The alarm thread inspired me to wonder what kinds of things you've done to help out forgetful neighbors.
For example, I've shut the hatchback on a neighbor's car that was open when we went to the pub and still open 1.5 hrs later on our way back. I've knocked on house doors to let them know their car lights are on long after they get home.
Once I had to repeatedly pester a neighbor to get him his dog back after it escaped his back yard (he was watching TV and apparently thought he had a particularly persistent solicitor. He was happy to get his dog back, though.)
I've been the forgetful neighbor in both of those circumstances. Let the dog out and then had to run inside for something and he went for a walkabout. And left my hatchback open more than once.
Post by litebright on Aug 21, 2019 18:15:15 GMT -5
In terms of unsolicited, we found a neighbor's pool floats on a fence across the street after a really bad storm, and we took them down, threw away the one that had been ripped to bits and returned the other.
In the aftermath of the same storm, I contacted a neighbor who was out of town (we were watching their betta fish at our house) and volunteered to go down to their house and check things out to make sure there weren't any issues -- it was a really bad storm and a number of trees came down in the neighborhood, and power was out for more than 48 hours. Luckily, they had left us a key. I ended up going over to their house several times to check their sump pump water levels, send them pictures as it rose and actually ended up working with another neighbor to drag their generator out and get it running to power their sump so their house wouldn't flood.
ETA: Oh, and I have also stopped for a couple of dogs running loose in the neighborhood next to ours, followed them back to the yard they had gotten out of and shut the open gate.
Post by Velar Fricative on Aug 21, 2019 18:39:38 GMT -5
Sometimes sanitation leaves garbage bins or lids in the street and if we are out, we will bring our neighbors’ stuff back to their house or at least to the curb if we are in a hurry. Beyond that, nothing stands out aside from getting stuff from our yard when the neighbor kids knock on our door and tell us their ball got into our yard accidentally.
One neighbor did help us out mightily. DH was working out in the yard and I left the house for a bit. Before I left, I called out from the house to tell him I was leaving and when I closed the patio door, I locked it from the inside out of habit. By the time he wanted to come back in, I was driving wherever and didn’t get his texts or calls that he was locked out of the house because we are in a rowhouse and so there was no other way back in the house for him. Luckily as he realized this, our next door neighbor was outside in her yard and she told him to climb over into her yard and go through her house to get to our front door, which was luckily unlocked.
I noticed our neighbors kids van door was open in their driveway. I was pretty sure they were at their lake house, so I rang the doorbell and then called their cell to ask if anyone was home. Sometimes they have house/dog sitters so I didn’t want to be creepy.
I happened to take a mid week vacation day earlier this summer. As we were leaving the house, I noticed our elderly neighbor lady was sitting in her landscape. We turned around and went to say hi/see if she needed help. She had fallen and couldn’t get up (and her husband couldn’t hear her yelling... nor could he had gotten her up himself).
Well, DH helped catch a loose dog a couple of weeks ago and got bitten, so that's probably the nicest thing he's done since he still managed to hold onto the dog and get it back to its owner. The lady had just moved here and was out of town during all of that, so it was very stressful for her.
We both help with loose dogs any time we see one. That's probably the main thing.
-Returning garbage cans after a wind storm. -Letting a neighbor know their car window was left down when there was an increase in car related thefts. -Letting someone know the lights were left on. -Letting someone know their car door was left open.
Nothing too much. I haven't lived in a neighborhood yet where there was much of a community feeling. It's been an "everyone for themselves" kind of feeling, and I didn't know 2/3 neighbors in my townhouses (not for lack of trying).
Sometimes my H will edge the neighbors yard while he does ours because he’s already out there and it takes like 5 extra minutes. ETA: Same neighbor has helped us carry in large/heavy items from the car after H had surgery.
When we lived in a snowy area we would regularly shovel our neighbors’ walks. A few times we’ve seen neighbors’ keys left in the community mailboxes and have returned them.
