Poorly chicken

[Chucky Mama]

We have really lovely neighbours. We live in a close with 6 houses and we know them all. We take in parcels for each other and my next door neighbours dog sit for us. My DD who is in her second year of university has just moved into a house with 5 other girlfriends. They went to say hello to the next door neighbours last night armed with homemade flapjacks. They looked at them as if they had just landed from Mars. They just didn't understand why they had come round! ES's old neighbour when they were students used to bring them homemade jam and they took her homemade bread (1 bought them a breadmaker!)

 

What are your neighbours like?

[Olly]

I'm really envious of your neighbours, CM. I live on a fairly busy road, and I know the people on either side and they are fine but we don't do more than chat over the fence. Until recently I was out all day anyway. Neighbour No.1 is very shy, barely speaks although her husband is friendly and has lent me garden tools and I give him honey every so often. Neighbours No.2 are younger than me, have young kids and again they're friendly but we don't have much in common - I throw footballs back over the fence every day but that's about it!

 

I used to live next door to a student house however, and although it would have been nice, I would have been surprised if they'd introduced themselves - I was there all the time, they came and went after 9 months and I didn't expect to get to know them. Maybe your daughter's neighbours have had bad experiences with students and would rather keep their distance.

[Daphne]

I have 2 sets of neighbours in the UK who are very good friends We have been through a lot together, sharing major events in one another's lives, bad and good, and I miss them We live on the edge of a small market town, and the sense of community is very strong, we were welcomed with gifts when we moved in and now we mix socially with a lot of neighbours as well as dog/cat/chicken/parcel/offspring sitting! There are a number of small businesses amongst us, and we routinely buy and sell amongst ourselves as well. But even when we lived in a city, we knew people, I think it adds so much to day to day life, I can't imagine not being surrounded by folks you know at some level. My grandmother knew her neighbours very well through the war and afterwards, my mother has lived in the same house for 45 years, and knows her neighbours well, so perhaps I am just continuing the tradition!

 

Our neighbours here in Portugal are extremely friendly, generous and hospitable, sharing gifts of food and offers of help all the time. I wish I could communicate better, but despite this, I am treated like a daughter by one old lady, who has 5 sons

[percy049]

Got on really well with all our original neighbours on our cul-de-sac. Unfortunately, all the new neighbours which have replaced some of them aren't at all talkative. Only 2 neighbours that we actually speak to now, but we do keep in contact with our old neighbours through Facebook

[chickencam]

We have lived in the same cul-de-sac for 21 years, the elderly couple opposite are YD's godparents so we know them very well, they are northerners like us which I think helps. It is true that people north of Birmingham are more friendly then people in the south, we really noticed this on our recent trip to Scotland and Durham.

 

We have all the same neighbours that we had when we moved in which is very unusual, we chat regularly to the guy next door who has changed partners numerous times over the years and tends to have firey relationships with people and his son. The partner he has had for about 5 years now seems to give as good as she gets and is very friendly, she has brought me flowers a couple of times which have been bought for her just before she is due to go away and a few days ago she gave us some milk because her work place had a delivery in error of a large quantity. We distribute excess allotment produce to our neighbours and we all help out putting out and collecting bins etc.

 

We were also close to our previous neighbours in other houses before we moved here too, we have been quite fortunate to have friendly but unintrusive neighbours.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I have an elderly retired couple on one side who are lovely and I give them eggs (and get gooseberries and the like occasionally). We chat when we meet, take parcels in for each other and tell each other when we're going to be away.

 

On the other side is a young family so, as we have little in common, it's limited to parcels and friendly good mornings but that's about it.

 

I don't have neighbours opposite but I do sometimes feel that I should know my neighbours further than next door and be able to say more than "good morning" to them . OH and I are pretty insular, admittedly, so it's probably our fault.

[Bramble]

Where my mum lives, she's had mostly the same neighbours since I was very little, so I know many of them very well.

 

In my first house, I got on well with all the neighbours, two particular (elderly) couples really took me under their wing (I think because I was on my own) which was very nice and we all helped each other out. However, my immediate next door neighbour there was a bit odd ... he put in a MASSIVE planning application for his garden but didn't have the courtesy to tell me first ... he decided he didn't like branches from a tree in my garden overhanging his garden, so he cut them all off and dumped them on my drive for me to cut up and dispose of (realise he's entirely within his rights to do this, but he need only have said and I'd have sorted it out, which would have been a "friendlier" thing to do) ... then the really weird part was when I had the fence replaced (at his request) between my garden and his ... I heard no more about it for nearly three years, then he sent his new partner round one day to say they didn't like the way the fence had been done and could I get the company back to re-do it - yes, three years later ... very odd ... or maybe it's me.

