Go! Smell the neighbours!
June 20th, 2008 by Purple13Hi - a recent post on another site prompted this one….
I deliver a few hundred local magazines once every two months for a friend (http://www.allthingslocal.co.uk is the web version) and it struck me that when I see someone in their garden, I always announce myself with a cheery hello and a wave of the magazine (as if that explains my presence).
As a result, I’ve struck up many interesting conversations with people who are my neighbours but who otherwise I would have been totally ignorant of.
From the chap doing up his old Porsche to the old man remembering steam engines working in the fields - from the young mum moving a pile of bricks in a wheelbarrow whilst being ‘ambushed’ by her 4 year old in a cowboy costume to the old lady needing help to reach a hanging basket for watering…. the rich diversity of life in our street.
So how well do you know your neighbours (not the aussie soap) - have any chance ‘tasks’ led you to strike up a rewarding relationship that might otherwise gone by?
Last Christmas, I wrote on my blog about just calling in on an elderly neighbour and helping them by checking their smoke alarm was working or replacing the batteries - too high to reach safely for many. Did anyone help?
For the first time in about 15 years, I actually know the name and telephone numbers of our neighbors. They are friendly compared to those before, so it has been easier. The other set of neighbors. I would give them about 3 dozen homemade cookies at holiday time, but never was thanked or anything for the 5 years they lived there. However, every year I continued. Maybe, they hated my baking. Just kidding. People tend to keep to themselves and with access to from the garage to the house sometimes you never even see them, but I always try to meet them. Unfortunately, we also usually meet when there is a traffic accident. The main entrance to our tract is dangerous.
ClinicallyCluelesss last blog post..Childhood Effects
It’s a common problem these days, not knowing our neighbors. We live in an apartment complex and don’t really talk with anyone, just because everyone moves so frequently.
Funkygirl012003s last blog post..Informercials and Advertising yourself
Smell the neighbours - a brave title. Purple
Em here….
A letter featured in Dubai rag 7days condeming life coaches and pointing out that ‘you’d get just as much having a pot of coffee with a neighbour’. This maybe true but how many of us have coffee with our neighbours thesedays?
5 years ago we helped a ’stranger’ start her car in the basement who turned out to be our next door neighbour - has always refered to us since as ‘ that cool couple’ - all Jim did was set the jump leads up whilst I emptied the contents of her handbag (kidding)
Good on Clinically for getting to know them and as we’re on the road alot we still do know our neighbours either side of us in Dubai and at our folks homes in the Uk….its a priority as we need all the community contact we can have thesedays
I know my neighbours reasonably well and most of the people in my street..
most walk past going to the shops..
In a small community less than 4000 people you get to know many in person or you know of others.. but regardless you know who what and where…
aussiecynics last blog post..Climate Change first noticed 1827
I really miss the “neighborhoods” where you could leave your kid with anyone on the block and everyone knew each other and looked out for each other. My grandparents and in-laws lived in areas like that. Now, we are lucky if we know the name or sometimes the faces.
ClinicallyCluelesss last blog post..Childhood Effects
I normally ‘call in’ on the neighbours wife while he’s out on manouvres in the desert
One way to build a community o Angry one!
Watch you dont get caught.
where I live now we have a community of pensioners- I like to call in occasionally there knowledge and wisdom is trly amazing- sometimes they sit fo hours telling me of wars, poverty and what have you.
Eventually they will start getting racist so I tend to leave. bUT BY THEN I’ve acheived my goal- a friend will have had their money an dpension book well away and changed their medication. its great fun.
I can hardly ’smell the neighbours’ when I hardly sees them around..
Then again I am living in a flat so that might hinder us, neighbours to communicate..
Nur Sarah Lams last blog post..Narnia - Where To Get The News?
I live in apt city, no one communicates which is just the way I like it.
When i was younger I knew my neighbors pretty well, it seemed that was the way things were back then….I think people had a bit more time and were more inclined to form some sort of relationship with their neighbors…..As for the present point in time i have only been living in my home for the past three months, so I’m still just getting to know my neighbors with the friendly waves “hello”….but it’s just not the same as when I was younger
mighty morgans last blog post..When in Doubt…
hi all - i know i normally reply to each and every comment on my own discussions - its my little way - but scanning through the commenst above, two things stand out.
Most of us it seems never meet our neighbours socially - past a wave as you get in the car of a morning - which is sad but a true picture of how we live today for most of us. Busy busy busy.
Until a chance meeting or an act of helping someone out, its amazing how ignorant we are of the people closest to us. Life coaches must be rubbing their hands with glee.
Past robbing their pensions or borrowing a tool or other item from them, if we’re the age of social networking, then perhaps it’s time we started a bit closer to home?
To those of you/us who have made the effort (and it wasn’t much of one to be honest was it?) don’t you feel better?
Purple13s last blog post..GOGO’s Crazy Bones - shopping experience
[...] is the web version and it struck me that when I see someone in their garden, I always ahttp://www.gosmelltheflowers.com/archives/3306Region’s roads were once rails Seattle TimesAs the nation struggles with escalating oil prices and [...]
[...] Go! Smell the neighbours! So how well do you know your neighbours (not the aussie soap) - have any … Last Christmas, I wrote on my blog about just calling in on an elderly [...]