I decided to wander around my own neighborhood of
Flushing, Queens near Main Street as I have not been able to just walk around
and see how it has grown and changed over the years.
Recently, a lot of construction noises have been
dominating the air in my small corner of the world. There seem to be temporary
wooden walls everywhere, and wherever there are wooden walls, there is the
unrelenting sound of jackhammers, drills, bulldozers, and cranes going at full
force.
Every so often, on a set schedule that I am not familiar with, the
sound of the Long Island Rail Road rattling by resounds, low and subtle under
the rest of the clatter, as it makes its way behind the line of houses on my
street.
If I venture a block or so down towards Main Street and the subway
station, the construction noises fade slowly, though the shouts of the workers
relaying instructions to each other lingers in the air for quite some way down.
There eventually comes a point where the construction gives way to the
incessant honking of midday traffic. Buses, cars, trucks, everything is caught
in a standstill when drivers find themselves accidentally stuck in the middle
of the intersection at a signal change and the pedestrians refuse to give way
to their desperate attempts to regain their dignities.
Once I cross onto Main Street, I am immediately assaulted with the sound
of people. Before then, there was only the occasional chatter between a couple
or the call of middle-aged men meeting at the convenience store. Now, the
constant stream of chatter and words floods my senses and that is all I can
hear ringing in my ears as I make my way down the subway stairs.
