I was driving last night , with the radio of for a change, and noticed an intermittend ticking noise that seem to be coming from behind me and to the left.

I assume it was the fuel pump.
Does that sound right and are they supposed to be that noisy?

 

Probably the exhaust. The fuel pump will self check usually within a few minutes of start up or shut down. It usually doesn't continually self check unless there is something wrong with it. If there were a problem you should get a CEL. The fuel pump self check also sounds more like a knock then a tick.