Dear Editor,
It’s common to hear the refrain about how much Richmond has changed. While change is constant, Richmond’s a wonderful place to live with many reminders of history including the Britannia National Historic Site, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, dairy farms in East Richmond, fishing boats, docks and the Steveston Harbour along the Fraser. Some of the most intriguing memories and feelings are stirred by sounds that I’ve heard in Richmond since I was a kid.
Recently, when I mentioned fog horns to a boat captain, he was a little reluctant to talk since he thought I was going to complain about the noise. I explained how much I enjoy the sound of fog horns. The sound can be nostalgic, mysterious, romantic, spooky and they’re a healthy signal of commerce along the Fraser. While we’re lounging or half asleep in our homes, the distant sound of a fog horns along the river reminds us of the ships and their crews finding their way safely home. Even in a high tech world of GPS and radar, fog horns pierce the foggy shroud, bringing ships safely up and down the Fraser.
On another fall morning, a distant popping sound from the south aroused the curiosity of a neighbour who asked me what I thought it was. Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard those sounds and I know it’s hunters, far to the south. My neighbour seemed genuinely surprised and I reassured them that it’s far away and seasonal. While I’m not a hunter, I know many who do hunt and the distant sounds of the duck hunt is second nature to my ears and definitely a reminder of something that was much more common than it is today. Early on those mornings, the sounds remind me of a centuries old ritual of hunters crouching silently, hidden, watching, with dogs by their sides waiting for the chance to retrieve.
Perhaps my favourite sounds are those from airplanes, and I confess to being a plane fan and watcher. Like many, I look up at almost any airplane that flies overhead whether it’s a modern wide body jet, a Cessna or a sea plane, turbine of loud piston, banking in over the No. 2 Road Bridge for a water landing on the Fraser. When I was a kid, there was only one main runway at YVR and the cross runway was used a lot more than today. The older jets, DC9s and DC8s, and propeller passenger planes, Vickers Viscounts, would pass over our house on Walton Road, low and loud, and every kid would watch with wide eyes, open mouths and curiosity. Nowadays, we hear complaints about airplane noise, and while YVR is very attentive to those concerns, more than once, I’ve been heard to say, the airport has been here a long time and Richmond benefits from it. You knew the airport was here, right?
While these sounds may not be everyone’s cup of tea, you can still kick back a little and enjoy the fog horns on the Fraser, hunters in the distant marshes and airplanes overhead. They’re all sounds that have deep historical roots in Richmond and although change is constant, these sounds have been around a long time!
Andy Hobbs
RICHMOND
