# How well do you know your neighbors, if at all



## Cookie (May 9, 2015)

Do you know your neighbors to talk to or chat with, have you visited their home, do you keep your distance, or do you recognize them if you see them in a store? How much would you tell them about yourself?


----------



## ndynt (May 9, 2015)

Although I have lived here since the mid 80's, when I was the only house on the street, I would not recognize my neighbors.  Should I see them up close.  Only know what cars belong to which houses.  Have only spoken to one of my neighbors, a few years ago.  I only know her by her first name.


----------



## SeaBreeze (May 9, 2015)

I wave to my close neighbors, and if we meet each other outside we sometimes have a little chat.  I'm not really close to them, have been in each other's homes rarely, not on a regular basis at all.  If I see them in the store or at the gas station, I will always say hello, and chat if appropriate.  I don't know too much about them personally, I don't ask a lot of questions or give out too much info.  My neighbors are very nice, and I'm lucky not to have neighbors from hell like some people have.

In winter we'll shovel the sidewalks for 3 of our neighbors, and sometimes they do ours if they're out there first.  Two have snow blowers, so when we get heavy snows, they come and clear our driveway too.  Everyone's pretty friendly overall.


----------



## applecruncher (May 9, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> I wave to my close neighbors, and if we meet each other outside we sometimes have a little chat. I'm not really close to them, have been in each other's homes rarely, not on a regular basis at all. If I see them in the store or at the gas station, I will always say hello, and chat if appropriate. I don't know too much about them personally, I don't ask a lot of questions or give out too much info. My neighbors are very nice, and I'm lucky not to have neighbors from hell like some people have.



Much the same as this, except we haven’t been to each other’s homes. I moved here 7 yrs ago, and there has been some turnover but not much. No little children so there are no issues there. Mostly when/if we run into each other we nod/say hello/wave, but we’re not in each other’s lives.

In other places I had my share of neighbors from hell (fighting couples, noise, people mad for one reason or another, etc.) Lucky I don’t have to deal with that anymore.


----------



## QuickSilver (May 9, 2015)

I know my immediate neighbors on either side enough to say hi and have a brief chat now and then. We help dig each other out of snow drifts in the winter..   But we don't socialize  or  visist in our homes..   I don't know the neighbors across the street, but it's a busy 4 lane street.


----------



## Louis (May 9, 2015)

All my neighbors are okay except one. She has been the neighbor from hell for 41 years. Of course, she would say the same about me.  :disturbed:

I do have one neighbor who was good friends with my late wife. She is a 82 year old widow who I help if she needs anything. I bring her daily mail to her doorstep and she occasionally surprises me with a bottle of wine.


----------



## AZ Jim (May 9, 2015)

I know neighbors on both sides, two across the street, two down the block.  One of my neighbors has a key to my house and I always collect their mail when they are out of town.  Three of my neighbors (hubs and wives) have been in my house I have been in all of theirs.


----------



## Mrs. Robinson (May 10, 2015)

We don`t have the typical "next door" neighbors as we are all on acreage but we know the lady across the road and her son enough to say hi. We have hired the son to feed our animals when on vacation before so he has been in our house. We know the guy who lives on the hill above us but we will try not to have him in our house again. He`s very boring and goes on and on and won`t shut up lol. Can`t remember why we ever had him in in the first place. Know the lady across the road only because our son`s hung out together in middle school. Her son is now serving a 25-Life prison term for shooting and killing the father of another of the boy`s friends. She doesn`t think he did it and I have to agree. We think it was another old friend of theirs that actually pulled the trigger. Happily,my son hadnn`t been hanging out with them for several years when this happened,even though,at the time,we just lived right up the road.


----------



## Kadee (May 10, 2015)

We live on a corner , and have a neighbour next to us and one behind us , next door is a young family and we say hi if we see one another  outside , I give them excess fruit in the summer.
Our neighbours  behind us,live in Adelaide and come up here every two weeks for the weekend, They are excellent neighbours ,well I should not say that because he gives me a hard time about the football just because he supports a team called the crows, where I support a team called Port Power .. He calls me a swampy because Port Power is located in Port Adelaide which is on a river .We have been to one another's for a BBQ , or roast but neither of us make a habit of living in one another's pockets


----------



## merlin (May 10, 2015)

My next door neighbours are a young Japanese couple with a child who moved in a couple of years ago, they only speak about 3 words of English, but are very sweet, and we take in each others parcels when one or other is out. I cut their hedge and they bring back gifts from Japan when they go there several times a year. We do sometimes get nice little notes written in perfect English, which I presume they do with the aid of a dictionary.

