underground shelter in back yard, but it was usually inches deep in water and there were rats in there too. I was 6 when the war ended.
 
Anyone else remember the sound of a blade of grass held between your thumbs and blowing on it to make a high pitched sound.
Filling a paper bag with air and popping them.
Listening to all the sounds of nature while sitting in the woods all by yourself.
 
The sounds of the Auctioneer at the local auction barn, back in the 50's.

I can still hear and envision the weekly auctions I got to go to with my Grandfather and other family members.
I lived in a farming community, serving the local cheese houses and regional commercial dairies. When the farmers needed to sell excessive livestock/farm products and to purchase livestock/products not raised on their farms, the Livestock Commission filled those needs with regularly scheduled auctions selling horses, cows, steers, hogs, pigs, eggs, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep and also farm tools.
It was the weekly social gathering place for neighbors and friends... it was my entertainment environment as a kid.
And a funny note, probably passed TWHRider there weekly! .. :)

And like everything, as time passed the need for a livestock auction wasn't needed any longer.
 
Pappy said:
Anyone else remember the sound of a blade of grass held between your thumbs and blowing on it to make a high pitched sound.
Filling a paper bag with air and popping them.
Listening to all the sounds of nature while sitting in the woods all by yourself.
Click to expand...

I'd forgotten about the blade of grass, Pappy. Gotta remember to try it again soon. Still pop bags. And still enjoying the sounds of nature.
 
We still do the blade of grass thing...had to show our daughter and then the grandkids. :D Don't pop the paper bags anymore, but still pop the bubble wrap.
 
The whistle on a steam train.... I have one as a ringtone for my phone !

I just love it and there's no mistaking my phone ringing in a crowded environment !

Whilst on the subject of whistles,.... what about the magnificent "aah-ooga" car horns of yesteryear ! :playful:
 
The sound that I remember only too well was the sound of the Scottish bagpipe band at the royal shows it used to frighten the life out of me as a child,it was so loud.
 
Nah, you can't fool me with thatun Pappy, no hot tin roofs over there at Christmas. .... oooooh Florida.
facepalm-gesture-smiley-emoticon.gif
Dammit!
 
I think of sounds childhood, I can't recall any. What I mostly recall about childhood is hard times and getting lost and the terror that seized me when I did.
 
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