Post by One Girl In All The World on Aug 21, 2019 19:59:39 GMT -5
Across the street from us was an old lady, and at some point her young (college-aged) granddaughter moved in. We weren't sure what the grandmother's status was, but I suspect she had either died or moved to a care facility prior to this particular incident and we didn't know. Granddaughter had a young bloodhound that was completely untrained and was a total escape artist, and she or her BF (we think) had caught him many times before when he'd gotten loose. One day, he got loose and no one was around to catch him. My husband, at my urging, took our leash and tied him up to their porch (because he was darting across our street and would have ended up getting hit by a car). Tried knocking to see if the older woman was home, but no answer. Called non-emergency trying to reach animal control (it was a weekend and no one answered their designated number). Eventually, a police officer showed up, and since we weren't sure about the status of the woman who had lived there, ended up slipping in through an open window, opening the door, and helping H secure the dog in a bathroom until the girl got home. We left a note because it was so bizarre. She told me later that the dog had slipped out through an UPSTAIRS window and jumped out to break out of the house in the first place.
I once rigged up a crazy garbage bags + duct tape + empty cat litter container full of water (for weight) situation to keep snow out of a neighbor's car parked with the driver's window all the way down during a blizzard. We didn't know exactly whose car it was so we couldn't just contact them.
There is an older woman who lives alone across the street who repeatedly leaves her big garage door wide open. My H has shut it for her more times than we can count.
We had a problem with mail theft a while back so now my sister, who happens to own the house next door, and I get each other’s mail every day depending who gets home first.
I once locked myself out of the house in pjs and a robe in the dead of winter, without a phone, and had to knock next door to use the phone and wait for H to get home.
My next door neighbor is an older woman, and i have helped her take her garbage cans to the end of the driveway when i see her struggling to do it. She also leaves her trunk open a lot, so i close it when i see it.
One of my neighbors dogs has gotten out a few times and when i can, ive dragged him back to their house (once their door was unlocked so i just opened it and let him in, when i saw my neighbor later that day he had no idea he had gotten out).
Im not even so neighborly (i dont particularly like either of these people), but i try to not be an asshole.
I once called my (very old) neighbor's son at midnight because I was certain that she had gone away for the weekend (I was right) but I could see a candle burning on her kitchen table.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Post by suburbanzookeeper on Aug 21, 2019 21:10:17 GMT -5
Our street (a cul-de-sac) is obnoxiously close, we have our a private Facebook group and are always helping/loaning/assisting each other. I've helped our next door neighbor stabilize her dog as he was bloating and helped her get transferred to the emergency vet. We house sit for each other. We get messages if there's a strange car parked in a driveway or something looks out of place. When we had the wildfire last year our neighbors were working together to get people packed, I loaned out dog crates, I helped people document their homes before we were evacuated, etc. The running joke is no one on the street can have an affair because the neighbors will figure it out long before the spouse does.
... When we lived in a snowy area we would regularly shovel our neighbors’ walks. A few times we’ve seen neighbors’ keys left in the community mailboxes and have returned them.
Our first neighbors in this house would always shovel our walk before we were even out of bed. He said he liked the exercise. Amazing! Even though we tried I never felt like we adequately paid him back for all that work.
Post by mrsukyankee on Aug 22, 2019 1:37:30 GMT -5
We're usually the ones that get help (my MIL needs it when we're on holiday), but we have let one neighbour know when her fences blew down (she lives only part-time in London). We do let our neighbour across the road, who owns an MOT station, to park cars in our drive during the one hour that our street has restricted parking (as he can't get them all in his garage & still do work).
We coaxed the neighbour's (indoor) cat from under our car one morning and rang her door, she hadn't noticed he snuck out and the poor thing was terrified.
There are a few cats that come into our garden often, not sure where they live exactly, but one of them is really adventurous and somehow ended up stuck on our 1st floor terrace last week. H ended up having to grab him and carry him downstairs through the house to let him back out at garden level.
We shovel/salt the street in front of our neighbours too as they are elderly.
Solicited: we helped our neighbour climb over our bedroom terrace wall so she could let herself in from her terrace when she was locked out once.
We've had neighbours ring the door to tell us we'd left the car lights on, or didn't close the car window a couple of times.
