Do you know your neighbours?

DoozerT6

I have lived in my apartment for several years and I can safely say I would barely recognise any of my neighbours if we passed in the street. I simply don't see them in the corridors of our block. At this stage, I'd literally have to knock on their doors and introduce myself to get to know them and let's face it, that's a bit weird after so many years

I'm a rural girl at heart, and I still I miss wandering around the local shops and not being able to greet ONE person by name

So do many AH'ers know their neighbours? If you don't, are you bothered about it?

Lad Of Banter

I'd like to but don't

Live on a terrace of houses

They're quiet, i'm quiet, so no complaints but i would like to know them tbh.

I know the local shop keeper and off licence proprieter very well, though

Holsten

Nope, don't care either.

SV

Know all of my neighbours, the two right beside me are sound. Others across the road are gobshítes of the highest order.

krudler

Nope, have two families living either side of me, couldn't tell you any of their names, knew my last neighbour a bit she was sound enough always said hi

truebluesac

I live in a house . I know all my neighbours . We all moved in around the same time , one of my now best mates moved in on on side (i introd him to his wife . Still appoligiseing for that ) It was easy cause we all moved in and were in the same boat .

If youv moved into an exsisting block it can be harder , as they are established friendship circles

If ya really feel lonely or looking for more of a community if your renting try moveing but then you run the risk of hateing your neighbours

The fact is your neighbours are your neighbours , your friend wherever they live are your true friends , sometimes you can be lucky and your neighbours may become your friends

Lyaiera

I know the guy living in the bedroom next to me.


And this thread reminds me. I have to go buy chocolates for the people in the café I went to in my old job. They were lovely, I was in there every day and I just disappeared. They must be worried sick about me.

Stheno

Nope don't know either of the neighbours, we live on a road as opposed to an estate so rarely even seen them

Hownowcow

One of my neighbours has become one of my best friends. I'd trust her with my life. We're both from old school neighbourhoods where that sort of thing wouldn't be uncommon.

Others are decent people and I'll chat and pass the time of day with them. Quite a few in the neighbourhood I'm on nodding terms with. I'm known in a couple of the local shops but then I do try and support them ahead of the well known convenience stores.

That said, I seriously avoid a number of the other people in the neighbourhood.

Peregrine

Nope.

Been living here for almost 7 years, I've had around 5 next door neighbours during that period and I barely knew any of them.

I don't think I can be bothered to meet the next ones either..

knick_knack

Nope, live in an apartment and no clue. Suits me fine, would make more of an effort if we lived in a house

DoozerT6

I know we aren't OBLIGED to know our neighbours, but surely sheer proximity in today's built-up society means that it's at least highly probable that we WOULD know them, if only by name - they may only be living 20 feet away from your own front door!

I almost find it embarrassing to tell people that I have lived here for this length of time and don't even know one neighbour by name, or even recognise them. I know it happens (it happened to me!!) but it also means there is nobody nearby to have a spare key to my apartment, or keep an eye on the place if I'm away,...I guess I just think it's a bit sad.

Artful_Badger

Have a party OP and invite all the neighbors. Best way to get to know them all.

truebluesac

Apart from my neibours i dont know many in my surrounding area of dub 15 , my good mate next door has now emigrated to duabi all the rest of my mates are spread out to the corners of dublin , it gets hard to motivate to go out with the effort of travling to city center etc ,,

canadianwoman

My neighbour is from Bosnia and he's on crack. The guy has issues. We steer clear as much as possible.

truebluesac

DoozerT6 wrote: »

I know we aren't OBLIGED to know our neighbours, but surely sheer proximity in today's built-up society means that it's at least highly probably that we WOULD know them, if only by name - they may only be living 20 feet away from your own front door!

I almost find it embarrassing to tell people that I have lived here for this length of time and don't even know one neighbour by name, or even recognise them. I know it happens (it happened to me!!) but it also means there is nobody nearby to have a spare key to my apartment, or keep an eye on the place if I'm away,...I guess I just think it's a bit sad.

Life has changed . Its not the same as it was when i grew up . I knew everyone one all the roads close and they knew use .suppose its the price of the celtic tiger sucess .

The only advice id give is if ya want friends close is to get out within your local . Get involved in a group and youll meet people that way

The Backwards Man

Yes, for fifteen miles in every direction.

Cork selfbuild

At the moment yes, where we are building, yes, but in any of my previous places I lived in, rented houses / apartments, not really... Just a nod when heading to the car...

Howard Juneau

canadianwoman wrote: »

My neighbour is from Bosnia and he's on crack. The guy has issues. We steer clear as much as possible.

Sounds like great ..craic!

canadianwoman

Howard Juneau wrote: »

Sounds like great ..craic!