 

I've since moved to what was a brand new development, I'm the "longest serving" resident, and neighbours all seem nice - I do bunny sitting for my immediate neighbours which is nice, we all take in parcels etc and we're on general sort of "hello" terms, but nothing more than that. I kind of like it that way, I'm a bit of a loner and much prefer my own company so I wouldn't be good with neighbours that pop in all the time - they probably think I'm a bit weird as a result, and that's fine, as I've got older I try to worry less about what others think!

[The Dogmother]

Our road of Victorian houses is very neighbourly, to the point that we close the road every year for a .big street party.

[mullethunter]

I'm afraid OH and I are probably the neighbours you'd all think are rubbish.

 

When we moved in a couple of the neighbours popped over to introduce themselves, but we'd rather keep ourselves to ourselves and so that's exactly what we've done.

[Grandmashazzie]

We just moved last year and got to know everyone super quick as we reduced the bungalow to a shell then rebuilt. Everyone on the street was most curious/ nosey and stopped for an introduction and gossip. Sadly the elderly man opposite just told us his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer.All his family live in England so we have asked him to let us know if he needs anything. I feel I should go over and see her but having only met once not sure if it's the right thing to do. I wouldn't like to live somewhere where no one speaks to each other,you would have nowhere to turn in an emergency.

[The Dogmother]

Our neighbours are amazing at helping out, when an elderly neighbour was poorly, everyone rallied round to help. When she died, her widower was overwhelmed by hot dinners. When Rosie had her accident, they all chimed in to help as well.

[Egluntyne]

We are really lucky and have super neighbours. However, this has not always been the case. We had a nutter and her thug of a husband living next door to us up to five years ago. To cut a very long and tedious story short, after 5 years of harassment and abuse, she had a first part code of conduct warning under the harassment act, because of her behaviour towards us. Her ridiculous allegations were all in her mind, and easily disprovable.

 

If I tell you that she used to hoover her drive and pick weeds from between the paving stones, you will get the general idea.

[Alis girls]

One side is a British born Asian lady and I am her keyholder as she spends a lot of time in India and her very intelligent city working son is not er very practical!!! On the other side is a new lady - Italian - OH has met her and she has a little dog and a ginger cat with muscle problems who stays indoors a lot. Three ginger kitties in one street(our 2 as well) - next door but one is a lady whose felix cat comes in our house. Opposite a little elderly jewish man waves and we wave back well I think hes waving to me so just to cover myself I wave back Oh and thats in London. A melting pot you could say.

[Grandmashazzie]

'Hoover her drive' now that is someone with too much time on their hands

[chickencam]

One of the residents near the exit to our close is often outside sweeping the gravel at the side of her drive in her jim jams when we leave for work. Takes all sorts, don't think she bothers anyone though.

 

We only have a house on one side of us because we live at the end of the close and our garage sits at a right angle facing down the road with elderly couple opposite our one neighbour ( it makes sense if you see it ). He used to have some very loud fights with his partner and mother of his son. She used to have a van round load all of her stuff and prossibly a fair amount of his into it, then leave. She did this about three or four times and she was always back within 48 hours usually within 24. No idea what happened but we were pretty sure that no violence was involved. It was quite a relief when she finally left, he got custody of their son who is a lovely mild mannered lad who is now adult.

[The Dogmother]

We have one exception in our road - Grumpy George (yes, Egluntyne, he's still going!!!) old boy who lives next door to me, stone deaf, hates everyone, especially if their 'foreign'... so that's a good few of us His late wife was very poorly to the end and he'd refuse to take her to her hospital appointments, so I would take her. When she came our after an op, he and their sons were supposed to loo after her, but I ended up popping in when I could to help her out; poor woman. We reckon that he's staying alive to spite everyone

[Lewis]

I live in student dorms with 200 people and know most of them and we tend to get on really well.

