Neighbours

I’ve been living on my own since about 1998. On my own in this case means, without my parents.
In that time, which I guess is about 13 years, I’ve had plenty of neighbors. Why am I blogging about neighbors? Because; how well do you know yours?
For the most part, I don’t know mine really well. I never have, but I’ve lived next to a few characters in my life. And I’d like to tell you about them. At least some of them.
My first place was an apartment that I kept with a friend. It was the 18th floor(or at least it felt that way some days) and on the same floor, just a few doors down, was this older Muslim man. He stands out because of the way he presented himself. That’s the best way I can describe it. He had this air of dignity, grace and importance. But not arrogance. He was always kind and smiling and would wave hello at any time. My friend and I commented, on numerous occasions, that we hope we can be that dignified at that age.
The next place was downtown, or really really close to downtown. I shared a townhouse with 2-4 other people. It depended on the situation at the time. While we didn’t have the end unit, we had the driveway. That’s not really important here.
Anyway.
On the one side we had this guy that collected books and whatnot just to sell them again online. I’m not sure if he had a day job, or if this was his day job. He never appeared to be desperate for money, nor able to have any to burn. I had to help him move something once, and entered his place. The other townhouses were split into two apartments. So the one person would have the main level and basement, while the others would have the upper two floors. I’m not sure where this guy slept. The main level was pretty much a library, in the rich house kinda library. Very posh and comfy. The basement, on the other hand, was a book store. It was all shelving and books. Nothing else.
He was a favorite neighbor for the longest time. Again, he was a nice guy that was always willing to chat and help move something.
On the other side of us was a couple with a really nice dog. It was quiet. Really quiet. So quiet that we lived there for a year before knowing they had it. And while we had a shared back yard space, there was never a worry about dog mess. They were also nice and friendly.
From there I moved in with another friend that just bought a house.
On the one side we had a family that ran a day care. Because of that there was a lot of traffic around the times we would be leaving or coming home. But the kids always seemed happy and I guess that’s a good thing. However, we shared a driveway, so there was the occasional basketball bouncing off the cars. He was less than impressed at the best of times.
Other other side was a nice couple with a 6 year old. He was full of questions that you could never seem to be able fully answer.
Nice kid though 🙂
Currently, I have a few neighbors.
The one side has a really loud dog. Two in fact. Mind you, I haven’t heard the little one in some time. Wonder if it’s moved on?
There also appears to be a few generations living under the same roof. They have a two car garage and driveway, but the garage is full and there appears to be 4 cars in the driveway at any given time. It’s a bit of a mad house at times it seems.
On the other side, I just see them coming and going on occasion. But nice people none the less.
The others. Well. Hmmm.
Haven’t really gotten to know most of them. There is this group that lives just a few doors up from us. Their garage is always open, and currently it has a mannequin, in a nighty, and a clone trooper mask.
They kinda scare me.

I wasn’t sure where this was going when I started this post. But it has brought back a lot of memories of the places I used to live and the people I used to live next to. And I realize that, while I didn’t get to know them well, and we never went to parties together or anything, I always knew them, and they knew me.
That, and I didn’t just keep to myself and become that creepy guy down the street.
Not that they knew about anyway 😉

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