Everybody needs good neighbours

One of the things I've noticed since moving out of town and into what I lovingly refer to as the sticks is that people are much more friendly. I know that London has a reputation for not being a very friendly city, and for the most part I found that to be true. Doesn't mean I don't like London - I grew up there and always enjoyed living there, but with some caveats. In the block of flats where we used to live we knew the residents of four other flats quite well, several others by sight, and some others not at all. Unfortunately London is also a place where people move on quite quickly, and of the four sets of neighbours that we knew, only one set was still in place when we moved (and was quite upset that we were moving). Those that moved did so for a variety of reasons: one couple (the only other ones with kids, I was gutted when they left) also moved to the sticks because she was pregnant with #3 and they needed a bigger place with some outside space, one guy defaulted on the mortgage and was evicted, and the last disappeared after a night of much noise and police, amid rumours that he'd been dealing out of the flat in question. We didn't miss him quite as much.

We now live in a cul de sac with four other houses, and know the residents of three of those houses pretty well. Our direct next door neighbours are great, in fact tonight they handed over half their dinner to us (a homemade pizza, lush) since our kitchen is now in a total state of destruction. They're paying it forward really, since their kitchen is being done in about a month so we'll be returning the favour then! And they have kids too, an eight year old and a four year old who's in Isabel's class at school so we occasionally share school runs and the kids are always in and out of each other's houses. The other neighbours include a lovely retired couple, whose handy photocopier/scanner I popped in to use the other day, and a couple with a seven year old who's also at the same school as Isabel. It's lovely and, for me, having lived in London my whole life, really refreshing to just be able to pop round to people's houses to ask for favours and borrow things, and to have people do the same with us, or just to pop in for a cup of tea. Isabel loves it - she says London was too bustly and crowded and she much prefers where we live now. She has very definite views for a four year old. Can't think where she gets that from....