Challenge within a challenge: Everybody needs good neighbours

Last year I was walking with a friend and we entered his road a different way to usual and there was a nice old school building which had been converted. My friend had lived on the street for nearly a year and this building was just up the road, yet my friend had never seen it. He's a very busy guy, and mainly used the back door for his house as his car was parked outside the back gate. But it saddened me that he hadn't had the time to walk up and down his street to see what was right by his doorstep. He was like Zoolander, only being able to turn right on catwalks.

I don’t think my friend is alone is this either. If you’re a busy, career orientated commuter, getting from your home to the train station is probably the main route you need to know in daily life.

Back when I was young we knew our next door neighbours quite well, and my parents know of quite a few of the neighbours in their street still.

But when I think of the places I've lived I didn't really know any of my neighbours. Uni halls don’t really count as everybody knew at least one person in each of the halls on campus. Once we were in uni housing, I didn't know my neighbours then, well heard them as they had a habit of watching Home Alone 2 repeatedly at 1am in the morning (I've no idea why.) We did know our neighbours in the supermarket Pak Foods and the Total petrol station opposite, and they gave us free boxes when we were moving out. In my first flat I didn't know any of my neighbours (apart from Ben number 2 which I said about in a previous post.) In my second flat I knew my flatmate, and I knew of our next door neighbour, but never met him through stories my flatmate told, as he had a bit of a reputation for being a ladies man.

I’ve been in my current flat for nearly 3 years now and I know our neighbours in the flat below during the baking exchange. I live on a street where there are lots of shops and have been in a few of them, but I don’t really know much about them or any neighbours that live above shops like I do.

So that’s why for 30 days I'm getting to know my neighbours. And one of the things I've done is on Saturday I delivered close to 40 invites to neighbours on my street inviting them for a drink at the local bar in a week’s time. One person said they couldn't make this drinks but would like to go to another drinks, and another person could make the date I said and thought it was a brilliant idea. Some people may show up and not text beforehand, so I'm looking forward to seeing who shows up.