Love Thy Neighbour

Our neighbours have gone.

They were nice neighbours really. No noise. No nastiness. No nudity.

But we really never got to know them and I do feel slightly sad about that. Was it their fault or ours, or a bit of both? Who knows? It seems to be part of modern day living that you could be living beside someone for most of your life and not get to know them.

Our neighbours hadn’t been living beside us for most of their lives or indeed our lives. They were only there for a year.

Yes. I do still feel a tinge of guilt that we never invited them in or made them feel that they were welcome to call in for a cup of proverbial sugar or whatever might sweeten their lives.

I think they were sports people. Professionals. Perhaps they’re moving on and plying their trade elsewhere. They may be moving to another city or another country.

Will they remember us kindly or will they remember us at all? That couple with the kid who always smiled but never said a lot. That’s us, by the way. Not them. They seldom smiled and spoke even less.

Smiling is nice. It can be a harmless and disarming way to break down barriers but it can also be a barrier in itself. My smile can say, I view you as a friend and not a foe, but not the type of friend to be overly friendly with because who knows what your dark secrets are?

As first time and only time parents of an only child, our inclination is always to protect her first. We teach her stranger danger. But have we become stranger than the fiction (and fact) that we read and preach about?

We love our child naturally. But what of our neighbours? Aren’t we supposed to love them too? OK, sorry, neighbours. Maybe next time? Now, about that sugar, was it one lump or two?

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