It's not....trust me on this. :mad:

pragmatic1

Nope. The possible cons by far outweigh the possible pros.

Jeju

Some of my neighbours 3 or 4 have social events like BBQs, ladies nights blokes nights etc. We dont involve ourselves with that as Im sure all they do is gossip about everyone around.
They make sure we hear about it as its usually announced when we are going into our house. Dont mind knowing my neighbours and giving a wave but Iv seen one just walk into anothers house unannounced as soon as they arrived home.
Two years ago they didnt know each other from adam!

wp_rathead

Met one of my next door neighbours at AH beers in Galway

Pumpkinseeds

Let me put it like this, we're in a terrace to the left we have 60 year old sh*t kickers who partied with a hillybilly ho down til 1.30am last Saturday morning. At 3.15am the pill popping pr*ck to the right of us arrived back with his pill popping pals til gone 7am. Felt like grounds for justifiable homicide. If they were on fire we wouldn't piddle on any of them:mad:

FurQyou

If people weren't such cnuts I might be tempted to get to know them.. and yes I mean basically everyone.

mikeym

Ask any folk living in the country who their neighbours are and they will tell you everything.

Femme_Fatale

It's an apartment/house complex so people don't stick around for long. The only neighbours I know are the family who have been here the longest. People are friendly though.

DoozerT6 wrote: »

I know we aren't OBLIGED to know our neighbours, but surely sheer proximity in today's built-up society means that it's at least highly probably that we WOULD know them, if only by name - they may only be living 20 feet away from your own front door!

I almost find it embarrassing to tell people that I have lived here for this length of time and don't even know one neighbour by name, or even recognise them. I know it happens (it happened to me!!) but it also means there is nobody nearby to have a spare key to my apartment, or keep an eye on the place if I'm away,...I guess I just think it's a bit sad.

Why wouldn't you try and get to the know them then?

Teyla Emmagan

Know everyone on the street.

DoozerT6

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

It's an apartment/house complex so people don't stick around for long. The only neighbours I know are the family who have been here the longest. People are friendly though.

Why wouldn't you try and get to the know them then?

I guess there's no reason for me not to, but I haven't really had the opportunity in all this time! Like I said, I would literally have to go and knock on their doors and introduce myself, which let's be honest most of us would find a bit strange. I don't have kids either, so I don't even meet them from our kids playing together. Don't get me wrong, if I see a neighbour in the car park or whatever we greet each other, but that's about it. Everybody seems to be in the same boat.

It's really only started to bother me recently I guess.

Khannie

We're at the end of a street. We know (by name) 8 houses to the left on our side and all the ones on the opposite side (only 4 before a corner). So yeah. It's very nice. Instils a nice sense of community.

COYVB

know one of our neighbours by name, but only because he's got the same name as me and happened to be there when we were moving in, so we said hello. the guys on the other side i have no idea of their names, but we'd give a nod to each other if one of us was out the front and saw the other.

in our previous apartment we knew nobody and didn't go to any of the social events, purely because we'd no interest in it

tayto lover

Know the neighbour on one side of me. The house on the other side is owned by a prat who rents it out to anyone at all. Nobody stays more than 6 months. It has had druggies, criminals and a bunch of travelers. I have nothing against travelers but there is only so much of "Joleen" and "Blanket on the Ground" you can stand at 4 a.m. in the morning. However travelers are very superstitious so I concocted a little tale that got rid of them in 2 days. I asked one of the teenage girls if they had seen anything in the house at night and that the last people had left during the night after they had seen"the old lady with the knife". No, they don't like ghosts do travelers.

OneArt

I only know my downstairs neighbour because he's ALWAYS coming in and out of the apartment block. Don't know anyone else, not even the people beside me. If I'm about to go out and the light in the stairwell goes on, I wait until the neighbours have left before I go out.

Femme_Fatale

FurQyou wrote: »

If people weren't such cnuts I might be tempted to get to know them.. and yes I mean basically everyone.

Fair enough so long as you include yourself.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I know every neighbour within a 2 mile radius, except possibly 2 houses that have recently changed hands but will call and welcome them once they are settled in. Good neighbours are a powerful force.

anncoates

I know most of them by name and to have a chat to. We'd leave a key with our next door neughbours when we're on holiday in case the alarm goes off.

Having kids helps as all our kids play out on the road together or in and out of each others houses so you get to know the parents.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Mint Sauce

I know one of my neighbours to say hello to, know each others first names, thats about it. Probably because we head to, or return to work around the same time, and I just happened to be working at my car one on one of them occasions.

Would usally just say hello, how ya doing, mine chat for a few minutes.

Other neighbour might just be a nod or a wave if we meat when heading out.

