Do you hate your neighbours?

[jambo]

Watching Poirot on the box the other night Poirot said something about a street being a 'typical English street where everyone hates their neighbours.' Must admit I'm not too keen on the people next to us on the left, but the people on our right are very nice. What do you think about your neighbours? Do they have annoying habits? Do the things they do irritate you?

[ralf-nz]

My situation is Option # 5:
Already several years in NZ and I think the neighbours here and there are overall not too different. Generally they are all okay to a certain degree, they are not friends but they aren't enemies either.

[JandM]

Once upon a time, a wise man was travelling from London to some other city. On his way, he met someone coming in the opposite direction.

'What are the people like in London?' the other traveller asked him.

'First, tell me what the people are like where you come from,' said the first man.

'Oh, they're lovely - can't do enough for one another. I'm really going to miss everybody. You'll love living there.'

'In that case,' replied the wise man, 'I'm pleased to tell you you will find the people living in London are about the same.'

They shook hands, and each went on his way.

A few miles down the road, the wise man met another traveller.

'What are the people like in London?' this second traveller asked him.

'First, tell me what the people are like where you come from,' said the wise man.

'Oh, they're awful. They're selfish and nosy and noisy and dishonest. I'm glad I'll never see any of them again.'

'In that case,' said the wise man, 'I'm sorry to have to tell you that you're going to meet more of the same.'

[Sam B]

I have never liked living in close proximity to other people, and I've had my fair share of crazy neighbours in the UK. Now our nearest neighbours are fields away and I like them a whole lot more.

[Falcon_XR6]

Wot Ralf said....
But it is in the main quieter here than it was in the UK and there are no Hooded Hoards outside the local Dairy (SPAR shop) trying to be threatening and hassling ingoing customers.... "oiy you get us some booze, init... we'll meet you round the back near the skip an' pay you when you bring it to us".... I really miss that... NOT!!!

Cheers
G

[NikT]

Wot Ralf said....
But it is in the main quieter here than it was in the UK and there are no Hooded Hoards outside the local Dairy (SPAR shop) trying to be threatening and hassling ingoing customers.... "oiy you get us some booze, init... we'll meet you round the back near the skip an' pay you when you bring it to us".... I really miss that... NOT!!!

Cheers
G

Ditto, agree with G and Ralf.

Nick..

[ShineyPeople]

We got on well with our neighbours in the UK and eventually felt that we belonged to a community. We don't have any neighbours here, I like the privacy and the fact that I don't have to worry about our noisy dogs, kids, social evenings, etc, but I would still like to get to know more people in the village. It's harder when you don't have small kids, no chance to get chatting at the school gates. I've found that walking the dogs is a good way to meet the locals (dog owners always chat to you) and joining the community pool has helped too. We had neighbours at our first rental property here, they were lovely, friendly, hospitable and really kind so I would have to say that our experience of Kiwi neighbours has been entirely positive.

[benandclare]

Our nearest neighbours are 200m away and we get on with them very well But on the one side in town we only spoke to them once on the day we moved in !!

[Karn Allen]

Our neighbours seem to park on the road instead of on their drive. This doesn't make sense. Especially when it is raining, why walk further? Not sure if this is a New Zealand thing.

[Super_BQ]

We're in a new sub-division in Chch where houses are maybe 1 - 2 years new. Overall, we're quite happy with our neighbours up and down the street. Interesting thing is despite how I have a good picture of which house are asian and what relation they're from or where they work, the strange thing i've heard is they too were interested in meeting me as the only info they've heard was myself being from Canada.

We've had not a single conflict on the whole street and I would guess 2/3rds of the households are asian and the majority of all are near their retirement age folk. There's not many young families like our self raising a baby.

Growing up back in Canada, I kinda miss the closeness of living from suburban lifestyle. Living closer meant the whole neighbourhood as a whole were kept closer and more aware of each other (in case of danger). Whereas in NZ, houses tend to have high fences along the front of their house which can definitely pose as a security risk to burglars. I know many don't wish to see their neighbours often by living very close but it is certainly is nice to be standing outside washing the car while have a good chat with the neighbour. I miss the openness where you don't have to make a phone call to visit the neighbour across the street just to ask to borrow something. Maybe it's my bad luck but i've lived in 4 different places in Chch and it just seems that the neighbours aren't as friendly or too formal for my taste.

Good example. Today our neighbour across from us (migrants from Shanghai) was watering his lawn (unattended sprinkler). Chch is at level 3 water restriction which means no unattended watering. As we arrived home from work, my wife insisted we go over to remind them so in case no one else complains. In my mind I hope the neighbour didn't take it as we were complaining but rather, took it as a friendly advice to be aware, just in case someone else complains.

On the other aspect, i've recently learned up in Auckland things can be pretty dicey there. My uncle living there has had some major problems with the neighbours when they gone about to build their architectural home. For years this 1 neighbour continued to spy and watch every action they do and make complaints to the city. I think this initially started from the day that the land was incorrectly surveyed, that the fence line from the previous owner was in the wrong spot. By 1 meter inside my uncle's section. The city of ALK said my uncle had the right to move the fence but the neighbours put up a big fight. When the contractors came to do the fence, they obstructed. When I was visiting over a month ago, my uncle said it was sad to find out that the neighbours had checked up his file of his house to see if they did anything wrong recently because they changed their landscape (removed the grass).

There is 1 thing in life. No amount of $ can change the environment where you live in. It's kinda priceless to be living on a street where all the neighbours are so close to like family and you didn't have to keep locking your doors. But with the average kiwi house changing hands every 5 or 6 years - I can't see how this will breed good neighbourly practices.