These Are The People In Your Neighbourhood

If you are looking for a way to meet your neighbours, I suggest simply getting pregnant, taking your year of maternity leave and walking up and down the street with your baby on a daily basis.

I have met more of my neighbours in the nine short months my son has been around than I did in the eight previous years.

While I have always said hello to my neighbours, most of whom live in the city and only come up on weekends, holidays and summer vacation, when you are pushing a baby stroller, people will come right up to you and stop and chat.

It has been wonderful.

I have met so many interesting people including one woman who has been coming to this neighbourhood since she was a girl in the 1940s. PG has three daughters and in the wonderful small world that we live in, I actually worked with one of her girls. I had never met L, who worked at my parent company, but we chatted on the phone a fair bit, and I finally got to meet her this summer when she popped to say hello.

So to recap: Baby equals great opportunities to meet new people.

Unneighbourly Conduct

I was quite disgusted about a recent event on my street.

Our street is private. Each homeowner pays dues for the upkeep of the boat launches, grass cutting in the parks and access to an outdoor tennis court. According to the property association, you must pay these dues in order to use the lake access, the park and, where this story is going, the playground equipment.

There are not a lot of children on our street any more. Most of the “kids” are now heading off to university and there are only a couple of younger children on the street. Our poor little guy will have to drive into town to meet friends.

I meet these wonderful couple, O and VB, and their 10-month-old son P, who have rented a cottage on the street behind us. It was OB who told me that my son is old enough to use the baby swing, and he loves it. The B family often bike or walk to the swings so P can enjoy the swinging sensation.

Apparently someone on our street has a problem with that.

On the weekend, an older woman came up to the B family and told them they can’t come onto our street and use the swings. Apparently, she said she pays for these services and as the B family does not, they are not welcome.

What!

First off, she alone does not pay for these services, everyone has paid his share. Perhaps, and only perhaps, if there was a lineup of children looking to use the swing, then maybe then this horrible woman could tell a baby he wasn’t allowed on. OB told me the woman sat there and waited for them to leave. As you can imagine, OB felt dreadful for her little guy.

This young family is looking at buying a house in the neighbourhood. We are small area of only a few streets. Regardless of which street one calls home, we are all neighbours and this is not how we treat our neighbours. This woman should be ashamed of herself.

I am disgusted by her behaviour and horrified for the B family.
As a resident of this street, I welcome the B family to keep on swinging.