Sh1tbag OToole

I do "back home" but not here, well I know one but thats it.

I dont want to get to know them either because there is a very active residents association who are very concerned about people "lowering the tone" and I'm trying to stay under the radar

PhlegmyMoses

Only recently introduced to my next door neighbours and it want pleasant . Complained about my alarm going off to their landlord who subsequently threatened to brick out my windows if it happened again. A measured response.

I explained to him that I know that his house is affordable housing so he shouldn't be renting it and that if anything happened to our place that I'd be reporting him to the revenue and the council. Game, set and match.

Bizarre situation. I'm renting too and have been on the lookout for something else but I kind of want to stay here out of spite

DoozerT6

anncoates wrote: »

I know most of them by name and to have a chat to. We'd leave a key with our next door neughbours when we're on holiday in case the alarm goes off.

Having kids helps as all our kids play out on the road together or in and out of each others houses so you get to know the parents.

I guess that's the ideal sort of relationship to have with the neighbours - cordial, know them well enough to leave a key with them, kids play with each other...anything more than that is a bonus I guess!

I Heart Internet

We live in a rural village where my wife's family is originally from, so we know a whole load of neighbours. But certianly not everyone.

I'm the kinda guy that likes to know his neighbours, in principle, but can happily get along in my own little bubble.

They're mostly sound people though. i try to be involved in certain community activities so that people know me in my own right...and not just as Mrs I heart internet's fella.

MonstaMash

Been in my house nearly 30 years...don't know my neighbours, don't even know the name of the next road...never needed to.

DoesNotCompute

Know the neighbours either side of me. I know some others in the estate to see. Also know a few other peeps around the estate who are on the estate management committee. We all pay into an annual fund, which we use to cut the grass in the estate and have a BBQ and booze up every summer, which helps to get to know people as well.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Yeah I've lived here all my life so I would know pretty much all my neighbours as they tend to all have lived here for a very long time too.

There are some blow ins nearby but not close enough to be "neighbours" and id know them to see, but wouldn't talk to them.

Santa Cruz

SV wrote: »

Know all of my neighbours, the two right beside me are sound. Others across the road are gobshítes of the highest order.

That would be the norm. People on the other side are usually gob****es or as Dara O Briain calls them " the even numbered bastards"

Santa Cruz

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

I do "back home" but not here, well I know one but thats it.

I dont want to get to know them either because there is a very active residents association who are very concerned about people "lowering the tone" and I'm trying to stay under the radar

I told you that your Honda 50 would cause trouble with your neighbours

Miaireland

I know the neighbours on either side of me. The woman directly across from me is a bitch of the highest order so I along with everyone else avoid. I know the people living on either side of her and they are both lovely people.

chestylaroux

I've known my immediate neighbours for several years. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I wish for a bit of anonymity.

Paddy Fields

Old woman on one side might say hello when the mood takes her, I think lst time was about 6 weeks ago. Her 50 something son (Norman Bates) lives with her and has never called me by my name and seems to go "ugh!" when he sees me. Total weirdo! Other side the woman is okay and says hello and will chat but the thing she is married to has spoken to me twice in 13 years and he was drunk both times. A total f**kwit! Beyond them on one side they look at the ground when going by, on the other I wouldn't recognise them if I seen them in the street.

UCDVet

The only neighbour's I've dealt with are the folks immediately above me and immediately to my left. Both are pricks, to be honest.

Met the first one to let them know that when they leave their dog alone all day, it cries, barks, and scratches. It's not that they couldn't figure this out on their own - just close the door and listen - they just didn't care. 'Oh, well, we figured he'd stop eventually'.

Met the second one to let them know that 2am on a Sunday night was not an appropriate time to have a party, and that the lease (we all have the same landlord) prohibits both loud music and parties.

What really drives me crazy is how ineffective talking to people is anymore. 'Hey, I don't want to be a pain or anything, but my bedroom is *literally* less than three feet away from your subwoofer. Is there any way you could keep it down after 11pm? It's really just the low frequencies, by all means, watch or listen to whatever you want, but if you wouldn't mind turning off the subwoofer....'

And they say, 'Oh yeah, sure!'; but completely ignore the request. I tried being mature about it, it didn't work. I contacted the landlord and it didn't help. Finally, I broke down and purchased an expensive sound-system and played 50 cent's 'In Da Club' on maximum volume, at 6am on any night when they played their subwoofer after 11pm. They tend to be up until 2-3 and sleep til noon, so they didn't appreciate me making noise.

It's like, they couldn't comprehend what it was like to have neighbors who sucked....until it was demonstrated to them. It took three days of us blasting each other with loud music before they finally gave up.

I just hope that, someday, I'll be able to get a detached home and avoid this crap completely.