Hello!

I used to think that neighbourly love and the spirit of community has vanished. Our houses with their remote controlled garage doors allow us to whip into our garage and then inside without ever having to see a neighbour, let alone talk to them. Our 6 foot fences give us maximum privacy and shield us from the neighbours with gardens that are not too easy on the eye. And the new open plan style houses with gardens and decks that flow off the back of the house ensure that we’re able to exist in our own little universe. Which of course is all fine if that’s what you want.

A year ago we moved house. To be honest, it’s a pretty crappy house very much in need of a big renovation and lots of TLC. Time, motivation and more importantly the cash to afford the renovation has meant that it will probably stay that way for quite a while. There is a garage with a tilt-a-door large enough for the kids to walk through (perhaps the previous owners drove a Go-Go Mobile) – but with peeling paint and a broken lock, it’s far from the remote controlled model. And the ‘garden and deck that flow of the back’ resembles a rice paddy that sits about 7 metres below the bottom level of the house. Oh, and the six foot fences? Falling down and nonexistent in the front garden.

The silver lining? We park in the driveway, we hang out on the tiny front landing (yup – a cuppa, a beer, even dinner with friends)! The kids overflow our garden into the neighbours both sides and there’s always a passing parade of people walking by to chat to. We’ve met all our neighbours and quite often, we’ll all end up out the front helping each other. The little girls on one side are now the best of friends and the teenagers on the other side are now our number one babysitters!

I think perhaps the most wonderful thing about having close neighbours is that we help each other. This week my hairdryer blew up – two minutes later one of the kids had brought me one from next door and then last night when she lost all power to her house, she called me close to midnight. I went into our garage, found our external extension leads and ran power from our house to theirs (so that all the meat she had just put into her freezer would make it through the night). And if I’m home alone with my kids, and need to race one of them to the hospital for their asthma, I know that I can go either side and have someone come and stay with the others while I’m gone.

That’s what neighbours are for – support, friendship, a helping hand and a bit of a laugh – and although I would of course prefer a much nicer house, I wouldn’t trade my neighbours. Have you met your neighbours? Do you help each other out? Share a story if you have one (good or bad) …

 

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • We moved recently and we were close with neighbours at our old house due to the COVID lockdowns. I found this created a few problems when two of the neighbours fell out.

    We’ve kept to ourselves having moved to a new house, and while we are friendly with our neighbours and would help out with taking bins in, collecting mail etc, I’m happy to keep it at that.

    Reply

  • We were blessed with great neighbours growing up, and maybe a sign of the times that we don’t have as much luck now.

    Reply

  • Being nice has always provided dividends, even if you are not close to your neighbours. I have one right now who is a right terror by being rude and has no consideration for neighbours

    Reply

  • We had two neighbours. One was my sister in law, who has since moved and her house is now a b n b. The other is our landlord.

    Reply

  • We are polite and friendly to our neighbours but still like to keep our space!

    Reply

  • Living in the country, we don’t have any close neighbours. Sometimes I wish we did but most of the time I’m glad of the solitude

    Reply

  • I like to be civil, friendly but not best mates or close mates.

    Reply

  • Our neighbours are quite far as we have a lot of space. I feel bad about its sometimes, glad we have the space but feel sorry for the fact that there are no neighbours kids for the kids to run off and play with.

    Reply

  • We used to have a neighbourhood like that when I was a kid but it got worse with each move. We have tennants next door on one side and crazy hippies the other. The hippies are ok but we have had some awful tennants next to us.
    The worst were the drug growing/dealers that pulled cars apart all hours of the day for extra money, that had cameras covering all the street including our front and back doors. So happy the day he got into a car chase with the cops and got arrested and was finally gone from our area.

    Reply

  • We are so lucky – we have amazing neighbours. Its just come up 3 years in our current house. Neighbours on both sides are always there if we need a hand, advise or a yarn.

    Reply

  • I wish I had that in my neighbourhood. I know 3 neighbours by name and 1 by site!none of them I would feel comfortable leaving my kids with unfortunately. Looking forward to moving in Jan and planning on creating a lovely relationship with my new neighbours – wish me luck

    Reply

  • You will always have good and bad neighbours

    Reply

  • That is what a neighbourhood should be like, oh how I miss my old neighbourhood

    Reply

  • Sounds like a lovely neighbourhood.

    Reply

  • I am blessed to have wonderful neighbours, there is always someone to give a helping hand when needed.

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join