I speak to the neighbour opposite quite often as he works with my daughters partner, so we gossip about him, and my travels  
The other neighbours I wave to and say hello, but in general there is little community spirit in much of the UK now I feel.


----------



## hollydolly (May 10, 2015)

Oh yes I know quite a few of my neighbours we have all lived here for a very long time..

The house next door has more transient neighbours because it's a rental..there are 2 Polish couple in there this time, been there for about 2 years now, and at first we had a problem with them and noise, but they are always pleasant to us, and they'll take our parcels in and we do the same for them and the noise has quietened down late at night now.... other than that I know about 10  of the neighbours in my little road to chat to whenever I see them outside . I'm not the type to go in and out of neighbours' houses, but I have been in a couple in the distant past when all of our children were little .


----------



## Ameriscot (May 10, 2015)

We live on a coastal road, so there is no one across the road from us except fish, and behind us is a forest.  We know the neighbours on either side of us, one of them having a key to our house.  But those are the only two houses I've been inside.  Most of our neighbours have high stone walls or hedges like us, so we don't stop and chat when we go for a walk as we rarely see them.  Anyone walking down the road will talk to anyone they pass as it is very friendly.  My sister thinks it's odd that I don't know every single one of our neighbours and stop into each others houses for tea.  But she is very nosey and makes it a point to know everything about everyone who lives anywhere near her (Michigan). 

Our best friends are in the same village but about 3/4 of a mile from us.  

My husband bought this house 21 years ago, I've lived in it for 15.  This has only been his full time home since 2004 as he commuted from London until retirement.


----------



## Ken N Tx (May 10, 2015)

We have a dozen neighbors on our road. 5 are retired and we all help and associate with each other..One is my fishin' partner..


----------



## Cookie (May 10, 2015)

I know a few people in my building who have been here a while, same as me, one well enough to consider a personal friend and we've visited back and forth and talk on the phone. Another friend lives here and I have a key to her apartment and sometimes feed her cat when she is away. Most people are quite friendly and we often say hello or chat in the elevator or outside while they are out walking their dogs. In the summer we can socialize a bit at the pool, if I go. A few older residents have some mutual grievances and are prone to gossip, but I stay away from that. Most places I've lived I've had good relationships with neighbors.


----------



## Kitties (May 10, 2015)

Living in an apartment, people in my complex either say hello or just ignore you. That's fine with me. I think I live around a better class of people in this apartment complex then I ever did when I owned the house. Some of those people were beyond scary. 

And since I'm starting to look for a  mobile in a senior park, I hope I don't live next to someone too nosy.


----------



## AprilT (May 10, 2015)

I used to know most of my neighbors, in my immediate complex, some better than others, but, now most have moved out except maybe three individuals and two couples and that's been mostly due to price hikes the turn arounds here have gotten ridiculous.  I do miss some of the people who were here the first couple to three years I first moved in.  There were a few I pet sat for sometimes as long as two weeks when they went out of the country; this was before my shoulder gave out and I couldn't walk their pets anymore.  Only one who I pet sat for are still here.  We speak in passing all the time at the store, around the building whenever.  Some are a bit strange and will speak sporadically or only if I speak first one or two will take your ear off.  But, I like those who are gracious enough to say a greeting to me and others they encounter without of course being busy bodies.   I'm here 5 years, this may be the year I say I've had enough of the increases as well if they go up as much as they did last year for this year come lease renewal.  

When I first moved in, there were a few, I considered good friends during the times we getting to know one another, but, they've long since moved away and we kept in touch for a brief time after.


----------



## Glinda (May 10, 2015)

My neighborhood is a little "pocket area" consisting of about 100 houses on three streets that form a small island-like area bordering one of the many canyons in San Diego.  These are mostly modest homes built in the 40s, 50s and 60s but some date back to the 20s.  I've lived here since the early 80s, as have many of my neighbors.  The perimeter of our neighborhood measures just barely one mile so I try to walk it in 15 minutes.  But invariably I am stopped by a neighbor to chat, or by a neighbor's dog or cat who wants to greet me.  Many of the women have formed a club which we call "The Ladies of the Hood".  We celebrate birthdays and holidays either at someone's house or a nearby restaurant.  We also have several artists who put on an art fair every summer with paintings, quilts, jewelry and pottery for sale.  We are like an insular tiny village and most of us love it here.


