it's oh, so quiet

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It can be deafening. Golden, yet ugly. It can creep up, tip-toeing into existence, to catch you as you laugh. It is claustrophobic in a world which continually hums with the buzz of electricity, technology and metal chariots. And yet, there is worse than silence. There is the munching of food inside somebody's mouth, their jaws clamping and chewing, a soggy mush of soppy food, slurping and swallowing. There is the whispered mutterings of a gossipy conversation which you can't quite hear. There is the ridiculous ringtone which bursts into life during a lesson. There are the sniffles and snuffles of ill folk, an occasional violent sneeze and a dainty cough, fraught with suppression. A faint tinny sound gives away a song being listened to. The clickety-clack of a pen as it is drummed unconsciously on a table. Silence is both wonderful and horrific, sometimes at the same time. And chaotic. Very chaotic. {I wrote this in a lesson this morning}