How "Conservative" are you?

[5129frederick]

I've been advised that my computer system could stand in for my neighbour's if anything went wrong with our respective set-ups.

Ho hum.  I've lived in the same house for nine years and wouldn't be able to pick them out in an identity parade or vice-versa.  You come across cases where, if everything has been paid for through Direct Debits or Standing Orders, a lonely old pensioner is found to have died in his/her bed for months or even years!  The tragedy of it is it is not so unusual.  I give my neighbour a cursory nod and he gives me the odd grunt and that is it.  Days are far gone when everybody used to know Mavis down the road at No. 46.  Up North maybe, but not in suberban Kent.  Sad or what?  Or am I the one out of touch with the world?  A leopard cannot change it's spots, not that it would want to. 

[bitsnknots]

I can see where you're coming from Fred.  I must admit that on the whole, our neighbours are a friendly bunch.  We aren't in each other's pockets but we know where the neighbours are if we need help.

[5129frederick]

Glad to hear it.  There are too many miserable curmudgeons like me! 

[chickengrandma-2008]

We know our neighbours either side and directly opposite, but because we don't have pavements or street lights, we , and everyone else never go anywhere on foot, always by car.  We know the names of the houses 'cos they have signs on the gate, but not the names of the people who live there.

We found a dog in our garden once and hubby took it to the vet's in next town to see if it was chipped.  It was, it lived two houses away from us!  

[dark_castle1]

I remember many years ago being brought up in a mining village, everyone knew everyone else, doors were always open, any problems someone had many gathered to help in any way they could, a miner injured at work and others would gather round to make sure the family ate and any incoming bills were taken care of by whatever means they could.

Yes those were the days when mining communitys looked after each other.

Then we moved here and what a culture shock ! no one seemed to want to know their neighbours and seemed to make a point of staying aloof and now it seems to me as if we are all in little files in a filing cabinet and never to be mixed with other files no matter how hard we try.

[cee-dee]

Last year, I "disappeared" for a week and one neighbour rang the Hospital to see if I was in there..... I was.

When I came out, I found people had been asking each other if they'd seen me as they'd not seen me walking the dog.

Two weeks later, I "disappeared" for nine days and the same neighbour rang the Hospital again. Yep, I was in there.

Again, when I came out I found all sorts of people had been asking about me so although none of us here are "in and out" of each others houses, people do take an interest in others and actually stop to talk.

[cookiecookuk]

i am like fred.our neighbours acknoledge each other but loads of them we do not know the names off.apart from my immediate one who is very friendly as in we pull each others wheelie bins in and she gets hubbys paper if she goes ove the shop but not in and out of each others drinking tea.

[cookiecookuk]

I should have spell checked that.

[peteryola]

In our road of roughly 100 households, more than half the street belong to a private members-only e-mail group that is only open to residents of the street.  It's used as a sort of notice board for us to alert each other to things that are relevant to the road and discuss them.

Probably quite unusual to have such a high level of interaction these days?

[5129frederick]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a crusty old whatever, if people want to chat I'll happily exchange words with them while waiting for a bus, but that is as far as it goes.

When I moved from North London to Leytonstone, East London, trying to blend in and be sociable I popped my head over the back fence and said cheerily:

 "Hello, I'm your new neighbour."  To which she immediately got off her recliner and walked to her back door.  "Yes - I can see that!"  She then slammed the door so hard I thought it would break the glass.  Right in the heart of the East End!  I stood there for about five seconds and then laughed so much I couldn't breathe properly.

They were the only words she said to me in the four and a half years we were there!  She had a chip on her shoulder the size of a sack of potatoes.  

[mustard-tree]

I live in a block of flats, 5 flats per floor.

I am on the top floor and know the other 4 on my floor by name, and we pass the time of day if we happen to meet in the lift.

I know some of the other residents by sight, if we happen to see each other in the foyer, its just a quick Hello and possibly a comment on the weather.

I sometimes have a chat with the lady who overlaps me in the laundry once a week, but no idea what her name is.

It is an over 60s sheltered block, so everyone is contacted at least once a week by the warden on intercom and at the door.

Both interchanges take about 30 seconds.

[brynteg11]

The village where I work has an old fashioned community feel about it where everyone knows everyone else but the area that I live in is on the coast and I think mostly retired people live here. All the pubs have closed and although we have lived here over 6 years I don't really know anyone apart from a couple of close by neighbours.