Do you know yours

jaysay · 17-07-2009, 09:54

An item on breakfast TV this morning about street parties in the good old days and how neighbours used to interact, this started me thinking. When I was young growing up in Monarch Street Ossy, I think I knew most of the people living in my own street, Albert St, Milton St, Hodgson Street, Hartley St, Foxhill Terrace, West View, Mill Hill and Spring Terrace as well. Today I live on Mallard Place Ossy which has 50 properties I bet I don't know 50% of the tenants, how times have changed. how far does your knowledge of your neighbourhood go?

entwisi · 17-07-2009, 10:01

I know to speak to comfortably ~ 20 houses on our estate of ~ 50 houses.

MargaretR · 17-07-2009, 11:23

I only know the names of 7 neighbours, and a couple of allotment holders.
Those are the only ones I ever say more than just 'hello' to.
Maybe if I walked past neighbours homes, instead of driving, I might get to know more of them.
In the days before cars, people didn't, and couldn't avoid neighbours.

Rastus · 17-07-2009, 15:08

I know pitifully few of my neighbours it is sad really.

Gayle · 17-07-2009, 15:24

I don't know all of my immediate neighbours but I do know a lot of people in Ossy.

Plus, before the internet and Accyweb - there are a lot of people who I know now, who live locally - Jaysay, Garinda, Neil, etc that I would never have known otherwise. All right Garinda's not a great example as his mum lives next door to my mum - but you get my point!

BERNADETTE · 17-07-2009, 15:26

I've only got one neighbour so obviously I know them but when I lived in more highly populated areas I did tend to get to know the neighbours.

Gayle · 17-07-2009, 15:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

I don't know all of my immediate neighbours but I do know a lot of people in Ossy.

Plus, before the internet and Accyweb - there are a lot of people who I know now, who live locally - Jaysay, Garinda, Neil, etc that I would never have known otherwise. All right Garinda's not a great example as his mum lives next door to my mum - but you get my point!

Actually, thinking about it, Garinda is a great example - my mum and dad live next door to his mum but I'd never met him before. Just proves that although the modern world is making people less likely to meet their neighbours it's equally giving others the chance to meet more of them.

Eric · 17-07-2009, 17:41

I know all my immediate neighbours, and am on more or less friendly terms with them all ... Lots of little neighbourhood things go on, like dropping over for coffee or a beer .... getting together to watch major sporting events on tv ... that means that if it is ppv then only one of us needs to pay .... we ususally get together after a major snow storm to dig and blow out our driveways and sidewalks ... work goes faster and we have often get together for a coffee or a brew afterwards .... apart from that, we still say "hi" to strangers on the street, even if it's just a comment on the weather (in winter "cold enough for ya" and summer "hot enough for ya" or the typical Canadian: "nice day, eh." Kingston is a small city (or a large town), but in general, it is a freindly, neighbourly place.

West Ender · 17-07-2009, 20:38

When I was a kid I knew just about everybody in West End and those I didn't know knew my parents, or my brothers, or my aunts or my uncle who all lived in the area, so they knew me by default so to speak. It was the same for a lot of us children and it ensured good behaviour. Put a foot wrong and your dad knew by bedtime.

I know quite a lot of my present neighbours but most of the ones I know have all lived in this road for a long time. I know people around the village but not as many as I knew 20 years ago. There isn't the sense of community and the camaraderie there used to be, probably because everyone's either driving around in cars, watching telly or sitting in front of computers. Oh!

shillelagh · 17-07-2009, 21:53

Out of the 20 houses on my road i dont know who lives in 3 of the houses .. that is because they've been sold in the last year, on my estate of about 110 houses .. i think i know about half of the people who live in em ... might be more .. Will agree with westender .. there isnt the same sense of community now there was 30 years ago ...

cashman · 17-07-2009, 21:56

used to know nearly everyone way back, now on our street only 5 houses i can have a good conversation with, say good morning etc to most others but don't really give a stuff about em,

BERNADETTE · 17-07-2009, 23:44

We lived on Riding Barnes Street as kids, about half way up the top block. I could probably name most of the neighbours on Riding Barnes Street and quite a lot on Howarth Avenue. Doubt kids today will remember their neighbours as we do and it is a shame IMHO.

accyman · 17-07-2009, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

I know to speak to comfortably ~ 20 houses on our estate of ~ 50 houses.

have you tried speaking to the people inside them it may be even more comfortable

garinda · 18-07-2009, 00:18

This sort of crosses over with what I posted about cities being easier places for people to lay dead in for years than in small towns and villages, and although this has changed to some extent, I still think this to be true.

Growing up I accepted this, but also knew for certain I would leave for the anonymity of the metropolis because of this.

As a child I knew lots of people in Ossy, and many of those I didn't know knew me through my parents, or grandparents, either through the bakery, or church, or politics.

I enjoyed spending my twenties and thirties living in London, and the fact that you can do whatever you want. You could even not pay your tv licence, not that I ever did, and know it wouldn't be in the Observer, and your shame would be discussed in pubs and shops throughout the district. Something that never happens in our large cities.

Although I never thought I'd move back here, I'm so glad I did, and I love that there is still a sense of community.

My next door neighbour used to go swimming and to the sauna with my mum in the seventies. The neighbour at the other side shares my genetic makeup, because we are distantly related through a common Welsh ancestor. Another neighbour used to play cricket with my dad and my godfather, and the man next door to him took my parent's wedding photographs and my first baby photographs. My aunt used to babysit Anthony Flanagan, another of my neighbours...all this in a little street where I happened to buy my house.

Things have changed, and will continue to do so, but I still love the sense of belonging that living in this part of Lancashire gives me, and as Gayle has said, technology means we have the abilty to know people we probably wouldn't meet in everyday life, which has to be a good thing...I think.

Margaret Pilkington · 18-07-2009, 07:44

I have lived in our street for more than 40 years....so all of us have grown old together(we helped one another out in the past and are still doing so)......however I find the new younger folk can be quite insular......I speak to say 'Hello', but most of them will just nod or smile....they do not engage in a conversation.
I am not sure if they are too busy, or if they think we oldies are nosey......they are quite happy for us to take in their bulky parcels.....but to talk to......No, they don't much go for that.
The sense of community in the street is dying with each elderly person. I find that really sad.