Good Neighbours

[ninebob]

Some of you regulars may have noticed I've been away for a few days!

You may remember I had a "disagreement" with bulldog a few months ago - //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=54795

So - when I realised my contract with them was up, I called to cancel it, thinking foolishly that it would be a standard 30 day thing. On the same day, I phoned BT to get a line installed, and was given an activation date of Feb 2nd. So far, so good!

About 5 hours later, quite literally, I picked up the phone to call Shaun, and found it dead. Bulldog, it seems, take at least 2 months to answer a customer service query - but when you say you want to disconnect, they do it immediately!!!!

So for the last few days I've been without a phone line. I didn't mind at first, but then I realised I was commuting 5 miles a day when I could do at least half of my workload from home.

Which brings me back to the headline of my topic. People are very quick to moan about bad neighbours. However, I've always got on well with mine, so I went door-knocking and came to an agreement with the guy above us, he's given us the key to his wireless for as long as we need it, and he's not charging us a penny (I offered him £20 but he wouldn't take it).

Maybe I'm being old-fashioned, but I think it goes to show that if you make an effort to befriend the people around you (like in the olden days that my grandparents talk about, when you popped round for a cup of sugar), that good friends are just a doorstep away.

 

[gcol]

(I offered him £20 but he wouldn't take it).

Perhaps he's got his eye on you. You been wearing short skirts recently?

 

[soups05]

thats wonderfull, my neighbours were totally different. two cars burned out in 2 weeks, five years of broken windows,kids beaten up.

thank god we moved. but i think its greeat to have neighbours who are nice.

 

[Steve]

We have good neighbours. Its us thats the mob Me playing loud music, my sisters boyfriend coming and going at all hours, me starting my dieseltank at 4am and warming it up on the driveway, using their side alley for builders. They have to put up with a lot, but its ok, they're both slightly hard of hearing thank goodness! And I helped one of them re-felt his shed yesterday after the storm, so I like to think we're all friends really!

Simon, just a thought, I thought you lived in a high-rise flat, the sort of place where if you merely say hi to someone in the lift, you get a smack in the mouth? They just dont seem the sort of places where neighbours get on, thats all.

 

[ninebob]

Simon, just a thought, I thought you lived in a high-rise flat, the sort of place where if you merely say hi to someone in the lift, you get a smack in the mouth? They just dont seem the sort of places where neighbours get on, thats all.

I've always found it quite the opposite here - a bit of good old-fashioned community spirit. I suppose there must be a few "wrong 'uns" in the block but I've been lucky enough not to meet them. In my immediate vicinity I've got a professional couple who work in London and only use their flat here as a weekend home, two old dears either side who are deaf and wouldn't say boo to a goose, then there's the guy upstairs who made a point of introducing himself when he moved in and apologised in advance that he plays the saxophone (which I only ever hear - just - if I'm reading in silence).