How well, if at all, do you know your neighbours?
 

I briefly lived alone for about eight months in the late nineties, in a small cottage in a cul-de-sac off another cul-de-sac, so secluded that often taxis would be unable to find it if I called one. During my time there I never saw or even knew who my neighbours were. Yet back here where I grew up and now live, I've known my neighbours for years and years. When one of them moved out I made it my business to meet the new ones and introduce myself.

It put me in mind that many people may live in places and not know, or meet, their neighbours. In my parents' time you always knew who was living next door to you and the community was very close-knit. But now I wonder?

So, how well do you know your neighbours? Are people living in houses more or less likely to be acquainted with those living next door than those living in high-rise apartments? What about isolated areas? The suburbs? Does it vary from city to city, area to area, country to country?

If your neighbour was sick or even dead, would you know? Do you even know who they are? Or are you on good, familiar terms with them? Be interested what people have to say.

I live in a hostel and I know most my flat mates, some better than others but they can be intrusive at times. I really like privacy. The technical neighbours in houses next to us, one has drank with us and brought us fresh vegetables and the other has parties on Wednesday nights and other odd times.

Yeah I can imagine there is not a whole lot of privacy sometimes! Do you like most of the people who live in the building though?

I know my neighbours and most people in my corner of the neighbourhood. That's not to say I like them all or on good terms with all of them... Most are nice, but there are a couple of bad apples.

I live in a small granny-unit type house behind a larger house. The woman who lives in the front house is a chain smoker named Sonia who sits outside all day reading trashy genre fiction and she has two really ****ty offspring. Robert, her oldest, is just the dullest of the dull and sunbathes in our driveway shirtless all summer while reading Westerns. I took a creative writing class with him once and he is a terrible writer with no personality. Her daughter, Suzie, is a whiny little cunt who is always crying and screaming when she doesn't get her way. "I HATE YOU MOM YOU MAKE MY LIFE TERRIBLE" and the like. Extremely unfriendly, but I have befriended her boyfriend, who visits quite often. He helped me fix my bike once.

To my left is a duplex. In one part of the duplex resides a very young, hip couple who are always throwing craft parties and borrowing things for photo shoots. They're very friendly and warm and play good jazz. The other half of the house is owned by an older couple whose appliances are always breaking. I hear them every weekend in their backyard bickering - the husband trying to repair whatever isn't working and the wife standing over him offering advice to his annoyance.

I've never seen the people who live in the house behind me, but from my kitchen window I can see into their backyard. They have a trampoline and every Sunday a bunch of kids play on it while adults barbecue and chat, so I assume the owners of the house are older and Sundays are their weekly family visits.

To my right is the most entertaining. The woman who owns the house refers to herself as the White Witch and so do I because I still don't know her real name. A couple of years ago some dude showed up and started living in a tool shed in her backyard and the first time we saw him he was outside in the dark while it was raining digging holes we were pretty sure were for dead bodies. This man is now referred to as Shed Ted. Shed Ted does not like us. Shed Ted throws beer bottles at our house and put speakers on his shed roof and aimed them directly at our living room window through which he plays very strange white supremacy music at all hours of the night. Shed Ted once took a hose and sprayed it at our window for five solid minutes for no apparent reason. He has nicknames for my roommate and I and once said he was going to eat the ******* of our cat. I'm pretty sure Shed Ted and the White Witch are banging, which is one of grossest things I could ever imagine.

I live in a very quiet neighborhood. It's really boring and lame as fack.

For all I know, my neighbors are cannibalistic jelly-blobs from Neptune

Shed Ted sounds like a ****.

My neighbour to my left is not called Shed Ted, but is called Fred. Fred has a greenhouse and a shed.

Shed Fred lives on his own, in what used to be his mothers house. He used to live there with his mother, Brenda, until she was committed to a mental institution, spent a very brief time there, then was discharged to a nursing home once it was decided she had no need to be there, where she lived for a matter of days before she died. Shed Fred masterminded the whole thing. He used to make phoney calls to the police about his mother quite frequently, inventing stories about her, so that eventually once he had built up a profile, sought the advice and manipulated his way into gaining the backing of a doctor, and decided to pull the trigger - the doctor, the police and social services were all conned into believing she deserved to be taken away. She was taken away by several social workers, around six or so police officers, and a few doctors, who all descended on her home at once to "escort" an elderly, lovely old lady away, ultimately to her death, while Shed Fred hid in his brother-in-laws car which was parked at the top of the street, where he watched the whole thing happen and waited until everyone had left to return to the property, which is now his.

Shed Fred is also a ****.

I live on a main road. This is an interesting topic for me. For 2 years we loves our neighbours. Whenever we saw eachother we'd always talk and buy eachother Christmas presents. Then the old man who lives alone started getting really mean and horrible to us. One day we were pulling out of the drive, he stood in front of the car and started swearing at us for 20 odd minutes. Stupid man. Then the other neighbours are very posh and stuck up and started going dirty guts with us. They have garden partys all the time so whenever they do we always make sure we're all outside doing something. I like to jump on my trampoline and wave over, it's the only time I ever go on it. Then whenever they do their snobby laugh we'll all imitate them. Such fun! All the other neighbours we've ever had have been our friends, one of my old neighbours are my godparents! Some people are just weird.

You win the prize for having the most interesting neighbours so far! :laughing:

Please explain. :confused: ;)