Normally, I awake to the noise of the very first international flights lining up between 4 and 5am over SE London, some 20 miles from Heathrow. Today I awoke to the sunshine instead. I’m sure that when we’re on a plane we are all too excited about where we are going or coming back to that we don’t consider the noise polluton we contribute to. At least for a few days, the millions of people under the flight path will have sounder sleeps and cleaner air, and the roads around the airports are quiet.

It’s also an ideal day or two to sell an airport-affected house, which is exactly what my parents are doing, having put their place on the market 3 days ago….