Getting on with the neighbours?

[FowlersFreeTime]

[Mod.Edit: This and following few posts move to form a new topic (MG)]

Congrats LissaC
I hope you end up with good neighbors too. Good neighbors are a joy, bad neighbors are challenging because you can't just move out like you could when renting. Wishing you good luck with setting up the new home!

 

[LissaC]

Congrats LissaC
I hope you end up with good neighbors too. Good neighbors are a joy, bad neighbors are challenging because you can't just move out like you could when renting. Wishing you good luck with setting up the new home!

Same wish I have! I hate my current neighbors but at leats I'm renting. I've been hoping real hard the new neighbors are better than the current ones.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

LissaC whenever we've moved or have gotten new neighbors, I've always gone and introduced myself and took them a tasty something that I've made.
I remember when we first left Hawaii and moved to Arizona, the very first time that I had my gas grill set-up out front of our house, I was making Teriyaki Chicken. A few of the neighbors were on their evening walks; stopped to say how good whatever it was that I was making smelled ... I gave everyone a taste and made alot of friends that evening

 

[TastyReuben]

@LissaC whenever we've moved or have gotten new neighbors, I've always gone and introduced myself and took them a tasty something that I've made.

You know, that used to be the norm, greet new neighbors with a pie, or a cake, or even just some nice flowers to say, "Welcome to the neighborhood."

After we moved here, no one stopped by until they wanted something*, like their kid was selling popcorn for school or whatever. I wasn't too bothered by it, but I did think "changing times."

Then, a couple of years later, a new family moved in across the street, so I made a pie and brought it over and they looked at me like I had just landed from Mars. I actually got the long stare, raised eyebrow "ok...?" look!





*The one exception was our neighbor across the street who, on our first full day in the house, one of the kids crashed her bike in our driveway and we helped her out. Her mom came over later, hilariously highly intoxicated, to thank us, and proceeded to tell us which neighbors were ok and which ones were a**holes, and the best roads to drive "if you've had a few, but not drunk-drunk" to avoid the cops.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

You know, that used to be the norm, greet new neighbors with a pie, or a cake, or even just some nice flowers to say, "Welcome to the neighborhood."

When my wife and I bought our house in 2013, we thought this was still the norm. Heck, maybe I watched too many re-runs of classic American tv as a kid and built up an unrealistic expectation of the American dream, hospitable neighbors, complete with white picket fences

No, the reality was nobody in the neighborhood wanted to "make the first move" because they assumed my wife and I were just renting because we were "too young" to be the owners Fast forward a few years and at least I have exchanged phone numbers with neighbors for emergency purposes and generally we live ok with each other, but nobody invites anybody over or integrates. We were social distancing before Covid made it household terminology

 

[caseydog]

My house was a new build, and all the houses on the street were also under construction, so no pies. My last house was a new build, too. In both cases, I met a few of the neighbors while our houses were being built.

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

Her mom came over later, hilariously highly intoxicated, to thank us, and proceeded to tell us which neighbors were ok and which ones were a**holes, and the best roads to drive "if you've had a few, but not drunk-drunk" to avoid the cops.

I thought you seemed familar!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Over here, we have something called "painting parties" that new home buyers use to get all the walls painted. You invite your friends, provide food and beer, and they paint your house. You could do the same thing with cleaning.

Once you move in, you have a "house warming" party, where your friends come over to see your new home, and bring housewarming gifts -- household items and supplies.

You have to know how to milk this new home purchase.

CD

That used to work out well until Covid-19 came along.

 

[LissaC]

LissaC whenever we've moved or have gotten new neighbors, I've always gone and introduced myself and took them a tasty something that I've made.
I remember when we first left Hawaii and moved to Arizona, the very first time that I had my gas grill set-up out front of our house, I was making Teriyaki Chicken. A few of the neighbors were on their evening walks; stopped to say how good whatever it was that I was making smelled ... I gave everyone a taste and made alot of friends that evening

I'm the opposite, I'd rather not hear from the neighbors unless they need help with something. The neighbor across from me knocks on my door every now and then just to say hi or ask if I'm still alive and I hate it. HATE IT! I hate having people showing on my door announced, if I'm home alone with nothing planned then I want to be home alone with nothing planned and not see anyone! Not to mention I'm working from home and this neighbor has interrupted me during work meetings 3 or 4 times already. But I just generally hate having people show up at my house announced, whatever the reason (well if they wanted to give me money, I'd open an exception). So no pie for the new neighbors (unless they come at my door with a cheque in my name

 

[JAS_OH1]

I'm the opposite, I'd rather not hear from the neighbors unless they need help with something. The neighbor across from me knocks on my door every now and then just to say hi or ask if I'm still alive and I hate it. HATE IT! I hate having people showing on my door announced, if I'm home alone with nothing planned then I want to be home alone with nothing planned and not see anyone! Not to mention I'm working from home and this neighbor has interrupted me during work meetings 3 or 4 times already. But I just generally hate having people show up at my house announced, whatever the reason (well if they wanted to give me money, I'd open an exception). So no pie for the new neighbors (unless they come at my door with a cheque in my name

Yes! I had a neighbor who moved. She was my neighbor for 20 years. It took me 4 years to find out she was cool and we were friends after that; not the kind of friends who hang out every day or even once a week, but occasionally I would have her over for a cocktail and would go to her kids' birthday parties. But all my other neighbors were/are a$$h0les for the most part. The new ones who moved into her house seem to be okay since they don't try to talk to us!

