Do you know your neighbours?

[CathyW]

i stop and speak to a few of the neighbours around here, there are a few nice ones, i try to distance myself from the mad woman next door, cause u never know what moods she is in all depends weather shes been on the booze or the pills the night b4

[Hreow]

I know my closest neighbour well enough to ask her to mind Rover for me. We sign for parcels for each other and if I bake cake or muffins, I bring her some of the results. Next two neighbours have just moved in, so just to say hello to and deliver their mail to their door. I know most neighbours to wave and "hello!" to along the back road, and some to talk to. All of this is Rover's fault - a cat in harness breaks any ice, and I've had to ask a few of them if I could retrieve him from their gardens...

[Kim]

We live on a new(ish) development (well we have lived here for 11 years now!) we were the first in the house as are most of the others, so we all say "hello" and have a little chat. We are very friendly with family next door. The man over the road is very strange and we don't speak, he never liked the children playing outside when they were younger, even though they were never out late, etc, etc. He called the police once and they told him he should live in a retirement complex!!!

[yola]

We get on very well with one set of neighbours . . . long chats over the fence etc. I have good friends (used to be work colleague when I worked at B&O) next door but one, and we look after their Birman when they're away and they pop in and look after our 3 furries when we are away. Regular summer barbecues and winter curries with them!!

On the other side, was on nodding terms with the other neighbours, but they've moved to Amsterdam and are letting their house and we've had reason to fall out with the renters as they are v. selfish and antisocial. Thankfully they're gone this coming weekend and any new ones will receive a polite note through the door making 'it clear what our 'neighbourly expectations' are. One along from them is an old couple, he's Polish and hates cats and I did let rip and him (in Polish) when he started lobbing rocks at my darling old Ferdy

But on the whole, whereas we don't all live in each others' pockets, and know our neighbours extremely well, we get on with most people around us

[Canis-Equus]

One side i know them fairly well..... but dislike quite a lot, the eldest daughter is nice but her mum and brother make their pocket money off breeding their lab x goldie bitch, and between them they have also bought and sold on at least TEN dogs since ilived here.... (4 years)...

Otherside, is Mad-As-A-Box-Of-Frogs, or 'Er Indoors', my crazy old lady next door, only she's saner than she lets on nad not all that old etiher!

Was round there earlier helping her make up her sons bed as he comes home from abroad tomorrow, i do her shopping and in return she keeps me filled in on what goes on, what doesnt go on, how many police cars went past etc etc.

Next door to her are flats, upstairs my mate Candy and her boyfriend, one of my oldest mates Matt, and downstairs is the ever lovable Bernard, a Brixton rasta still in culture shock from moving Ooop North :rofl: he's ace and lends us reggae cd's and smokes some rather potent dope

Over the road is the local shop, owned by 'Sam' aka Suresh and his wife Bharti, we exchange xmas cards and philosophical discussion and sometimes i buy things

Further down the street there are, several scary nutters, some teenagers who have very loud friends in the middle of the night, and Larry the local paranoid schitzophrenic heroin addict, who is surprisingly one of the most intelligent people ive MET, sadly getting that out of him is rather hard and at times he treats my house like a drop in centre. Its all good though, as id trust HIM around my loose cash and dvd player far more than id trust my own sister!

So i reckon i know my neighbours pretty well, theres good and bad, but we all rub along and certainly on my part of the street we very rarely have any trouble and if we DO its not from residents any more

Em