 

The house I grew up in we knew all the neighbours and they all had children slightly older than me who would come round. Our immediate neighbours were like sisters growing up who we still go back to see on Christmas day and meet up regularly even though I now live in Slovakia and one of the girls lives in Qatar.

 

We moved when I was 11 to a busy main road but still know the closest few houses, we all pet sit and babysit or just pop in for coffee. My last weekend in the UK I took their 3 children to a private zoo just me and my brother, so I guess we are lucky

 

That said, the other side neighbours are really nosy and always asking what we're up to. When we were having the lost converted he climbed up the ladders on the scaffolding to have a look around while we were in downstairs. He's also been known to hop over the fence into our garden for a nose and to cut trees while we're in the house without asking. The only good thing is they watch the house while we're away and never miss a trick.

My favourite moment was their faces when I pulled up on the drive with two lambs and took them in the house for bottle feeding

[patsylabrador]

Mixed bag here really. I wouldn't call myself friends with any of them except for my favourite 92 yr old lady who I've mentioned before and a chap who lives around the corner. He's totally eccentric and zings around dangerously on his pushbike. It's even more scary when he goes out in his sports car or motorbike. He's such a friendly and old fashioned person although I think he scares children a bit.

My neighbours on one side are new and friendly and like to show their grandchildren the chickens. They're not at all interested in their garden though which is a shame. My neighbour on the other side is foul, loathsome and predatory. I'll leave it at that.

Generally speaking the area is improving massively and I put that down to the influx of Indian and Eastern European families who have strong family influences. This area had become dull, dowdy and unpleasant but it's really picking up now and is a much nicer place to live. It's like it's retained the 1950s nostalgic feel with a twist. I like it.

[Cinnamon]

Our first next door neighbours were a lovely elderly couple, but they died a few years back.

Enter then neighbour from hell, with her all night parties, stupid woofy dog, loud teenage children & multiple boyfriends (several of whom we are still good friends with )

Then about 3 months ago she sold up & left, & we now have a lovely young family living next door. We like them & they seem to be really nice.

 

We did have an issue with a near neighbour who took a dislike to us a few years ago, & decided that they would make formal council complaints against us for things we hadn't done - smoky bonfires, noise disturbance & so forth. We were getting into rather a lot of trouble & I was getting really stressed by it all too.

The lady at the council rather rashly told me who had made the complaints - they had been as nice as anything to our faces!

Just goes to show, doesn't it?

[sparkysmum]

Hello Our neighbours are pretty fab & we've known them for years. We're on good terms with everyone but no " best friends" Think we're all just a bit too reserved. Think we would all help each other out and I know that the couple of oldies in the culdesac are well looked after in the winter. Ax

[Chortle Chook]

Loving all these stories about eccentric neighbours!

 

I've been about a bit from house to house, town to town up and down the UK, but have always got on Ok with my immediate neighbours. When I lived in York I had a sweet male couple who lived next door to me who once swept the alleyway clean of deep snow from my house to the main road, and then wrote on it "Path for Short Legs" -

 

Here in Oxfordshire the little Victorian terrace I live in, started off in the countryside and we used to have impromptu BBQs with our neighbours (mostly Polish, French and Italians who worked in a restaurant up the road) in an old orchard at the bottom of our gardens. Then there was a bit of a change and about 11 new houses got built in the old orchard. After that there was a high turn over in both the new and the old houses, and people seemed to give up even saying 'hello'. More recently 300 more new houses have been built and to my surprise I've found I rather like the resulting anonymity. There are some people I really like and chat to and others I can happily ignore altogether.

[Bramble]

I'm about to get new neighbours - my immediate next door neighbour, who has only lived in his house for about 18 months put his house up for sale a few months ago (didn't tell me he was going to ) and I noticed it had a "sold" sign on it yesterday. I'm not bothered he's leaving, I really don't know him (and he made funny comments about the colour I had painted my front door ) but of course there's always the worry about who will be moving in instead

[Valkyrie]

When I grew up one side was very unpleasant. The woman would wait for my dad to go on night work and then hammer in the adjoining bedroom so that his sleep was disturbed. When she didn't hammer and went out, she shut her dog in that room and it howled all day long. It made life rather difficult for him - she never did it when he was on day shifts. Also she watered the garden at 3am! I said to myself I'll never marry anyone with that surname. What are the odds - I married someone with that surname! Someone up there is messing with me!!! Anyhoo the new people who moved in were really lovely - they said they had to fumigate the house and scrub it - even replacing floorboards as the dog was allowed to wee everywhere. When they went to look at the place the dog cocked his leg on the furniture. They were rather grossed out but liked the place itself. The other side had lots of people but each were very nice.

