I’ve been living in this house for four-and-a-half years and still I could not tell you what that sound is that floats regularly over the fence. A mechanical sound. Like a vacuum cleaner. But outside? I would say that it was something to do with a swimming pool except that they don’t have a pool (or if they do it’s only ever used by people who swim extremely quietly). There’s no way of looking over their fence and into their yard without it seeming extremely rude. And since we are far noisier than they are I would hate to think that they think there is any implied criticism. Still, I’d like to know what the noise is. I suppose it’s the kind of noise that will one day disappear without me noticing and I will never think of it again. (Although now I’ve written it down I guess I’ll never forget it, and it will plague me until my final days, haunting my old-age dreams).