Anyone want to hear a GOOD neighbor anecdote?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Found this notice on my doorknob today.

Hi!

[blank] and [blank], your neighbors in apartment #7, are having a party this Friday, October 4th. We wanted to let you know in advance and apologize for any extra noise or traffic throughout the building at that time. Please feel free to come by and have a drink or some food and meet us and our friends. If not, have a great weekend and thanks for your patience and understanding on Friday night as we celebrate life.

Sincerely.

Now, that’s cool. Not only letting us know in advance, but not shunning us. I’ll definitely be there.

2

That is SO cool!

Its always nice when you can be friends with your neighbours.

The people who live next to us have become good friends, since their boys are the same age as my kids, and we parents are about the same age too.

Its always fun when I’m doing the dishes, look out my window, and see him walking around in the garden in just his undies…

3

when i was a student we always used to drop notes like that into our neighbours when we were having a party - including the invite bit. it just seemed courteous.

of course the fact that the guy was ex SAS and built like a brick wall had nothing to do with it…

4

Well, I went.

These people are class. Had a chat with one of the producers of The Bachelor. Not that I’ve never met a producer before, of course, but it was a really swank gathering for this neighborhood.

Case in point: On my way along the balcony, I saw that apartment 7 of the building across the way was having a loud party. “OMG,” I thought. “It’s the other building?” But some people who’d stepped out for a smoke assured me I’d been right the first time. Amazingly, for the amount of people who were there, you couldn’t hear a peep from outside the apartment.

5

What incredibly cool people.

6

Can I can add my own good neighbor anecdotes? I moved into this house last fall, and my neighbors have been fabulous even before I moved in!

The house I bought was taken back by the bank from the previous owners for defaulting on their mortgage, and had been sitting empty for over a year (and the previous owners had maintained nothing, apparently). I was getting an FHA mortgage that required some improvements to the house, but since it was owned by the bank who was interested in doing nothing to the house, if I wanted the loan I had to do them myself (normally the owners of the house would be responsible).

Anyway, the major project was renovating the front porch, which involved chemically stripping it down to bare wood, sanding & repainting, scraping/painting the eaves and replacing the front and back porch gutters. I had hired a friend of mine to come and paint the eaves, since it would require ladders and bravery that I didn’t possess, and I figured that since I had to replace the gutters anyway, it would make everyone’s life easier if I pulled the old ones down so my friend could paint, and then hire someone to put new ones up when he was done.

So, my Mom and I took an afternoon off and came to the house (which I did not yet own, btw) to try to get the old gutters down. We discovered that the old gutters were copper and very heavy. I had nothing to cut them with except a hacksaw, and I couldn’t get any leverage while standing on a ladder, so we tried to lift them out of the brackets in one piece. No way. Not happening. Dispirited, we gave up and were sitting on the front porch contemplating our other options, when the neighbor across the street (Jim) comes ambling over to introduce himself.

He said he noticed us trying to get the gutters down, and asked us if we were having problems. I explained what I was trying to do and why, and he said “I can help you with that. When do you need it done by?” I said that my friend was coming to paint the following morning and I’d hoped to have it done that day. He said that he couldn’t do it right then, but that he’d get up early the next morning to do it before my friend arrived.

Wow. I’d never met this guy before in my life, only seen him come and go while we worked on the porch.

Mom and I started to do other projects, and suddenly I turn around to see Jim walking across the street with an extension ladder and a reciprocating saw. He said “I don’t think I’m going to feel like getting up early tomorrow, so why don’t we just do this now?”

Double wow. This guy, who didn’t know me whatsoever except that I was about to be his neighbor, took his own time and dragged his own tools over to my house to help me with a project just because he saw me struggling with it out his window. I sent them a gourmet gift basket in thanks, I was so relieved and thrilled that they were so generous.

Dang…this got long. I have more if anyone’s interested. :smiley:

7

That’s cool Rilchiam, thanks for sharing it with us.

8

I think my neighbors and I have a good relationship. We aren’t in each other’s pockets constantly, but when one needs something, the other helps out. I had the husband over to help me fix my riding mower the other day. His wife happened over and asked if I hadn’t mentioned that I wanted a dying tree taken out of my yard. So while he finishes up the mower, she gets their chain saw. The had a party to go to in a few hours, but together we cut down the tree, removed two bushes and trimmed up my other trees before they had to leave. And when one of my other neighbors had a back injury, I mowed his yard all spring and half the summer before he was recovered enough to take it back over. Our other neighbor made sure his dog was fed and watered while he was in and out of the hospital and when he couldn’t get around.

StG

9

It’s so easy to notice the lousy things around us. It’s encouraging to see people take the time to notice the nice stuff that happens. I want to hear more good neighbor stories.

10

Like StGermain, I had a tree in my yard that needed to be cut down (mine was growing too close to the house, so close that it had already cracked an external piece of mortar off of the foundation), but I hadn’t been able to get my Dad up to help me cut it down yet.

Another neighbor (two houses away from the one I mentioned above) saw me out doing yardwork one day and said “Hey, I noticed that you have a tree that needs to be cut down.” When I acknowledged that I’d planned on doing it, he said “I’m not doing anything right now, and I have a saw. Want me to help you?”

He cut the tree down and into chunks big enough for me to drag (the tree was about 8" across at the base) and we had it down and disposed of in about an hour. Once again, this is a neighbor that I’d never met or talked to prior to this encounter…we’d each seen each other working around in the yard, but had never really had a chance to chat.

I think that my neighbors love me because it’s obvious that I’m working on the house (as opposed to the previous neighbors, who were largely regarded as dirtbags). They also know I live alone, I don’t throw obnoxious parties and I’m the youngest person on the street by a good 20 years. I think they’ve adopted me. :smiley:

The guy who lives next to me (Joe) is 82 and his SIL lives across the street and she’s 92. She gets up every morning and drives her best friend and herself to church, then comes home and cooks for charities, gardens, cleans and generally puts me to shame.

Joe planted 12 tomato plants across the back of the yard this year. He constantly invited me to take whatever I wanted from the garden, and if he thought I wasn’t taking enough, I’d often come out in the morning to a paper bag of tomatoes on my stoop. He also leaves me magazines, newspapers, TV Guides and such. I have no idea where he gets them.

I made a big batch of roasted tomato soup from the tomatoes in his garden and decided it was only fair to give him some. He raved about it, so the next weekend when I was going to be making New England Clam Chowder that weekend (one of my talents…I make awesome soup), I told him I’d bring him some. The next morning, I awoke to find the following on my porch: 5 onions, 5 potatoes, a bunch of celery, a package of multi-colored green peppers and a bag of fresh tomatoes. He has also brought me: 2 heads of lettuce, a bag of rice, steamed clams and shrimp leftover from a seniors picnic he went to and 2 jello shots. What a character. LOL