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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 3:37:50 GMT
I know we've heard a few tales of people's neighbors,good and bad. Do most of you know your neighbors,by know ,I mean have you introduced yourself or vice versa? Do most of us just go about our daily business with little or no contact with them? In our immediate block almost everyone owns their home,have lived here an average of about ten years. I know who most are and vice versa. I feel particularly blessed to have had no major problems with any of them. Most of us go about our daily business and there is little to no meddling. I feel pretty safe in knowing that if I needed something in an emergency that I could call upon several to assist. I like most all my neighbors.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 4:11:20 GMT
There are only 7 apartments in my building, so I know all of my neighbors, although I don't know the rental tenants by name. Since I live at the top of the building and have very thick walls, I am never bothered by the noise of anybody in the building, even though the students next door have lots of parties, as does the divorced mother on the first floor, but she has as many parties for her children as for herself. I am nevertheless impressed by the bottle collection outside her door on the 'morning after.' One thing that relieved most of us was when the very uptight man on the second floor finally had a child with his mate. He used to complain about even the tiniest little mark that he might find on the wall of the stairwell, but he has mellowed enormously since the Little One entered his life. On both the first and second floor, the landings are full of bikes and tricycles and little carts and stuff. It gives a nice feeling to the building, as do the stollers down on the ground level by the mailboxes.
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Post by happytraveller on Jul 16, 2009 11:32:36 GMT
I know most of our neighbours and some have become friends, I feel very comfortable in our neighbourhood. Except from one stupid bitch.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 11:38:46 GMT
Living in an apartment building in NYC I rarely saw my neighbors but could hear them. Therefore,contact was greatly limited. Contact in the stairwell or foyer,that kind of thing. The houses in our neighborhood are very close to one another,just a matter of about ten to twenty feet,some closer then that. Most have some type of garden in front and back. So,when working in the front garden one invariably sees and has contact with one another. A good number of us also have pets and that too lends itself to contact with one another. Pets can serve as a wonderful conduit between neighbors ("Oh,you live in the house with the incessantly barking dog while I'm sleeping in ").
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 11:41:03 GMT
Happy,that is so unlike you. What has she done to make our Happy unhappy? Bad karma for her to do so.
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Post by bjd on Jul 16, 2009 11:55:54 GMT
I know and get along with most of our neighbours too. Fortunately our local stupid bitch moved away a few months ago. Her son has moved into her house and he is much quieter and only has one dog.
Some people I only know to say hello to, others I chat with, and could ask two others for help.
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Post by happytraveller on Jul 16, 2009 11:57:16 GMT
She talks behind our backs and she talks rubbish. She keeps saying to one of our other neighbours that me and hubby won't last together for much longer and she's been talking around that hubby has an affair with another neighbour girl (they go jogging together occasionally) None of our other neighbours like her. She probably can't help it, she's a bit of a psycho.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 11:59:11 GMT
Sounds like she could be jealous of what you have HappyT. It's best to ignore someone like that completely, although I know it's not easy to too at times.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 12:01:56 GMT
I do have neighbors, but they don't live too close. I think one of the reasons that people choose to live out in the countryside is because they don't want to be rubbing shoulders with the neighbors on an everyday basis. They say fences make good neighbors, but so does space.
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Post by happytraveller on Jul 16, 2009 12:04:57 GMT
Sounds like she could be jealous of what you have HappyT. It's best to ignore someone like that completely, although I know it's not easy to too at times. Yes she is jealous. And acutally quite easy to ignore as she does not even greet me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 12:16:26 GMT
I would give her the evil eye, next time you pass her. Or you and your husband could start making out in front of her when you see her, that's put her nose out of joint.
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Post by happytraveller on Jul 16, 2009 12:25:36 GMT
Or you and your husband could start making out in front of her when you see her, that's put her nose out of joint. I like that ! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2009 12:27:06 GMT
It works wonders! The steamer the better ;D
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Post by tillystar on Jul 16, 2009 13:01:33 GMT
Yes, yes get snogging!!!!