The best/worst one was when my super security minded H left the keys in the door of the house and a passerby rang the door to tell us.
Post by klingklang77 on Aug 22, 2019 4:05:44 GMT -5
I have to admit that I don’t really help my neighbors too much. There is one old lady next door that I have helped with opening her gate, but she wanted to do it herself. The people across the street wouldn’t let me look in their yard for my cat when he was missing, so I’ve written them off.
I live in a house with three apartments. Downstairs my landlord lives and she is completely crazy. I’m actually about to get in a legal battle with her soon. She will come up with any excuse to get me out of my apartment. This all started when I separated from my exH. Apparently, I can’t support myself without a man, even though I pay the rent on time each and every month. She’ll use things that happened once and exaggerate them. For example, I came home drunk one time from Oktoberfest (I’m in Munich) and suddenly I am a danger to her children. I didn’t even do anything. I just walked funny. Another example is that I am a problem because I now have a boyfriend. She has said that he can’t stay over. The one above me, we help each other out. That’s probably the neighbour I get along with the most.
The neighbour situation is completely different in Germany I guess.
We snowblow for our neighbors quite often. They don't have a snow blower and it is easy for us to just go over their little bit of sidewalk and driveway.
We haven't really had to do anything for our neighbors. Our neighbors have returned things that blew into their yard. One neighbor helped us get our pool cover on, when it was obvious we were struggling, lol.
Dog assist Outside light bulb replacement assist Tangled flag assist Bring up newspapers and trash cans
Those are all I can think of as unsolicited.
We do a lot of solicited for the neighbor across the street because they’re elderly and her husband has ALS. We’ve helped them with the smoke detector, helping husband after he’s fallen and she can’t get him up, moving large objects and whatnot.
Our neighbors have let our dog in and out when I worked on occasion. Happily offer to do tractor work for us when we've needed it. Snow plowed our driveway.
We provide a lot of produce and eggs. I gave some benadryl to a neighbor yesterday when I saw on Facebook she was out and needing it.
I love where I live. It's rural, but in a neighborhood. We had a major snowstorm this winter and it just felt like everybody was looking out for each other in a way I've never experienced in town.
We all look out for each other. We bring in packages, update about construction work, coordinate backyard projects, grab each other’s mail while out of town, share info about the street, etc. One called my husband while we were at work because our alarm was going off.
We live in a row home in the city. We’re very neighborhoody and our properties all connect so some of it necessary and some of it is just kindness. I regularly sit outside on our steps and chat with everyone who walks by.
Across the street from us was an old lady, and at some point her young (college-aged) granddaughter moved in. We weren't sure what the grandmother's status was, but I suspect she had either died or moved to a care facility prior to this particular incident and we didn't know. Granddaughter had a young bloodhound that was completely untrained and was a total escape artist, and she or her BF (we think) had caught him many times before when he'd gotten loose. One day, he got loose and no one was around to catch him. My husband, at my urging, took our leash and tied him up to their porch (because he was darting across our street and would have ended up getting hit by a car). Tried knocking to see if the older woman was home, but no answer. Called non-emergency trying to reach animal control (it was a weekend and no one answered their designated number). Eventually, a police officer showed up, and since we weren't sure about the status of the woman who had lived there, ended up slipping in through an open window, opening the door, and helping H secure the dog in a bathroom until the girl got home. We left a note because it was so bizarre. She told me later that the dog had slipped out through an UPSTAIRS window and jumped out to break out of the house in the first place.
This reminds me of the time in our old neighborhood in CO when we were walking our dogs and came across two dogs who were outside on a section of ROOF above the house's garage. The second-floor window looked out on that small section of roof -- it was maybe four feet wide and 20-some feet long, and sloped. The window screen had been pushed out -- probably because they had been pushing on it while barking at passing dogs -- and they were both on the roof, barking at us. I was afraid they might try to jump down, but they didn't. It was a weird sight, for sure.
The owners weren't home and we didn't know them, but I think one of the other neighbors who did ended up helping get the dogs off the roof and back inside.