I’m cat sitting for a friend right now, in a beautiful house surrounded by tall trees – a kind of zen space, a retreat away from the world, even though I’m only a short hop from the manic 101 freeway.
So this morning, I rose early, made my tea (because that’s what Brits do), put on some Native American wind flute music and strolled out onto the patio to soak up the sounds of nature……and that’s when I heard it. The unmistakable noise of the leaf blower.
Until I came to California, I really wasn’t that familiar with them. In the UK I’ve only ever seen them used occasionally in some of the big London parks.
I had fondly anticipated The Hissing of Summer Lawns, having been a lifelong Joni Mitchell fan, as we don’t have a lot of sprinkler systems in the UK either, but the onslaught of leaf blowers was not something I was prepared for.
Because just about everyone seems to have gardeners here, every gardener is pretty busy and imagines leaf blowers will make their job easier, I suppose.
Maybe it does, but having observed them at work, they really don’t seem all that efficient to me and they’re a damn sight noisier than a broom. And what about the environment?
OK, compared with driving, emissions are paltry BUT I hear that leaf blowers in the U.S emit more than 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide a year and burn enough fuel to fill 6.4 million oil barrels. That sounds a bit hefty just for the sake of blowing a lot of leaves all over the place.
And do we actually need them? I mean, really?
Does anyone else have this problem – or is it just me?
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There are two things that I've encountered since moving here to LA that put my teeth on edge and one of them is definitely leaf blowers. Not only obnoxiously loud, but there is something in the pitch of the motor that just grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.
The other one is helicopters. Never in my life have I been privy to so many of these "whirlybirds" at so close a proximity. Whenever there's a small pileup on the 101, in their search for the perfect news shot, they feel free to circle over my apartment again and again and again... the thumping so loud you can feel it in your very fiber. It's enough to drive one insane!!
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