But those desperate to buy tickets just can't believe it when they hear about the empty seats.

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Often, when the grocery store is empty and all you can hear is the buzzing of flies, I think of that young man whose name we never knew and whom no one in town ever mentioned again.

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With minimal noise pollution on the empty trails, it is even easier to hear the birdcalls and smell the fragrant, colourful wildflowers.

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The officer suggested stringing empty cans across the windows so that we could hear them breaking in.

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It is 2am here, and I can still hear them going off, but the streets are empty where I am.

BBC: Egypt unrest: A Cambridge student on life in Cairo

They think it promotes a certain amount of showboating and people taking the stage, essentially, in a virtually empty chamber to make a speech that's intended not for anyone else to hear but just people back in their home district.

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