It’s rare that I’m at home on my own with absolutely nothing to do. To be accurate, this isn’t one of those times either, as there’s plenty I could do (and, at some point, need to do). But the reason I’m at home is because I’m ill, and for much of this afternoon there really wasn’t anything important enough to do that I was prepared to do it despite being ill.

So, I lay on the floor in the living room in front of the gas fire, with a cushion as a pillow, and just listened to the world. This is what I heard.

Inside the house, I could hear the cats padding around and occasionally playing with some small object. When one of them came and sat next to me, I heard it purr.

I could hear the gas fire hissing gently.

I heard a mouse (at least, I assume it’s a mouse) run up and down inside the walls!

I heard the Sky box give an almost imperceptible “click” as it went into standby.

From the front of the house, I could hear traffic. Not a lot, since the living room is at the back of the house but I heard the regular “whoosh” of cars going past and the occasional louder noise from something bigger.

I heard an emergency vehicle of some sort go past on “blues and twos”.

At the back of the house, through the window, I could hear birdsong.

I could hear the wind in the trees in the garden.

When it rained briefly, I heard the drops on the flat roof of the extension.

Then my iPhone went “ping” because someone sent me an SMS. It was so loud by comparison, and so close to me, that I sat up, startled, and banged my head on the coffee table.