There’s always something happening,
And it’s usually qute loud.
sang Sugs in the 80’s and it just about sums up our place.
With two teens, an 8 year old and a son with a disability, plus various neighbour’s kids, kids’ friends stopping over and our friends popping in, it’s sometimes more like a Youth Club-cum cafe than a house.
Ashley’s condition means the washing machine is on the go most days too.
Adding to the noise are a mountain of techy things which are usually all online and all blaring Yo.utube, Ne.tflix or Face.time conversations.
The latter, Fac.etime chat, means we have to ask that we be introduced to the chattee so we have a heads up that someone else, betheyt virtual, is in the room. It’s nice to poke your face into view and say Hi, at which point Ashley usually insists on joining in too.
Unfortunately, though our house is lovely, we don’t get to choose our neighbours. One is a singleton and thunders up and down his wooden staircase at stupid o’clock and the other is a single Mum just not coping with her little monster.
It set me to thinking,
“who would I have as neighbours if I could choose ….”
After living in 14 houses I have a pretty long list of people I wouldn’t live near but I do have some fond memories of those I’d choose in a heartbeat.
As a kid we had “Aunty Sue” who lived on a corner house overlooking our street and the Close opposite. There were no cars to speak of so the street was our patch and AS was the goto lady for a drink, plasters, a cuddle or to sort out disputes. I met her years later when I cut through a retirement estate to get to a friend’s house. She leapt out, much aged, and yanked me in for a catch up and a frighteningly strong cup of tea. Sadly she passed soon after but she would definitely be a first choice for a neighbour.
The Taylors would be next. A huge and probably quite insane family who we lived near in Australia. Laughter, strange new smells, food, music, animals and noise were plentiful in their house. All the kids were long haired, filthy, loving and loud and called Tez, Dez or Daz and communicated by shouting. Never really sure which were boys and which were girls, and it didn’t seem to matter. Their back fence was ours too and the sight of one of them squirming over or through it was an everyday thing. My sibs and them were like one big family as we swarmed over suburban Melbourne in the 70’s getting into alsorts of scrapes. Waking up with one at the end of the bed or on their numerous sofas was just normal. If you weren’t in your house, Mum would check the Taylors’.
My In-Laws. They both passed a few years ago and, with Mum being preoccupied with Dad and his care, they were always more interested in me than she could be. Both would phone to chat with me not just to talk to Gill. They were simple uneducated folk but utterly genuine and I miss them both every single day.
The list could be longer and doesn’t include celebs: they’re just people and we don’t know them, just their chosen image.
So who would you choose?
Leave one suggestion in the comments or post something yourself and Ping me.
Inspired by WP Daily Prompt “Street” and Discover Challenge “Memory“
