I have been introduced to sodcasting, which apparently is playing music loudly on your mobile phone in public places, ideally a confined and otherwise quiet(ish) place like a bus. Sodcasters it seems look upon silence as an unnatural state so they feel they are performing a public service and we should be grateful. If they win over the wider public it will leave people like me clinging on to silence. We were speculating this evening that the answer might be headphones (which would of course instantly set us apart) which drowned out sound. My tunes would be soundless, silence. Or at least that was my suggestion. My son, Ben, elaborated further. We could have sounds of the countryside, or better still we could have the sound of buses … gentle revs, small talk, unruly children, even angry mums and stroppy dads, which once upon a time we thought of as noise but in the sodcasting world we would welcome as peace and quiet.

Not only will we have to escape one sodcaster, they may turn up in numbers and cast different sods into our paths. Different sounds and rhythms combining into a happy cacophony.

Noise will win the final battle over its arch-enemy. Silence will lie routed on the battlefield.

The stakes are high!