That sounds like the relationship that I had with some of my neighbours in Australia: we would regularly say things like, “Shared dinner at your place or ours tonight?” Our children and their children grew up together as if they were part of an extended family.
In my US house, I say hello to the neighbours, and from time to time talk to them in the street, but it’s not so close.
At least in part it’s because we went back a lot further in some cases: one neighbour in Australia had been on a student council back we we went to university, while another had been in the same tutorial class. And it’s also because in Australia I was in the inner city, and you get to know people better there than in the outer suburbs.
Pretty well. We have a school across the street, so that cuts down the number. On one side we know them, but don’t talk that much, unless about our new fence. On the other was a 90 year old drunk, now dead. We did talk to his caregiver before he died. His wife was very nice, and we would have know her better, but she died just after we moved in. On the other side of him is a guy we know really well, in fact he knew an HR guy at my present company and helped me get my present job. He bought the house next door for his daughter. Our Golden thinks his wife is the most wonderful person in the world. All very nice, and we do lots of stuff for each other.
The last two places we lived in NJ we knew everyone up and down our block, and had block parties. That was the town that time forgot. You didn’t even have to lock your doors.
I don’t know my neighbors on either side, but I do know those that live upstairs. I have met both neighbors on the sides, and while one house has people who were always rude (we are the only rental in a block or two, they complain about how there are too many people living there, complained that they rented to my wife and I before we were married…etc.) so we have always just ignored them. No real desire for otherwise, as we are only here (at longest) until May. On the other side, they are gone a lot when we are home, but we met them when our car was burgled. Their Jeep was as well, but it is their son’s, who is off at college, and they didn’t know about it until we told them. Nice folks, but I don’t care to get to know them better.
When we move, I imagine it will be a little different. We plan on going back to our hometown, where we know most everyone anyways (it is a tiny town), so if by chance we don’t know the neighbors, we probably know their family.
I know a lot of them. Some, I babysit for. Some, I used to hang out with when I was a kid. Some sit out on their front porches and talk to me as I’m coming home from school, work, or dance class. A few I know from hideously boring parties, and some I know because I recognize their dogs or they recognize mine.
And I’m glad I know most of them. There are a lot of advantages. It’s nice to have everybody sort of look out for each other.
In Cairo? Nope, don’t know, don’t care. Except I think the house next door is very … creepy. It is a big cement fortress with hardly any windows, and those few windows that are there are covered with slats or heavy curtains. They’ve got at least 3 dogs that yap like crazy all the time. I’ve never seen anyone go in or out, or heard anything except the dogs. I would love to know what’s up with that.
In Hawaii? Sure, we kind of live in the country and there is an implicit understanding that it might be nice to be able to touch base with your neighbor in event of a power outtage/quake/hurricane/landslide that made a trip to town impossible, so it is a good idea to know them in advance. Luckily the neighbors are just right - friendly but not intrusive. We’re only around in the summer, of course. But we often get together 1 or 2 times in the 5 or 6 weeks I’m there each year for a barbeque.
Our situation in Hawaii is complicated by the fact we’re all not just neighbors – there is a tenant/landlord/property manager relationship going on with everybody, since the houses are all on our land and one of the tenants manages things for us. But even if we didn’t have that extra stuff going on, I suspect the relationship would be about the same, since we have a pretty similar relationship with another neighbor whose house is not part of our property.
There’s an older couple that lives to our left that we know very well- he’s really good with building and electrical stuff, but not with computers, and it’s just the opposite with my dad, so they help each other out all the time. My dog has also decided that her house extends to their house, and there was one time when she disappeared while outside because she had wandered in there.
We used to know the other ones better, but most of them have moved since then and we don’t know the new neighbors all that well. Having a dog myself, I know most of the dogs in the neighborhood by name and personality, but not the humans.
I don’t know any of my neighbors. Nor do I wish to. I would help any one of them if they needed it, but beyond that I’m good waving at them as we go in and out of the development.
We live out in the sticks, and most of the houses that surround us are summer homes, so we see our neighbours on sunny weekends! We know our immediate neighbours on all three sides well, and are on nodding/waving terms with the others in our street.
It’s a little town, just 2500 inhabitants yet they all know who I am - the foreign woman, the English girl who lives up there on the hill…
I think it’s nice to know the people who live nearby. You don’t have to live in eachother’s pockets, but it is good to be friendly with them!
We’ve been here 3 years. When we first got here, the former owners introduced us to the neighbors in back and a lady across the street. I forgot their names immediately because I’m terrible with names. The folks in back have spoken to us once since then - that was a year or more ago - to warn us about the “illegal aliens” that were walking thru our yard at night. These “illegal aliens” were somehow connected to the Puerto Rican family next door (who never introduced themselves and who I’ve seen sorta in passing) and for some reason, they chose to walk in a dark, wooded, uneven back yard to pass from our street to the one in back, rather than move to the other side of our yard, where there’s a street that connects our street to the one in back. That’s when we realized the neighbors in back were just as weird and paranoid as the folks we bought the house from. I’m pretty sure the “aliens” they hear walking in the yard are just assorted animals and night critters.
One day when I was working in the yard, a lady walking her dog said hi. A few other times when I was walking my dogs, other people said hi. But honestly, between work and our boat and my ceramics and hiding in the house to avoid them ( ), I don’t know my neighbors. One mitigating circumstance - the smallest lot size in this development is 3 acres, with a couple close to 5 acres. There are lots and lots of big trees, and some houses can’t be seen from the road. There’s no HOA (YAY!) and I think for the most part, people around here just like their privacy.
Yes, nice folks about ¼ mile down the road. They are the only other permanent folks around here. And it seems like they will actually make it. Others have cut and run after about 2 winters.
