How well do you know your neighbour?

On one side, I don’t know them at all, but on the other, I know them. They give me fruit from their garden. Yum.

My neighbors used to be friends, but they’ve become these old lady mean-girls. So, no I don’t have much contact with them.

She’s a lunatic Jehovah’s Witness who sprays Roundup 3 feet into my yard twice a week, despite all efforts to ask, beg, plead, and barter with her to stop. She complains that I let my kid run around outside with no shoes on, complains when we have friends over, complains when we wait too long to mow our lawn… her own kids don’t even want to visit her.

I find it quite depressing that I know very few of my neighbours. Many of the apartments around me are rented, so there tends to be a high turn-over of occupents. There is very little sense of community.

All I know is that they’re really creepy and dug up my dead cat!

My next door neighbor mows my lawn and I take care of his dog while he goes away. I generally keep to myself as I don’t like to get sucked in to other people’s dramas, but I haven’t noticed any of that here and I’ve been for over a year now. My neighbors across the stret are three generations in two houses next to each other and that’s pretty cool. We all say hello and have small talk. Very pleasant, and I was just thinking that it’s getting cooler and I may have to do a baking and then take cookies around the neighborhood to get them the hell out of the house.

Very well. I know all my neighbors pretty well. I live in the house I grew up in and have now lived here, as an adult for about 15 years. One one side, next door, our families have lived next door to each other for over 45 years. One the other side, that neighbor just died at 92, her kids and my brother and I grew up together. And the three neighbors across the street I all know pretty well to. Other than that I don’t know many. I love that I know my neighbors and that I have good ones. We look out for each other and help each other out in a lot of ways, but everyone generally minds their own business to, when that is what is required to be a “good neighbor”. I’m pretty lucky.

I “met” one of them once. The nice lady across the street picked us up to go out for breakfast four months ago and she happened to be picked up too. We didn’t talk or anything and I haven’t seen her since. I actually feel sorry for her because she’s living with her sweet, fifty something year old brother who is mentally challenged. Their house has a For Sale sign. She did, however, ring our doorbell to ask my H to “stop driving on my lawn to park the golfcart” since it was starting to leave a 7’ path. I saw it. I’m paranoid they don’t appreciate us bringing 2 barking dogs to the neighborhood even though they live inside.
There is no one on the other side; just 5 treed lots, all vacant. Directly across I’ve not met her either but I see her outside a lot, at least.
@Seek_Kolinahr boy; that is a bad deal. I’m really sorry.

Our neighbours are mostly pleasant, friendly folk who we get along with just fine. All except the mad buggers immediately “next door” to us. I mean, slow & simple ain’t in it. It’s like the Clampetts meet the Munsters!! We don’t speak put it that way. Matter of fact, none of our “normal” neighbours give them the time of day either. Which is nice :¬)

One of my neighbors is a cool bearded old cat who calls himself Red. Ol’ Red sometimes mows part of my yard for me because he has a big ridding mower and I just have a little push mower. I go out of my way to give him a hand when I see him outside working on something and I always take the opportunity to have a conversation with him.

Another neighbor of mine is an elderly lady. I once put brake fluid in her car for her because she was worried that her brakes were going to give out because her ABS light came on. I occasionally see her driving up when I take my puppy outside to the bathroom. I always wave and act as polite and friendly as I can.

My last neighbors are a big group of people. There’s one guy, two or three ladies and about five children. When we were moving in, my roommate had to back into their driveway to get the trailer out. He immediately came out and asked us to stay off of it because he was trying to grow grass there… Yes, on his driveway where there are two cars parked most of the time. I didn’t get it but we agreed to stay off. My real problem came when they started calling the cops on me. I record my own music at home. I keep my drums in my shop and I know that they’re pretty loud so I try to keep my playing between 1 and 2 pm and twice a week, max because most folks are gone about that time as well as the kids being at school. Every time, the cops show up and I have to deal with them. I went over and asked my neighbors if there was a better time I could play where it wouldn’t bother them as much and the guy replied “No” so… I left it at that. Oh… and the guys car alarm. It goes off at least once a day and it’s maybe 50 feet from my bedroom window. We just don’t seem to get along.

