Home Do you know your neighbors?

[Shoopy]

In NY we knew everyone that lived “on the block.” In Florida, people aren’t out and about for you to even meet them (the heat I guess). The only thing that gets people out and saying howdy neighbor is a hurricane. Yesterday, one of our new neighbors came by to say hey and to tell me to get in the bathroom in case of a tornado (we were in the red zone for a while). My FI’s parents and their neighbors have lived in the same house for 15 years and only met their neighbors three years ago when Wilma knocked out the power and they shared a generator. Now, they’re BFFs LOL

Anyways, do you know your neighbors? Are you friends

or sworn enemies

?

 

[D2B]

I dont really know my neighbours, and I wish we knew them better. It would be nice to have the old fashioned neighbour looks out for neighbour, neighbourhoods. I dont need to be best friends with them, but to know them and be able to help each other out in time of need eg locked out of house, etc would be great.

d2b

 

[ucdcows]

That''s an interesting question. My neighbors are very ..interesting, for the lack of a better word...well except for my cousin who lives a few doors down. There is a family down the block that gets into physical fights with each other (like I can hear them throw things at each other..pots, solid objects that makes thunking noises, etc) and then they call the police on each other. But when the police comes, they act like nothing has happened. This happened upward of 10 times. Then my next door neighbor got it in her head that her husband was having an affair with my cousin (there was absolutely no basis for this as my cousin already had a boyfriend and doesn''t even remember what her husband looks like!) and basically was calling our house (because we''re related to my cousin) harassing us, telling us to tell "the slut" to back off and to leave her family alone and to stop breaking up her marriage. Then one day she knocked on our door and started yelling at us and calling us names (I was incidently in her tirade, called a "cheap whore", my mom was called crazy). We ignored her and she went home. When her husband got home, my mom went to talk to him and suggested that he gets her some help and she came rushing out of the house trying to attack my mother. Luckily her husband stopped her and I guess she''s been getting some help because it''s been quiet over on that front. Good times in the neighborhood!

 

[happy in love]

We have actually become friends with one set of neighbors. Watch eachother''s dogs, have emergency keys, etc.
There were 2 other neighbors on the street who we would chat with often, but both have now moved and are renting out their homes.

Our street is pretty friendly, lots of hello''s and such, but it is quickly becoming overrun with new renters which is changing the atmosphere a little.
It definately helps that my DH is a huge talker, he sees our neighbors much more than I seem to.

Last summer we held "happy hour" in some people''s front yards to bring everyone out for a meet and greet which was really fun. Hmm... maybe we need to have another

 

[Miranda]

We have block parties all the time. Our HOA pays for it. And every Friday night at the end of my cul de sac we have Happy Hour. At 4 in the afternoon in another cul de sac in my development the kids go out to play. It''s so much fun. I was much closer friends with my old neighbors, though. Here we''re mostly just friendly. I get along with most anyone though (believe it or not with my strong and often unpopular opinions here on PS)!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We know a handful. We are friends with 3 familes and friendly with some others. Our neighbors two doors down have become our friends. She has twin boys a few months younger than DD so I go over there quite a bit (we are both SAHMs). We also had a playdate with a few other moms who had babies a few months after ours which was fun. No enemies...yet

 

[Cleopatra]

DH and I live in a condo complex with neighbors on one side of us - we don''t have assigned parking at our complex and about a week after we moved in, we got a knock on the door and a girl (our neighbor) said "Hi - I know you''re new, but you''re parking in MY spot - the one that I''ve had for the past two years and I''d appreciate if you 1) move your car right now and 2) never park there again"

This was our first encounter with our "neighborly" neighbor - I did not move my car and I continue to park in that spot more than a year later....maybe if she would have asked nicely

We still kind of give each other the "stink eye" when we see each other - but we are cordial to each other....ha!

 

[FrekeChild]

We''re friends with our next door neighbor, we invite her to our parties and vice versa. And I''d totally feel comfortable asking her for a cup of sugar.