You need a "Do Not Disturb" sign for your door. Maybe you can get one of those doorknob hangers from a hotel?

 

[LissaC]

Yes! I had a neighbor who moved. She was my neighbor for 20 years. It took me 4 years to find out she was cool and we were friends after that; not the kind of friends who hang out every day or even once a week, but occasionally I would have her over for a cocktail and would go to her kids' birthday parties. But all my other neighbors were/are a$$h0les for the most part. The new ones who moved into her house seem to be okay since they don't try to talk to us!

You need a "Do Not Disturb" sign for your door. Maybe you can get one of those doorknob hangers from a hotel?

I believe some of my neighbors are nice people, but, I really love being home alone, and hate having unannounced visitors. I love being alone relaxing and doing whatever I want and don't like being disturbed. It's not that I don't enjoy company but I'm an introvert, I recharge by being alone, I need my downtime!

 

[JAS_OH1]

I believe some of my neighbors are nice people, but, I really love being home alone, and hate having unannounced visitors. I love being alone relaxing and doing whatever I want and don't like being disturbed. It's not that I don't enjoy company but I'm an introvert, I recharge by being alone, I need my downtime!

Yes, I can completely relate! Hubby and I are the same way. We have a big house so we can be away from each other for alone time, he just goes upstairs to his office and I hang out in the kitchen or the bedroom, or in the summer one of us goes outside and sits on the patio furniture to be alone.

I am the youngest of 6 children. One of my sisters (my favorite sister, she is so kind) was with the State Department for many, many years and I never got to spend much time with her when she was out of the country. When the pandemic hit, it was the year she was to retire and the embassy in Pakistan had an emergency evacuation and all of the diplomats had to leave. She has a house in Texas, but Texas was one of the states that had the highest number of Covid cases and she also had renters in her house, and here in Ohio we didn't have many cases at that time. The state department was paying their rent/hotel/air bnb costs plus food per diem for her to be anywhere in the US, so I found an air bnb house for her about a mile from my house.

Well she was all alone, so naturally we would have her over for dinner a few times a week and I would take her to pick up her curbside grocery order and help her unload and put stuff away. I hadn't really spent much time with her since I was a kid, so I had forgotten how much she likes to talk. Incessantly. I tolerated it because I love her and I knew eventually she would be going to Texas and moving into her house and I wouldn't get to see her. But it absolutely drove my husband mad. He couldn't get away from her. It was summer, so he would go out back to sit on the porch swing and think, and she would follow him out there chattering. I suppose it wouldn't have been as bad if she didn't constantly repeat herself, LOL.

So now whenever I mention I would like to go to Texas to visit relatives (my brother, cousins, and stepdaughter all live in Texas in different cities) after the pandemic subsides, he rolls his eyes and says, "Do we have to stay with your sister at all?"

 

[caseydog]

Here is my front doormat. My friends know it is a joke. Salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses apparently can't read.

I need to wash it, and wash the door, and polish my door handle.

CD

 

[caseydog]

I believe some of my neighbors are nice people, but, I really love being home alone, and hate having unannounced visitors. I love being alone relaxing and doing whatever I want and don't like being disturbed. It's not that I don't enjoy company but I'm an introvert, I recharge by being alone, I need my downtime!

My homes were always a gathering spot for friends and co-workers. At my first house, I had several parties where 50-plus people showed up. I think my record was about 110 people one New Year's Eve. That was the one where someone brought fireworks, and set my backyard on fire (the grass was dormant). It was a very large backyard, and they only burned about 20 percent of the grass.

This has changed over the last ten years. When I moved into my current house, I had a lot of young couples with no kids as neighbors, and we gathered at each other's houses on a regular basis to eat and drink. The started having kids, and all of that changed. Although, for a while, some of the men would sneak out after the kids were in bed, and come to my house. We'd sit on the patio and drink beer for a while.

Now, I have a very friendly relationship with my neighbors, but we don't do anything together -- with the exception of one neighbor. He and I get out to lunch about once a month. He is a gay man with little fashion sense (go figure). We often go shopping after lunch, and he'll pick something out, and ask me what I think. On the other hand, I like scented candles, and he once commented, "You buy more candles than any gay man I know."

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

My homes were always a gathering spot for friends and co-workers. At my first house, I had several parties where 50-plus people showed up. I think my record was about 110 people one New Year's Eve. That was the one where someone brought fireworks, and set my backyard on fire (the grass was dormant). It was a very large backyard, and they only burned about 20 percent of the grass.

This has changed over the last ten years. When I moved into my current house, I had a lot of young couples with no kids as neighbors, and we gathered at each other's houses on a regular basis to eat and drink. The started having kids, and all of that changed. Although, for a while, some of the men would sneak out after the kids were in bed, and come to my house. We'd sit on the patio and drink beer for a while.

Now, I have a very friendly relationship with my neighbors, but we don't do anything together -- with the exception of one neighbor. He and I get out to lunch about once a month. He is a gay man with little fashion sense (go figure). We often go shopping after lunch, and he'll pick something out, and ask me what I think. On the other hand, I like scented candles, and he once commented, "You buy more candles than any gay man I know."

CD

You must like people a lot more than I do.