Works out pretty good, we watch each others animals on long weekends. They are very nice folks. Though I will say I do miss the days when we where the only people on our road.
I don’t, and I don’t really want to. My “community” is the school where I teach, and I am extremely active there–I don’t really have the time or emotional energy for another community.
We have two neighbors. The guy across the street who we are “waving” friendly with, and the old couple down the hill. The wife died last week and we made a donation to the Diabetes Foundation, but we didn’t pal around with them. They’re in their 90s and a good 1/2 block from us, so there was no pressure on either side to do more than say Hi (and I checked up on them during inclement weather).
If I find a good neighbor, it’s a plus, but it’s been 19 years since I’ve lived in a regular neighborhood, so the opportunity simply doesn’t arise. Now that she’s dead, he will have to move in with his children or a nursing home, so the lot’s up for sale. Sweet, too! 5 acres and a good sized house that I am not attracted to in the slightest. Hopefully we’ll get a good neighbor, but if we don’t we’re far enough away that it won’t make a difference.
My wife knows the neighbors much better than I do. We live on a short dead-end street.
The house on one side is now on its third set of owners since we moved in 10 years ago. We got along with the first family real well, relations with the second family were occasionally chilly, and this family is in the middle.
One house across the street is on its second set of owners, my wife was good friends with the woman who used to live there and gets along pretty well with the woman who lives there now, her husband and daughters.
The other house across the street: older couple who has lived there forever, my wife gets along well with the woman.
House on the other side of us: also on third set of owners. We got along great with the first owners, the second set my wife became good friends with the wife there and it all turned really ugly in a dispute over where visitors parked their cars. We haven’t really gotten to know the current owners.
House behind us: the original owners were clueless jerks who put their vegetable garden in our yard, got upset when we called them on it, sprayed weed killer on our property against my wishes, and just generally didn’t respect boundaries either physical or imaginary (to be fair it was mostly the husband, the wife was a sweetheart).
The current owners are clueless jerks who used to let their aggresive poorly socialized dogs wander onto our property and then got upset with us when we finally built a fence to keep them out. Now they just let their dogs bark all hours of the day and night to disturb the whole neighborhood.
It really seems like it is difficult to get along with the neighbors whose houses are behind us, and much easier to get along with those whose houses front the same street as us.
If it were up to me I would keep a much greater social distance from all the neighbors but my wife’s default relationship is much closer.
Depends on what you mean by neighbors. If I ever meet my neighbor to the right, Mr. Yu, I’d probably punch him and call him an asshole. A girl I met from down the street is really sweet, and I’d consider hanging out with her. If I ever see her again, I’d at least talk to her for a bit.
I never snub people in my apartment building, and have become friendly with a few of them. I know a handful of them by name. But I only know the names of 3 people on my floor. I’ve never hung out with them.
I talked on the phone to a former neighbor the other night. I’d love to get to know her more, either as a friend or as more, but she hasn’t returned my e-mail.
Living in a condo with 600+ units, around 2000 people.
I know my immediate neighbor families and am reasonably friendly with one of them (the other isn’t very sociable and keeps hours that don’t match ours). I also know several of the other families on our floor and my wife knows several families who had kids around the same time as we did (and we’re very friendly with them). As our son gets older we’ll probably get to know more families as he makes friends. I try to be friendly with everyone in the building even though I don’t have a chance in hell of remembering them all, mostly because I like being friendly to people, but also because, as one of the only foreigners in the building, they’re a lot more likely to remember me, so I’d rather make a positive impression.
The people on either side of me are seasonal residents. The ones to the west seem to have some sort of rotation system where different family members use the house at different times. The ones to the east I’ve never met, and they speak an Asian language. The guy across the street, on the corner, is an older (retired) Canadian who is also a seasonal resident and I often speak with him. Nice guy. Across the street from him and one house before the corner is a woman who bought my little sprit-rigged sailboat. Don’t see her often, but we chat now and then. Next to Angus (the guy on the corner) there’s an occasional (Canadian) guy whom I haven’t seen this year. He’s like 70, but I think he’s still alive. His speech patterns remind me a bit of Floyd the Barber from The Andy Griffith Show.
There’s a guy who stops his truck and chats whenever he sees me outside. Strange cat. Claims all sorts of things about his earlier life, such as having worked in Intelligence and being a key player, having classic '60s muscle car (which I’ve never seen him drive), racing boats, etc. He gives off a stereotypical ‘blue collar vibe’ that indicates his descriptions of previous jobs are somewhat inflated.
I really don’t have Need To Know when it comes to my neighbours, and they don’t have NTK my business. Not that I’m antisocial – I’m not – but knowing my neighbours isn’t high on my list of priorities.
Yes, and I agree with Pool and Leaffan. I’m on a friendly basis with my next-door neighbor, the family across the street has had me over for breakfast and their kids cat sit for me when I’m travelling, the renters behind me have me over for BBQ (since I finally reclaimed my backyard patio I’m going to return the favor), I know some of the other folks nearby from their daily doggy walks, etc. We all keep an eye out on our neighborhood and so far I’ve been lucky enough to not meet any jerks. Makes the area feel like home, not “some place I happen to own property”.
It’s not like you have to be best buddies, but your neighbors are the folks who will notice the shifty guy hanging around your car, or can help you if you get locked out, lend you a tool, etc. It works both ways. Develop a sense of community.
), I don’t know my neighbors. One mitigating circumstance - the smallest lot size in this development is 3 acres, with a couple close to 5 acres. There are lots and lots of big trees, and some houses can’t be seen from the road. There’s no HOA (YAY!) and I think for the most part, people around here just like their privacy.