I hate upstairs lady because she sounds like an elephant up there, likes to get it on LOUD at 7am on Saturdays, and bangs my car with her driver side door. Freke not happy.

And Mo, as I like to call him, is always around, so I know him too (he''s kind of like the condo manager dude.) Other than that, I don''t really know anyone--but no one has really lived here as long as my next door neighbor and I, so whatever.

Oh, and my other next door neighbor is really old (70-80s?) and she''s knocked on my door before to ask a question, but that''s a hi thing. And a "Is your patio flooded too?" thing.

I don''t like a lot of my neighbors because they are obnoxious 19-22 year olds who party, drink, and let their guests take all of the parking spots.

I won''t go into Buick lady....

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 8/19/2008 2:30:18 PM
Author: ucdcows
That''s an interesting question. My neighbors are very ..interesting, for the lack of a better word...well except for my cousin who lives a few doors down. There is a family down the block that gets into physical fights with each other (like I can hear them throw things at each other..pots, solid objects that makes thunking noises, etc) and then they call the police on each other. But when the police comes, they act like nothing has happened. This happened upward of 10 times. Then my next door neighbor got it in her head that her husband was having an affair with my cousin (there was absolutely no basis for this as my cousin already had a boyfriend and doesn''t even remember what her husband looks like!) and basically was calling our house (because we''re related to my cousin) harassing us, telling us to tell ''the slut'' to back off and to leave her family alone and to stop breaking up her marriage. Then one day she knocked on our door and started yelling at us and calling us names (I was incidently in her tirade, called a ''cheap whore'', my mom was called crazy). We ignored her and she went home. When her husband got home, my mom went to talk to him and suggested that he gets her some help and she came rushing out of the house trying to attack my mother. Luckily her husband stopped her and I guess she''s been getting some help because it''s been quiet over on that front. Good times in the neighborhood!

DANG Where do you live and when''s the next show??

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 8/19/2008 3:01:26 PM
Author: Cleopatra
DH and I live in a condo complex with neighbors on one side of us - we don''t have assigned parking at our complex and about a week after we moved in, we got a knock on the door and a girl (our neighbor) said ''Hi - I know you''re new, but you''re parking in MY spot - the one that I''ve had for the past two years and I''d appreciate if you 1) move your car right now and 2) never park there again''

Cleo--OMG

We moved into a condo "conversion" and there were still a lot of ppl living there that were renting. They painted the parking spots and marked those that were reserved as reserved. Well, those that were renting did not like it very much so we would find ppl in our spots (that we paid for) all the time.

My FI and I got into the habit that if one of us got home early and both spots were open then we would park sideways to block both spots.

Well one day my FI gets home and there was another car parked sideways in our spot. It was a young girl. She claimed she did that because "there were no other spots available" which was a lie (according to him) because there were spots everywhere. I was

So my FI being the levelheaded person he is said to her "My GF isn''t home yet. But when she does get here and sees this car parked this way in her spot, it will not be pretty for you. You have been warned."

She moved her car. People in my parking space =

LOL

 

[movie zombie]

barely.....and the neighborhood likes it that way......we live in the santa cruz mountains on 20 acres almost at the end of a road. everyone here values their privacy. but, we all know we can call on each other if there is a major problem.

movie zombie

 

[ucdcows]

