Depends on where your house is - I used to live on Chesterfield Grove and it was continuous, that area seems to be the junction point for planes coming in from the north, east and south and just about the point when they change their flap configuration and speed, which results in a lot more noise. Now live on Hillcourt and get much fewer planes overhead and they are much quieter. I often gaze out of the window of the plane as we approach heathrow, spot my house and long to be in it rather than heading to Heathrow and the arduous journey back to ED again! BTW another factor is when they are landing towards the west (over ED) they designate one of the runways for landings and one for take-offs and will switch between the two during the day - so this means the planes are lining up in different places throughout the day.