----------



## Cookie (May 10, 2015)

Glinda, that sounds like a lovely little community, very homey and friendly and a perfect place for creative spirits.


----------



## Glinda (May 10, 2015)

Cookie said:


> Glinda, that sounds like a lovely little community, very homey and friendly and a perfect place for creative spirits.



It is, Cookie.  It's Home Sweet Home.


----------



## Butterfly (May 14, 2015)

My next door neighbors have been my dear friends for many years.  I bought this house from my mother when my father died, and when she passed on, I moved bacak in in.  I grew up here and the next door neighbors moved in to their home when I was about 14.  So we've been next door neighbors off and on for more than half a century.  We watch out for each other and keep an eye on each other's homes.  We help each other out when we need help.  I'm friends with the neighbors across the street and next door on the other side.  I also have friends down the street a bit.  Everyone is friendly and cordial and  helpful to one another.


----------



## Ken N Tx (May 14, 2015)

If I run out of beer, I have 3 places a stones through away..


----------



## Sassycakes (May 26, 2015)

I live in the City so where I live until a few years ago I knew all the neighbors. We all were friendly and even took trips together.Now things have changed . Some have passed away and some have moved to smaller homes,so now I know only a few neighbors.


----------



## oakapple (Jun 3, 2015)

We live in a village, and there is a good community spirit here. just a dozen houses in my street, and we all know each other by name,wave or chat, have coffee with each other now and then, and get together over the Christmas period in the largest of the houses.we help the older neighbours next door with their garden, take in parcels, do watering when they are on holiday etc.


----------



## charlotta (Jun 3, 2015)

There are neighbors in my neighborhood that I am friends with.  There are others that I will  say I speak to and would help if they came to me for assistance, but I don't  consider them friends, just neighbors.


----------



## charlotta (Jun 22, 2015)

Our neighborhood has about 24 houses (only a block long & garden homes)and are mostly retirees, though, there are some that are still working.  No children.  I know nearly everyone that lives here.  We  have a  strong neighborhood watch and neighborhood meetings.  I have two close friends that live nearby, but not next door.  I avoid the neighborhood gossipers and they are wise enough to sense that I don't care to join in. There is a news letter that goes out about 3 or 4 times a year and we call one another when one is ill. Many of our residents live alone. We have a retired military person who walks her dog several times a day and she keep an eye on things.  My neighbors on both sides know me well enough to bring  food when I've gotten sick and I've done the same.  They let me know when they are going out of town and I do the same, but we don't socialize outside the neighborhood.  I, also have family -a brother/his wife and a sister along with their grown families.  I stay as busy as I want to be.


----------



## charlotta (Jun 22, 2015)

Our neighborhood has about 24 houses (only a block long & garden homes)and are mostly retirees, though, there are some that are still working.  No children.  I know nearly everyone that lives here.  We  have a  strong neighborhood watch and neighborhood meetings.  I have two close friends that live nearby, but not next door.  I avoid the neighborhood gossipers and they are wise enough to sense that I don't care to join in. There is a news letter that goes out about 3 or 4 times a year and we call one another when one is ill. Many of our residents live alone. We have a retired military person who walks her dog several times a day and she keep an eye on things.  My neighbors on both sides know me well enough to bring  food when I've gotten sick and I've done the same.  They let me know when they are going out of town , but we don't socialize outside the neighborhood.  I, also have family - a brother/his wife and a sister along with their grown families.  I stay as busy as I want to be.


----------



## jujube (Jun 23, 2015)

We know a couple of neighbors by name and the rest to nod to.  The assholes across the street, we only know to glare at.


----------



## hollydolly (Jun 23, 2015)

LOL Jujube... :rofl:

Charlotta it sounds like you have the ideal neighbourhood


----------



## Linda (Jul 6, 2015)

We trust all our neighbors and get along well with them but we aren't close.  I've never been in their homes, nor they in mine.  Well, there is one neighbor, a couple houses over has been in my house twice to bring me corn bread (it was to thank my son for taking her family over some tri-tip he had BBQed when he was visiting us) and once to return some books I loaned her.  Usually I leave the books in a big parcel box by my gate and she returns them the same way.   We wave and chat every few months with both neighbors on each side of us.  When we do speak its, oddly enough, about very deep and personal things.  I didn't even realize that till just now.  We have barbed wire on top of our fence going completely around our property and have a locked gate with beware of dog signs so we don't really have a lot of "drop in" company.


----------

