By John Moore, Columnist
Many of us are truly fortunate to be living in areas surrounded by wonderful neighbors. In our case my family has lived in the same neighborhood for 31 years. We are one of the now more senior residents and over the years have enjoyed our neighborhood immensely. One of the many attributes of our neighborhood has been the annual street party which brings the neighborhood together every September for a BBQ , various games, bouncy castles, and later an adult party, which goes into the wee hours of the morning . Music is live and supplied by the neighborhood legend Craig Martin. Still, after living in the area for all these years I recently discovered there are still neighbors I don’t know particularly well.
I recently received some mail addressed to my neighbor up the street. One afternoon, I decided to deliver it, and I was asked to come in and have a visit. The husband has had some mobility issues and loves to have company. I had a dilemma as I was due to meet a couple of buddies down the road for coffee at Tim’s . It turns out my neighbor knew one of my buddies, he went to school with him years ago in Moncton. Upon telling my buddy this he said let’s go up and say hello. We did and it turned out to be a delightful visit. I learned more about my neighbor on that afternoon than all the years I had lived there. It made me realize you must reach out to your neighbors to get to know and appreciate them. This applies not only if you live in a house but in an apartment as well. Apartments can be more challenging to get to know your neighbors but often apartment buildings are built in communities, but you still must reach out .
Recently another buddy and I decided to go for a bike ride. We first thought of Chester and the rails to trails but due to the recent floods we thought it may not be a good idea. We decided to head out to Timberlea and the rails to trails section by the coke plant. We were chatting away and before we knew it, we missed the turn off. We came across Fraser Lake Estates and so we decided to check that out. We were much impressed with the main entrance way and stopped at the end of it where it was blocked off. We mused how close it was to the new proposed urban nation park and what a grand entrance this would make. After some touring, I suggested we drop in to visit my friends living on Fraser’s Lake whose neighborhood was recently impacted by the floods.
Upon arriving, I noticed a trailer beside their property hooked up to their power grid. I knocked on the door and two children came to the door. They told me my friends were grocery shopping . In speaking with my friends afterwards it turns out their neighborhood was heavily impacted by the floods, but they were fortunate to be less so. They quickly went to their other neighbors and provided help including their home for the neighbors’ children and a place to host meals. Despite this adversity they were thoroughly enjoying helping their neighbors and getting to know them even better. This is our humanity at its best. Neighborhoods will always be with us because there will always be great people to inhabit them. Meanwhile my buddy and I never did go for that bike ride. Instead, we went to the Lower Deck in Clayton Park and had lunch. That’ll be for another day. Happy August!
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