THE SOUND OF SILENCE - SWISS STYLE

What a loudspeaker truck in Japan taught me about the Swiss love of peace and quiet

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I was enjoying what I consider one of life's greatest inventions: the weekend nap.

A gentle breeze drifted through the open balcony door.

Weekend bliss.

Then it happened.

A loudspeaker crackled into life somewhere outside.

'Old washing machines! Scrap metal! Broken appliances!'

The voice slowly drifted through the neighbourhood, accompanied by the unmistakable hum of a tiny flatbed truck that appeared to be conducting a one-vehicle parade.

Apparently, somebody had decided that Sunday afternoon was the ideal time to announce, at considerable volume, that they were willing to take away my unwanted microwave.

These trucks are quite common in Japan. They roam residential streets collecting scrap metal, old electronics and household appliances.

Convenient? Certainly.

Entirely legal? That seems... open to interpretation.

Japan has fairly strict rules about disposing of large appliances and electronic waste, and these travelling collectors apparently operate in something of a grey area.

Personally, though, I'm less interested in their legal status than their acoustic one.

Because if there's one thing guaranteed to interrupt a perfectly respectable afternoon nap, it's somebody enthusiastically advertising their appliance collection services through a loudspeaker.

The whole episode reminded me of Switzerland.

Not because we have roaming scrap collectors.

Quite the opposite.

Switzerland has built an international reputation for loving peace and quiet.

Some of that reputation is deserved.

Some of it has become folklore.

Take the famous claim that it's illegal to flush your toilet after 10 p.m.

Every few months another newspaper somewhere in the world rediscovers this fascinating 'fact', usually accompanied by photographs of pristine Alpine villages and horrified tourists desperately crossing their legs.

It isn't true.

There has never been a Swiss law banning nocturnal toilet flushing.

That said...

Your landlord might still have included such a rule in the house regulations.

And there are stories of neighbours protesting midnight flushes by banging broomsticks against the ceiling.

Which somehow feels even more Swiss than making it illegal.

Sunday is where things become particularly interesting.

Washing your car? Better not.

Running the washing machine in a multi-tenant building? Most likely forbidden.

Dropping glass into the recycling container? Normally commendable.

Doing it on a Sunday? Less so.

Even the humble car horn enjoys a remarkably restrained existence in Switzerland.

In many countries it's treated as a conversational aid.

In Switzerland, it's expected to be used only in genuine emergencies.

After dark, drivers are encouraged to flash their headlights instead.

Apparently, even panic should remain reasonably quiet.

Of course, every culture has exceptions.

Swiss people defend traditions with admirable determination.

Which is why church bells may happily ring every quarter of an hour throughout the night, while somebody vacuuming at 10:05 p.m. risks becoming Public Enemy Number One.

Cowbells receive similar protection.

New arrivals occasionally complain.

Long-time villagers generally reply by ringing them even more enthusiastically.

Japan approaches noise rather differently.

It's one of the busiest countries on earth.

Train stations play cheerful melodies.

Political candidates campaign from loudspeaker vans.

And the scrap-metal truck apparently believes everyone within a three-kilometre radius urgently needs reminding that it accepts broken rice cookers.

Yet once you're inside people's homes, Japan becomes remarkably quiet.

Phone conversations on trains are discouraged.

Neighbours rarely make excessive noise.

Apartment living often feels surprisingly peaceful.

It strikes me that both countries ultimately arrive at the same destination.

Switzerland protects silence with rules.

Japan protects it with social awareness.

One prefers regulations.

The other relies on consideration.

Both generally work.

Although only one occasionally interrupts your Sunday nap to ask whether you have an old washing machine you'd like to get rid of.