Date: 8/19/2008 3:40:43 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 8/19/2008 2:30:18 PM
Author: ucdcows
That''s an interesting question. My neighbors are very ..interesting, for the lack of a better word...well except for my cousin who lives a few doors down. There is a family down the block that gets into physical fights with each other (like I can hear them throw things at each other..pots, solid objects that makes thunking noises, etc) and then they call the police on each other. But when the police comes, they act like nothing has happened. This happened upward of 10 times. Then my next door neighbor got it in her head that her husband was having an affair with my cousin (there was absolutely no basis for this as my cousin already had a boyfriend and doesn''t even remember what her husband looks like!) and basically was calling our house (because we''re related to my cousin) harassing us, telling us to tell ''the slut'' to back off and to leave her family alone and to stop breaking up her marriage. Then one day she knocked on our door and started yelling at us and calling us names (I was incidently in her tirade, called a ''cheap whore'', my mom was called crazy). We ignored her and she went home. When her husband got home, my mom went to talk to him and suggested that he gets her some help and she came rushing out of the house trying to attack my mother. Luckily her husband stopped her and I guess she''s been getting some help because it''s been quiet over on that front. Good times in the neighborhood!

DANG Where do you live and when''s the next show??

In the overcrowded Bay Area where people can be nasty....I wonder if it is because they have lingering effects of road rage from all the traffic around here....the neighbor lady always gives me the evil eye when she sees me now...

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 8/19/2008 2:02:41 PM
Author:fieryred33143
In NY we knew everyone that lived “on the block.” In Florida, people aren’t out and about for you to even meet them (the heat I guess). The only thing that gets people out and saying howdy neighbor is a hurricane. Yesterday, one of our new neighbors came by to say hey and to tell me to get in the bathroom in case of a tornado (we were in the red zone for a while). My FI’s parents and their neighbors have lived in the same house for 15 years and only met their neighbors three years ago when Wilma knocked out the power and they shared a generator. Now, they’re BFFs LOL

Anyways, do you know your neighbors? Are you friends

or sworn enemies

?

Same thing here. Hurricanes brought us together. We had lived here for close to a year and hadn''t so much said "hello" to our neighbors, nor had they said hello to us. Then hurricane Rita was about to hit, and DH met one of our neighbors when he was trying to board up our windows (that neighbor came over to help). Later, when we realized that Rita wasn''t a threat, we met another set of neighbors while hanging outside waiting for the storm to come.
We really only talk to one set of neighbors though (the ones that helped us).
There is a lady who we share a fence with and she has a huge lemon tree that spills over to our side of the fence. I sometimes grab a lemon if I need one, although I''ve never talked to her.

Things were a lot different when I lived up north...DH says the same thing and he''s from a completely different state. We''re both still waiting patiently to find that "southern hospitality" that everyone is always talking about. The neighbor who helped us board up our house was from up north too. For the most part, everyone wants to keep to themselves, and I''d say that we live in a pretty safe, family friendly neighborhood.
Oh well, I like that I can go home and still see random strangers waving at me as I drive by.

I hope to live in an area like that again.

 

[phoenixgirl]

We were friends with most of our fire escape neighbors in the condo (close friends, still hang out weekly to this day, which isn''t hard since we only moved two blocks), and we''re close to a few people on our new block and friendly with most. We''ve been told that we''re lucky to live in such social places, but I don''t think it''s luck. I think it''s my husband. He always sits outside and makes friends. Why not, right?

Unfortunately, one of our next-door-neighbors is the block party-pooper. He''s on the neighborhood zoning committee and always tries to shut down liquor licenses, restaurant patio requests, and neighbors'' yard projects. Fortunately for us, he appears to be having some marital problems and is distracted from his need to regulate the universe.

 

[Hera]

My neighbors are...intersting. I''m always up on the neighborhood drama. I live in a beachfront apartment and because my walls are really thin I can hear everything. So, my next door neighbor has a drinking problem, but he is very well off financially so he never hits the bottom. He has walked down the boardwalk naked and doesn''t wear clothes when he''s drunk. He also is a sex addict and once had a threesome on his deck (in public). He''s like Jekyll and Hyde, though, and he''s mean when he''s drunk, which only lasts like a couple of days. When he''s sober, which is most of the time, he''s really really sweet. I wish he''d get long term help.

My upstairs neighbor is building "wings". He''s an inventor that smokes a lot of pot. I made the mistake of laughing when he told me because I though he was joking. It wasn''t for weeks until one of my other neighbors told me he was serious. I felt like a jerk.