 

When we married and had our first house the neighbours were pleasant and same for the next move. Here we are in a cul-de-sac and most are fine. Next door we have a neighbour and she tells us more than we should know about her children's sex lives!! She also has the vicious rescue dog, although it hasn't tried to get at us through the hedge for a while now. On the other side they keep themselves to themselves they even don't speak to the godmother of one of their daughters - my neighbour on the other side! As for everyone else we all get on well and I have a really good friend (and chicken sitter) in one - and I will miss her so much when we move. The elderly couple are moving out on Friday and we will be having a younger family move in - 3 little girls. The youngest 2 children of the close have just started uni. 4 of us are close and we have Christmas fun night and we all bring food and either play murder mysteries or other games.

Supposedly one of the most desirable places to live - but I don't like it any more and the new people who arrive in the village seem to be very er, motivated and pushy - they have to be bigger and better and their children must be top of the class (lots of "Ooops, word censored!"iness in the playground and mostly by the mothers!). The houses being built are all executive big ones - nothing for the youngsters starting out. I love my neighbours but it is time to move further away and get my smallholding!

[Valkyrie]

When I grew up one side was very unpleasant. The woman would wait for my dad to go on night work and then hammer in the adjoining bedroom so that his sleep was disturbed. When she didn't hammer and went out, she shut her dog in that room and it howled all day long. It made life rather difficult for him - she never did it when he was on day shifts. Also she watered the garden at 3am! I said to myself I'll never marry anyone with that surname. What are the odds - I married someone with that surname! Someone up there is messing with me!!! Anyhoo the new people who moved in were really lovely - they said they had to fumigate the house and scrub it - even replacing floorboards as the dog was allowed to wee everywhere. When they went to look at the place the dog cocked his leg on the furniture. They were rather grossed out but liked the place itself. The other side had lots of people but each were very nice.

 

When we married and had our first house the neighbours were pleasant and same for the next move. Here we are in a cul-de-sac and most are fine. Next door we have a neighbour and she tells us more than we should know about her children's sex lives!! She also has the vicious rescue dog, although it hasn't tried to get at us through the hedge for a while now. On the other side they keep themselves to themselves they even don't speak to the godmother of one of their daughters - my neighbour on the other side! As for everyone else we all get on well and I have a really good friend (and chicken sitter) in one - and I will miss her so much when we move. The elderly couple are moving out on Friday and we will be having a younger family move in - 3 little girls. The youngest 2 children of the close have just started uni. 4 of us are close and we have Christmas fun night and we all bring food and either play murder mysteries or other games.

Supposedly one of the most desirable places to live - but I don't like it any more and the new people who arrive in the village seem to be very er, motivated and pushy - they have to be bigger and better and their children must be top of the class (lots of "Ooops, word censored!"iness in the playground and mostly by the mothers!). The houses being built are all executive big ones - nothing for the youngsters starting out. I love my neighbours but it is time to move further away and get my smallholding!

[soapdragon]

We have lived in a 'close' for about 17 years. On one side the neighbours have been there longer than us..OH gets on with the OH but I don't with the wife! When I objected to their delivery lorries (they seem to get a lot of deliveries!) parking over and blocking our drive she banged on my door and started shouting at me (I had politely asked several of the delivery drivers to move when I need to get in or out!)

 

On the other side we have a lovely retired lady who is very quiet; her daughter, SIL and grandchildren live very close by which is why she moved here. Sadly her cats leave 'nasties' all over our lawn and dig up the garden as soon s I plant anything

 

Opposite us is a rented out house with a very self effacing South African couple who have been there a few months. 'Other' opposite (diagonal) is a retired couple........he is VERY 'neighbourhood watch'.....all on his own! We water their plants when they go away and generally keep an eye as they do take quite a few hols! However, they return the favour when we dissapear to Devon for our annual week.

 

I wouldn't say that we are 'friends' with any of the neighbours but we do tend to watch out for each other. We are on the edge of the village and people are very friendly; there are lots of dog walkers who pass by and other people that I see in and around the village and everyone always either says hello to each other or smiles.