The best relationship with neighbors is one of friendly distance.You say hello,you sometimes talk if you see them in the yard,you discuss problems and you help each other when help is needed.The bushes or the fence between you is not a cold shoulder,but a clear boundary.We all like clearly defined boundaries for ourselves.
If neighbors have changed,neighborhoods have not.They still have the same parts.If you live in a real neighborhood you can be sure most of the following people will be found there:
-One family with more children than they can take care of.
-A dog that gets into garbage cans.
-One big,beatiful home with family so rich that they really aren't part of the neighbodhood.
-A bad child who steals or sets fire to things,although no one has ever been able to prove it.
-People who leave their Christmas lights up until March.
-Someone who doesn't cut their grass more than twice a summer.
-Someone who cuts their grass twice a week and one of the times always seems to be Sunday morning at 7:30.
-A family that never seems to turn off any lights in the house.
-A teenager who plays the radio too loud in the summer with the windows open.
-Someone who leaves their barking dog out until 11:30 most night.
-One mystery couple.They come abd go but badly anyone ever sees them amd no one knows what they do.
-A couple that has loud parties all the time with guests that take an hour to leave once they get outside and start shouting good-bye to each other.
-Someone who doesn't pull the shades.
It is easier to have a longing about a past neighborhood than about a past community,but a community is probably a better unit.A neighborhood is just a group of people who live close together,but a community is a group of people who put aside their own concerns to get some important things done for larger group.
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