Comments on: Guest Blogging: Arpi Shively – MiRDA!

By: greytop

greytop — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:29:02 +0000

LOL – you forgot the lorry driver and crane operator conversing with their air horns! When people complain to me my reply is “At least you know you are alive!” Moors’ and Christians’ parades this weekend here, so even more noise. Bring it on!!!!

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:37:22 +0000

… you have usually just drifted back off after the street cleaners then the dustbin collection, when the butanero turns up announcing his presence to the world by beating the empty gas bottles with what must be a lump hammer…

In Leeds, my hometown, we lived next to the A61 trunk road on the hill at the point where the 18 wheelers change down a gear, when I moved away to a small town I couldn’t sleep because there was on traffic noise, maybe I was lucky in Madrid but Barcelona leaves everywhere I have been standing when it comes to the sheer level and persistent nature of the noise.

By: Pepino (Dave Hall)

Pepino (Dave Hall) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:30:59 +0000

Double-glazing doesn’t seem to be particularly popular, despite the noise benefits. The balcony doors where I live in Barcelona are old fashioned and just single glazed. Opening them at pretty much any time of the day or night is equivalent to opening the gates of hell and peeping through. The volume is high enough with the doors shut, but with them open…. ufff!

I guess I’ve just gotten used to it though. I’ve stopped waking up in the dead of night even when the dumper trucks come to empty the giant metal (ie noisy) bins, and I can now drift off to sleep to the sounds of passing ambulances! jeje

That’s another thing. Ambulances in BCN seem to have sirens that are bordering on inhumane levels of decibels. Probably the worst thing that can happen to you here is walking down a street while an ambulance alongside is stuck in traffic with it’s siren permanently on. It melts your brain! I don’t know about the local dog population, but even I feel like howling! :-0

By: HF

HF — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:34:05 +0000

Has anyone here ever had soundproofing done on their flat in Spain? (serious question)

By: Graeme

Graeme — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:54:20 +0000

The capital has it’s own additional regulations on top of those decreed by MiRDA. So in Madrid we get rubbish collection at 1:30 a.m. , especially slow and noisy street cleaning vehicles every Sunday at 7:30 a.m., vans that start daily unloading at 7 a.m., carefully programmed mass hooting of any driver foolish enough to take longer than 3 miliseconds to react to the lights changing (with a mandatory additional 30% at meal times), and the people hired by the ayuntamiento to sing/shout the glories of Asturias at 3 a.m. when some of the bars close – just in case anyone had fallen asleep. The summer heat comes, you throw your balcony windows open for the next 3 months – and then turn the TV upto full volume because otherwise you can’t hear it with everything else thats going on outside.

By: gary

gary — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:13:08 +0000

WHAT…. ??? You’ll have to speak up… I walked from Rambla de Mar to Barceloneta down Pg. de Colom and I cant hear anything now…..

By: leftbanker

leftbanker — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:05:07 +0000

Valencia during Fallas has to be the noisiest place on earth. I think the elevated racket during the festival ups the ante on noise levels for the rest of the year. All mopeds in Valencia are required by law to have a bullhorn attached to the tailpipe, children are only allowed to communicate by screaming at the top of their lungs, you can be fined if they catch your dog not barking, stereo volumes really do go to 11, your car horn turns on when the engine is started and doesn’t stop until you take the keys out, and even the pigeons seem to coo louder than in other cities.

By: richardksa

richardksa — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:42:02 +0000

Very funny, well written and I am sure every word is true.