I started smoking again on the first day of my current position. Extra breaks, boss smokes - on some smoke breaks real business plans are hashed out, information is exchanged which normally wouldn't be, and a sense of comradere is shared which trumps the normal co-worker acquaintance paradigm - But now I have an e-cig and I only go out when I think it will be significant because I don't want to die.

I don't think I have experienced any actual silence for years. I work in a busy loud office, I commute on a noisy train, I fall asleep listening to podcasts or am radio - Does silence even exist in our modern cities? Is the "complete absence of sound" actually possible when thousands of people are densly existing in concrete, artificially lit habitats that are open for business 24/7/365?