My other upstairs neighbor is a vegetarian and gets angry when I make any food in the crock pot. He loves pot though too and sounds like a pack of elephants running down the stairs.

Despite all of that, my neighborhood is great and is a small community. I''ve been here for 9 years and we''re in good with the owners. Eventually all good things must come to an end and we are buying a house. I don''t know what I''ll do without all of the drama....

 

[Rhea]

No, not at all. We spoke to two a bit ago when they helped us find out cat. We don''t know either of their names, but one of them we still say hi to.

I did approach a guy on our street who was washing his car about our lost cat and he just looked surprised and offended. DH says that London isn''t that unfriendly and it''s all in my head but compared to where I grew up Londoners are just harsh.

 

[KimberlyH]

We are friendly with two sets of neighbors and friends with one (she and her husband do business with my husband and she was extremely good to my husband''s now deceased elderly mother, visited, took her shopping, out to dinner, etc.). Our houses are far apart, so we don''t see each other often, but if we''re out for a walk we stop and visit when the neighbors we are friendly with are outside. Otherwise our neighbors like to keep to themselves for the most part.

 

[sap483]

We''ve lived in our house for a little over a year and haven''t met a single neighbor. It''s really sad and bothers me that I don''t know any of them. For that matter we haven''t even said hello to any of them. Our problem is that our home is far from our neighbors (we have a 1.25 acre lot) on either side, fenced in and on a fairly busy street. So it''s not like a cute development where you''re likely to talk to your neighbors while working on the yard, getting the mail, etc. While the privacy is nice, it scares me that if someone were trespassing, or there was a fire our neighbors might not notice. Luckily our very good friends live a mile down the road from us. I do want the next house to be in a neighborhood though!

 

[somethingshiny]

I''ve always known my neighbors, and that''s a lot of different houses!! But, then again, I''m a small-town girl.

Actually, just today I was out looking at a house to buy. The lady who lived there passed away and her sister was in the back yard picking tomatoes. The sister asked if I bought the place could she still come over and pick the raspberries. And, of course, I said yes. Then she told me she''d bake us some pies for letting her still collect some berries. While we were there, she loaded us up with a couple dozen tomatoes to take home. I had never laid eyes on the lady before today, but that''s the way it is in a small town.

 

[Dancing Fire]

nope, i don't know my neighbors. if i see them i just wave hi.we don't talk to each other.

 

[Sha]

Yes - I live in the Caribbean and people tend to be quite social. On one side we have an elderly couple - the husband is hard of hearing but the lady lalways calls us to the fence to give us mangoes from their mango tree. On the other side we have an extended family - a grandmother, 2 adult daughters and their children - we always say hi when we see each other. They give us herbs and fruits from their trees and we do the same - last month they also brought over freshly baked banana bread and cookies!

IT was nice. We look out for each other too, and have each other's phone numbers just in case.

Where we live the houses are pretty close together too - so that helps with the neighbourliness. Before I got married I lived in a more suburban area - people knew their neighbours but nobody really socialized much. The houses were farther apart too.

 

[sumbride]

Definitely! I live in a rowhouse in Baltimore and the side effect of being all squished together means that we all know each other, whether we want to or not. Baltimore is a surprisingly friendly "neighborhoody" city and you''re expected to talk to your neighbors. We know almost everyone on our block, are friends with several people and only have a major issue with 1 family who wants us to leave because they don''t feel we should live there because of the color of our skin. They''re backing down a bit now that we''ve been here 3 years and they''ve figured out the intimidation tactics aren''t working. It''s been rough though, especially because they encourage their kids to vandalize our house and landscaping.

What I think is really great is that our neighborhood itself is pretty tight... we''re friends with dozens of people that live in the surrounding streets and almost all of our social life now is within our neighborhood. It''s really validating our decision to live in the city, and it''s so much fun to be able to walk to all our friends'' houses. I wouldn''t trade it for the world (or the suburbs) for anything!

