A to Z Challenge 2020
Things to be Grateful for
Is for Neighbourhood
I have lived in several different neighbourhoods. As a baby
I was in rural Scotland, on a farm where the nearest neighbours were relations,
so you knew there was someone to depend upon.
In contrast my next neighbourhood was a street in south
London. There we had milk and bread delivered, one by a horse drawn vehicle.
Each night the gas streetlights were hand lit (this was the 1950s). I was not
quite three when there was a street party for the Coronation. A rag and bone
man and a knife sharpener arrived regularly but nobody had a car to park
outside our terraced houses. School and shops were a short walk away and there
were red trolley buses to go further afield.
At the age of 10, I moved down to Dorset to live by the sea.
Our bungalow was on a promontory out to sea, directly opposite a pub. There was
an overgrown garden park at the end of the road with good views of the harbour. One of our older neighbours had been in China
during the Boxer Rebellion and showed me photographs of people he met there.
My next neighbourhood was a remote spot in the Yorkshire
Dales. In winter we were sometimes cut off by snow and all my friends lived
miles away so long phone calls were necessary.
After time living abroad then at University, I lived in four
shared flats in turn with other young people including air stewardesses and
members of a pop group. We rarely had any contact with our neighbours.
Once
married I moved to a Surrey village where our social life centred on the pub by
the river, the useful local shop and the laundrette. We had friends of all ages
in a great community.
I have written
about my current neighbours during our time of isolation here