One one side of us lives a husband and wife. The husband is a complete dick and has incredible anger issues, so we don’t talk to them.

The other side is a wonderful couple who seems to run out of milk whenever they are baking.

The neighbors that don’t live directly next to me are an entirely different story.

Our neighbour has become our T.V.
And it tells us that we should be afraid of our actual neighbours.
So most of us know little of our “neighbours”.

Mine are nice, as it happens.

One side the house is empty and has been for about 3 years. It’s been bought, and the owner is renovating it but he doesn’t live in it and he’s planning to sell it again when it’s done, though the project is currently stalled because he’s run out of money. On the other side there’s a middle-aged spinster lady who’s nice enough but also rather strange, and doesn’t really talk to me about anything except dogs (mine or her own). I’ve known her (vaguely) since I moved in here (24 years ago), she must have been in her 30s back then. I always thought she’d be much happier living in the countryside.

After she explained, in detail, how she dug out her impacted bowel, I stopped speaking to her.

Growing up we hardly knew our neighbours at all. There was one guy that persistently asked my mother to bed. Creep.

Because of this I’ve made it a point of talking to my neighbours. Where we live now we know both our next door neighbours. We even know the neighbours on either side of them. And I knew too much about our “yahoo” neighbours who lived across the street but have, thankfully, moved. They were your steriotypical rednecks. Cars all over the front lawn: some of them running most of them not. They used to have parties that went on until 4am. Fights would break out and we would have to call the cops to them broken up. The whole block said a “hallelujah” when she got pregnant. They parties calmed down for two years at least.

Our front door opens out facing our closest neighbour’s. You can’t avoid talking to them and for the most part they are good neighbours. The only problem is that the wife is extremely depressed and has trapped me at my front door for hours as she pours her heart out. They used to have their oldest daughter living with them. You hardly ever saw her as she was depressed and had an extreme eating disorder. The parents wouldn’t take her for help and she eventually got so thin she ended dying from a heart virus. I’ve tried to get the mother to go for therapy but she won’t .

We mow their lawn (they are elderly now), clean out their gutters, clear their sidewalk of snow through the winter and basically help them with what ever they ask for help with. I think the only reason they are still in their house is because we support them so much.

Our neighbour on the other side is a fairly new immigrant from Israel. We’ve had them over for dinner a few times and we are friendly with them, but it bugs me that he treats his wife like she’s an idiot. I’ve called him on it a couple of times to no use.

One house down from them is a good neighbour. He’s divorced and lives alone. We scrape his sidewalk in the winter sometimes and he reciprocates. He will also mow our lawn now and then. The only odd thing about him is how far he has let his roof go. The shingles are curled all over his house to the point where he must have water damage inside his house. He hasn’t cleaned his gutters in so long he has weeds growing in them.

We had a grow op across the street. Now there are a family of Asians living there. I’ve finally got the grandpa saying hi to me when we pass on the street (he walks where I run). That only took 6 months of me smiling at him.

I used to know my old neighbors pretty well…until they moved. I know next to nothing about my new neighbors. Although there are some neighbors on my street that I say “hello” to when ever I pass them while coming home from school.

I have no idea who lives on either side of me (as several families have occupied them throughout the two decades I have lived here), but they need to turn down the volume to the rubbish music they insist on playing at all hours of the night.

When I was a kid, I was well acquainted with the family who lived across from us. They have issues. Serious issues. I ceased visiting and avoid even looking in their direction.

I have noticed an influx of children in our complex, too. All the babies are growing up it seems. The man who lives down the street from me is now a grandfather. He could not possibly look any happier.

I tried talking to them once, but they just grunted. They are all very fat… both children, and the mother and father, and the father always wears suspenders and has a really serious look on his face.