There are 200 flats in our complex and of course I don't know everyone but there are lots of communal areas - gardens, bar, swimming pool - and so you do get to know lots of people and it has a great communal spirit. Most people are very friendly, everyone says hello when they walk by, but keep themselves to themselves although you can see there are some cliques.
As the flats are near a hospital there are lots of doctors and when I was pregnant I had lots of offers to knock "at any time night or day if you need to" so felt very safe! I feel safe anyway as I feel I could knock on doors for help and people keep an eye out for each other. I have borrowed a ladder when locked out before no problem at all.
Our particular our block has 6 flats and I know everyone. Most flats have at least one smoker but no one smokes indoors and so some warm evenings people are chatting outside with a cigarette and a glass of wine.
Some people I know better than others, for example we invite the guy downstairs for dinner now and then, but others just to say hi to. They are all really nice except for the couple upstairs who really upset me once with their un-neighbourly attitude and I can't be bothered with as they seem pretty rude.
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 16, 2009 19:24:37 GMT
We live in a 40 unit townhouse association. Very different from Condos. We own everything independently and are all on a single story. There is an association and a monthly fee. We have been here 22 years, so yes we know our neighbors very well. I am also on the Board of Directors for the association. Generally everyone is pretty nice. There is one old bitch, who is just hell on wheels. She is just a nasty human being. She and I have gotten into it over Association issues, and I finally said to her face you are a very disagreeable person. She has been so nasty that now there are many people who agree with me. It's sad but she has no one to blame but herself.
Otherwise, everyone is pretty nice to each other.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 17, 2009 2:24:33 GMT
I'm very happy with all my neighbours. Though I had to be quite firm with the one on the right quite early. He liked to park his car right in front of my entrance not letting me in or out so I tried to 'educate' him politely a couple of times. Then it happened once too much or I had a bad day or something and I stormed out and told him if it happened again I'd push his car away with my car. But now we're good friends. ;D ;D ;D I even play football with his three children!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2009 2:34:16 GMT
I have one neighbor right next to us,our property line ends smack at where his house meets our driveway that we don't use. He is fond of using chemicals(straight bleach to powerwash his house recently). I've almost lost it on him a couple of times and am slowly trying to 'educate' him about the harm it can and does cause the environment. I think I'm getting it across to him. My main prerequisite to a good neighbor is QUIET and this he and his wife are. And they are very nice to my animals so they really aren't too bad. When I told him that the bleach could harm them he listened up.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 17, 2009 3:02:08 GMT
Good point mentioning the animals, Cas! I love the way the people here use the word 'educate', ha, ha.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2009 15:20:43 GMT
If could afford it, I'd buy a beautiful tropical Island and build a place there overlooking the Sea, just perfect. Neighbors? What neighbors?
Oh and I'd also have an apartment in a mega block in a huge city somewhere, just because.
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Post by rikita on Jul 23, 2009 6:06:46 GMT
well i greet my neighbours but that's about it. there is one woman i chat with occasionally, but more because she starts it - she is a bit annoying actually... well my landlord is my neighbour too, in that he lives in the apartment next to mine - but in the other entrance of the building. him i know of course...
generally though i know the people in my dad's house better. there are some really nice people there and they have house-parties occasionally that i go to, too...
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Post by tillystar on Sept 11, 2009 16:28:19 GMT
We had our boiler ripped out yesterday and a new one going in today. I was going for a swim last night to use their showering facilities but on my way in from work commented on it to my neighbour and he very kindly gave me his spare key and told me he was out for dinner from 8pm so to go and use his shower whenever I wanted and leave the key on the table and let myself out when finished!
I hadn’t even thought to ask him if I could use his shower! Will be sending more meals downstairs for him.