 

[pennquaker09]

It depends. There is a couple that lives across from us that we''ve made great friends with. We''re the youngest couples on the street and that probably one of the reasons why. Especially, the wife and I.

When I lived in Philly, everyone was friendly. It''s one of the things that I miss the most about living in Lafayette Hill.

 

[Haven]

We''ve only been in our house for about two months. So far, we know all the neighbors with dogs, as we pass each other on the street while we''re taking our daily walks. There are a ton of kids in our neighborhood too, and we often see people walking around. There''s a huge, gorgeous bike/run path behind the forest which lies behind our backyard, so we''re out and about on that a lot, too. We''ve met many neighbors (and a few foxes and fawns) on the path.

I think everyone here tries to savor the warm weather because once winter hits, it''s all indoors for us!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Well, we're not friends with any of our neighbors right around our place us because we have nothing in common and I really do not want to hang out with a person such as the guy next to us who has about 20 sports trophies decorating the interior of his garage. Right after we moved in, we DID introduce ourselves, but I forgot what his name is!!! lol

About two blocks away, we have two sets of friends with kids my childrens' ages and we're friends because we have kids in the same grade and we all have similar topics to talk about. We hang out together, do playdates and all that which is great!

 

[swingirl]

I know everyone. We have an annual block party. We BBQ in the driveway, have a jumpie thing on someone''s lawn, we all bring dishes to share and it goes until dark.

 

[blondebunny]

I LOATHE my neighbors...

they have no respect for sharing walls(ie. putting their sub up against the wall they share with us, they could have easily put it on the other wall that is shared with noone for the 13" TV.. why why please tell me why..and it would vibrate and knock off painting off the wall, needeless to say we would have to turn over TV up REALLY loud so we could just hear it..)... parking behind my car so i cant get out of my driveway without almost hitting their car everytime, even though it is illegal to park there...grrr

and talking outside on their porch which is right next to my master, and when I told them to stop I had to point out that I dont sit on my porch at 2am with friends(like atleast 10) talking loudly because I dont want to wake them since I KNOW their master bedroom is right there.... gahhhhh cant wait to move in 10 days and ill be in heaven

sorry rant/vent over.. had to get it out.. hehehe

 

[blondebunny]

oh and the ones on the other side (we live in a townhouse) well one of the girls works in my BFs degree office or whatever, and like hits on him, not that I would ever think anything of it because him and his friends call her bird girl...i dunno why... but I mean u have seen me and him living here together for like a year and a half.. lol.. I just give her the "eye" when I see her.. hehehe

 

[LuckyTexan]

We live in a cul de sac, and when we first moved in we had a visit from almost every person on our street by the end of the week!

My next door neighbor is an elderly couple, and the lady actually baked me a cake!!!

We have barbeques in the cul de sac, and everyone comes out with their lawn chairs, and coolers... it''s nice!

We sit in our drive way and ''shoot the sh*t'' with out neighbors quite a bit! We go out after the kids are down to watch the sun set, and drink a beer... and they will see us and come out.

We had a really weird couple for a while, but the wife left and now I never even see the man... but other than them we have great, friendly neighbors!

 

[LaraOnline]

Date: 8/19/2008 4:59:28 PM
Author: Addy
No, not at all. We spoke to two a bit ago when they helped us find out cat. We don't know either of their names, but one of them we still say hi to.


I did approach a guy on our street who was washing his car about our lost cat and he just looked surprised and offended. DH says that London isn't that unfriendly and it's all in my head but compared to where I grew up Londoners are just harsh.

Try the immigrants. They are much friendlier and more fun to be with.
A good amount of the longer term locals appeared to me to have a kind of 'seige mentality' and yeah, didn't like being talked to in random kinds of settings. London is a pretty high-intensity city though, so I had to forgive them. Was glad to get outta there though...