Once, the cops knocked on my door and pointed assault rifles and submachine guns at me and asked if I knew who lived next door. They pulled up in their truck right then, but turned right around again. I later found out that the cops had the wrong house, but I still think it’s strange that my neighbors would see the cops and then leave. Maybe they were just freaked out. I know I was.

I’m good friends with my next door neighbor. We have keys to each other’s houses and never have to worry about anything when we leave town (unless we are both gone at the same time). I’m out of town now for a couple of months and she is taking care of my place. Great neighbors are a blessing!!!

My next-door neighbor on one side is my younger cousin. The neighbors on the other side I never see, though I did just meet the lady as she was walking her dog the other day.

Since moving to this location 10 years ago, I have met the neighbors on one side and the other side is rented out to college students (so they come and go). The houses here aren’t exactly close so I only just wave if I happen to see them outside (which is almost never). I miss being neighborly but not so much that I would go over and try to be friendly:-)

My neighbors and I are on good terms and are friendly with each other.
However,I do not want to see his wife in her leopard print “love outfit” ever again :O

@lucillelucillelucille “However,I do not want to see his wife in her leopard print “love outfit” ever again :O” that’s funny.

Yeah…I know my neighbors well enough to know that they are conceited, bigoted, hateful, anti-semitic assholes that no fence is high enough and no moat deep enough to ever make me feel comfortable living next door to them.

@tranquilsea—I was just letting the dog out and Whoop!There it was! XD

I know all my neighbors, and have their phone numbers and e-mail addresses, both at home and at work. I have the keys to several of their homes, just in case they or their kids get locked out. We live in an urban neighborhood, with lots of sidewalk socialization. The houses are quite close together, which breeds both familiarity and a little formality to keep boundaries.

My neighbour is my ex so I think that puts us in the ‘fairly well’ category.

Used to know my neighbors all up and down the block, but things have been changing fast recently. The neighbor I share a party wall with I know very well. Know their kids. They know ours. Kids have been to the same schools and camps, etc.

On the other side, our “new” neighbor bought the house two or three years ago now, and has spent probably ten days in it total. She has another house nearby. I have no clue why she wanted this one. She kicked out the third floor renter, too. So she doesn’t live there and she has no income from the place. Huh?

Got a note from her today saying her foundation was in trouble, and asking if we would give her the name of the guy who did ours. We’ve said hi a couple of times, but that’s the most significant thing we ever said to each other.

I mentioned in another thread that the neighbors on one side gave me an external hard drive for my birthday this week, so yeah, we are quite friendly. The neighbors on the other side are very cool as well – we watch each other’s pets when needed. Our neighborhood is small (12 houses on a dead end off a busy road) and I have at least a nodding acquaintance with everyone, though I understand some of the longer-term neighbors aren’t in love with each other. In our little corner, though, we get along great – some evenings we’re all out in the cul de sac, adults drinking beer and all the kids playing. It’s pretty sweet.

I am on “hello” terms with my neighbours on one side and the husband fixed a burst pipe for me once (he’s a plummer). The other side is a care home for mentally ill people. I don’t see anyone from there very often.

I’m really paranoid about our neighbor ignoring us when I think it’s because of our two noisy dogs. Before we moved here she had a nice, quiet neighbor. Now we’re here with our dogs who go outside fifteen times a day, and half of those they bark and it is LOUD. But they live inside and go to bed at 7pm. They bark horribly anytime anyone rings the doorbell , too. Which makes it appear we’re unwelcoming And, each day at the mailman, too, just at the car pulling up to the mailbox. Maybe I was supposed to have taken them to dog training when we first got them.

@Aster I’m glad you are not my neighbor. I personally hate hearing a dog bark. I live in an area where it isn’t tolerated—guess I need to stay there.

Thank you. “Constant” barking isn’t permitted here, either. The minute they bark we bring them indoors which is where they stay most of the day.

I don’t know any of my neighbours well. I only know them by their first names, and even then I sometimes forget that. All I know is the neighbour to my left is a snoot and their children are all grown up and have moved away to college, and my neighbour on my right is a nosey busybody who has a little bratty son who always gets on my nerve.