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Post by BigIain on Sept 11, 2009 21:11:50 GMT
Why does part of me assume that he has a webcam or some recording device in his shower room, Tilly? You may have to sweep the room for bugs like James Bond does every time he checks in to a hotel!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2009 21:28:28 GMT
Although I have nothing against any of my neighbors, I find them all excruciatingly boring. The only interesting one sold his flat and moved elsewhere.
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Post by lola on Sept 11, 2009 23:44:38 GMT
We moved in 10 years ago assuming it was a neighborly street, and we helped organize block parties for a few years. I just got back from delivering a birthday gift of home grown salsa to a woman down the block. We know some names, and otherwise have nicknames like "the Friendly Couple", "the Christians" or "Upstairs Lady."
Our neighborhood sometimes sounds like a lumbercamp. What sounds like someone felling a 60 ft oak often turns out to be the across the street neighbor unaffectionately known in our house as Yard Boy, attacking delicate blades of grass with internal combustion and fossils fuel for two hours, twice a week. He makes me long for a slingshot sometimes.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 12, 2009 1:41:27 GMT
What I like about the neighbors on the property with me is that we have absolutely nothing to do with each other, yet we're neighborly. The two little boys are friendly, but even in their racing around games, never encroach on my part of the yard. The wife is pleasant if we happen to be in each other's vicinity, but that's it. Her husband has helped me with my car twice -- once using up at least two hours of his time, and again this morning. He jumped my car and gave me a good recommendation for an automotive electrician. When I returned home this afternoon and took his wife some sweet breads & asked her to thank her husband again, she said "You didn't have to do that -- we're here to help you if you need it!"
I never hear those neighbors. I did ask the ones on the other side, whose huge house butts up next to mine, if they'd please not leave the 18-wheeler chugging away in front of my house. They complied instantly with the request.
So, I'm still holding my breath a little, but it looks like I'm very lucky in my neighbors.
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Post by tillystar on Sept 12, 2009 7:07:01 GMT
To be honest, as I stepped into the shower that paranoid and ungrateful thought did cross my mind... I was seconds away for doing a sweep But he recently got a laptop and asked Mr Star to come down and help, who came back shaking his head in despair, I am pretty sure it would be outside of his range of capabilities ;D
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Post by patricklondon on Sept 14, 2009 17:51:50 GMT
My place sounds a bit like tilly's, a well-established resident-owned estate of about 400 apartments with some communal facilities and areas. I don't really know the people who actually live on either side of me, as those flats are rented out and the occupants fairly transient, but we do have several different active social groups, plenty of gossip, an active online forum and Facebook exchanges of photos, and best of all a central square that's often in use for barbecues and the like. Every year we have an official communal one, with music and games and the like.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 24, 2009 21:31:10 GMT
We are in a "neighborhood" of 51 lots ranging from 1 to 2.5 acres. Some of us have two adjacent lots, increasing our "space" to around 4 acres.
Driveways are far enough apart that we see our neighbors' cars, but not our neighbors. Unless you walk a dog in this neighborhood, it's possible to not interact with your neighbors for years.
I've recently started walking with a neighbor who has a dog, and have met more neighbors in a few months than in the previous 10 years!
The downside of being so far from your neighbors is that it leads one to assume that your own activities have no impact on anyone else. Hence dogs barking unchecked, bouncing basketballs driving the next-door neighbor crazy, a recreational drummer playing on his deck, driving everyone batty. If you haven't talked to your neighbor in years, it's pretty awkward to contact them only because you have a gripe...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 4:55:16 GMT
And you people all have guns to silence anybody who is annoying!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 10:43:04 GMT
Kimby's mention of drums brought to mind my seeing a drum set being moved into the house across the street the day before yesterday. They were going into the apartment of a stoned out old hippie who fancies himself a rock musician. He already went through (as did we) his "electronic" keyboard phase. I fear the worst as the weather gets cooler and more windows open. City dwellers own guns too.
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