tsssrreeeeep, tsssrreeep, tssrrreeeeeep

yesterday, on a stifling hot day's pleasantly warm night, i took a long long walk through the wilder parts of this town. once i got to areas where there are fewer cars and people, and more trees, i realised once more what an incredible number of crickets there is in vienna. walk between gardens, or alongside a large park (sadly, it was closed after 22h) - all you hear is their tsreeeep, tsreeeeeeeep, tsssssssreeep. every bush, a choir. every tree, an orchestra. from the time when human noises cease in the evening, to the hours of dawn, when birds start singing, crickets acustically own the place. how many of them may there be? i'm sure there are several billions. every human could have his own private little music group, provided he could adapt his taste to their abilities. but i'm sure the crickets wouldn't care to be hired as musicians. like i said, they own the place. as a nameless poet from ancient greece has it: "we praise you as blessed, o cricket, when upon the tree tops, having drunk a little dew, you sing like a king; for to you belongs all that you can see in the fields, all things that the forests bear... old age does not bother you, wise earth-born song-lover; unsuffering, with no blood in your flesh, you are really like the gods."