this little street

i don't know how things are where you live but certainly in the town we live in, and most likely in the majority of england, the sense of local community is all but diminished. people don't know their neighbours names, let alone speak to them.  everyone is far too busy.  and the neighbourhood kids don't know one another or play in the street, as the traffic makes it too dangerous. such is the world we live in.

that is, apart from in our street.  the road we live on is a very small road and i think this is one of the reasons why it seems to be fairly unique in having a proper sense of community.  we were amazed when we moved in that numerous neighbours introduced themselves and offered to help out in any way they could.  one particular couple threw a barbecue and invited all the neighbours to introduce us and a couple of other recent new-comers to the road.  when we told our friends, their response was "where exactly have you moved to? the 1950's?".

so i just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge how lucky we are to live in a little part of the world where neighbours are friendly, all on first name terms, keep an eye on each other's houses when people are on holiday, lend a helping hand with things like faulty internet connections, or {in our case} building a garage roof!  i recently had the privilege of chicken-sitting for our neighbours when they were away and was paid in fresh eggs and raspberries. seemed like an excellent deal and Ava loved going to see the chickens every day.  i think we are very fortunate to have quite by chance moved somewhere that will be a lovely community to raise our little family in.  i never want to move.

i am sincerely hoping that my impression that neighbourliness is generally a thing of the past is wrong and you are all going to tell me that you too are lucky to live in such a neighbourhood.