sounds of England

I was on the train to meet a friend for lunch when a routine announcement caught me off guard. It welcomed me aboard a Southeastern service, something I’d heard more times than I could count. This time, that little everyday sound reminded me very strongly of home.

I’m Canadian, and England is my second home. When I first moved here, everything felt strange and overwhelming, and I worried I’d never figure it all out. By the time I recorded these thoughts, I’d been here eight years. Hearing a once unfamiliar announcement as a sound of home felt like a small existential crisis on the train.

A welcome aboard is more than background noise

I hadn’t taken a train for a while before that lunch trip. Sitting down and hearing the familiar greeting made me notice it again. It wasn’t a special journey or an unusual announcement, which was exactly what made the reaction feel strange. An ordinary part of getting around had become something I associated with my life here.

Trains were my main way of travelling in the UK. They weren’t always on time and there were sometimes strikes, but I could still rely on them for getting around. I’d taken so many journeys that the words at the start of another one were instantly familiar.

Another announcement I find comforting is the warning to mind the gap between the train and the platform. I see those words written around stations too, but it’s the recording that particularly gets me. I’ve heard it so often that something intended as a practical warning has become a cosy, familiar sound to me.

There are good and bad checkout voices

The Tesco checkout saying that my Clubcard has been accepted belongs on this list too. I don’t have a fixed allegiance to one supermarket, because I usually shop wherever I’m living closest to. I do like Tesco, though, and I scan the card every time, just in case there’s a discount to get.

Often I’m getting ready for dinner and realise I’ve forgotten something, so I go out for that one thing. Hearing the card accepted is the good part of the checkout conversation. It means it’s finally scanned properly, which doesn’t always happen, and I can get on with buying my shopping.

The less welcome message is the one about an unexpected item in the bagging area. Then I have to stand there waiting for someone to come over and check what’s happened. It’s particularly annoying when I know I’ve scanned everything and haven’t been trying to make off with some tortilla shells. Same setting, very different reaction to the voice.

A goodbye can have several extra byes

I don’t know how common this is across the whole country, but I hear it in Kent. Someone says see you later, then follows it with a string of increasingly high-pitched byes. It stood out when I first heard it, and years later it still makes me smile.

If my partner and I hear someone doing it down the street while we’re out walking, we sometimes copy it back to each other. I think it’s sweet. I’d never have guessed that was a goodbye option before living here, but now I hear it as something very English.

A cinema jingle makes me want popcorn

The Pearl and Dean intro is a more particular example. I used to have an unlimited cinema pass and go every week, and the cinema I visited often played that jingle before the film. It stood out because I didn’t know who Pearl and Dean were or why their name was appearing.

Now I can hear the sound without seeing a screen or even being in a cinema, and it immediately reminds me of going to watch a film. It also makes me hungry for popcorn. Mixed popcorn, please, with a Coke Zero.

That sound puts me back in the idea of a cosy cinema seat, with something to eat and a film about to start. Just like the train greeting, it’s an ordinary recording that acquired a connection to my home here. I wouldn’t have expected that when I first moved, but hearing it now is enough.

Watch my full conversation about the sounds of England.