Love thy neighbour

[paint it black]

Or not

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7384760.stm

Depressing isn’t it, or not?

...and why is it okay to say 'hi' when you're walking in the hills

[Quiff Boy]

a nodder, definitely. and maybe a smiler, depending on who it is...

[christophe]

a nodder, definitely. and maybe a smiler, depending on who it is...

you are the guy living next door to me?

[streamline]

I'm a noddy smiley type person.
If I'm in a good mood and not in a rush!

I have some neighbours I will stop and chat to, and some that I ignore!

[itnAklipse]

For better or worse, there is no need for such community-mindedness anymore, because of ... you guessed it, globalism.

i'd prefer it if there were, but as much as i dislike people now, i kinda prefer factory-line megamarkets and high fences to personal service and knowing the people living around me.

Were i living in more civilized time, like 1500 years ago, i know i'd feel different. Maybe in some select places in the world even in 19th century.

It's sad, but one has to take care of one's own life these days.

My vote went for what are you staring at, but it's not exactly true...in the house right next to ours lives an old couple who are really very decent and kind and i do greet them accordingly. The man even brings falsely delivered mail straight to our front door instead of just leaving it in the mailbox for it to rot there over the weekend.

[psichonaut]

generally i greet my neighbours in this way:"good morning....go and f**k yourself!"

[Bartek]

bollocks !
i greet only 2 person in my block of flats.
edit:

I am the strange and unfriendly neighbour.

guess that's about me

[Hexe Luciferia]

I belong to the "nodder type" for sure. I could go as far as to ask "how are you?" if I'm not rushing somewhere.

[Little_Sister]

I always say it should be "hate thy neighbour".....
i just got really strange and unfriendly neighbours when i was younger I even greeted them (eventhough I didn´t like them) and THEY DIDN`T GREET BACK... I think it´s ok to walk past in silence but not to greet someone back is just super unfriendly...
so what are you staring at

[smiscandlon]

I always say it should be "hate thy neighbour".....
i just got really strange and unfriendly neighbours when i was younger I even greeted them (eventhough I didn´t like them) and THEY DIDN`T GREET BACK... I think it´s ok to walk past in silence but not to greet someone back is just super unfriendly...
so what are you staring at

I am the strange and unfriendly neighbour.

[Pursued By Trees]

I'm friendly with one of the ones over the road (I live on a corner) but the guy next door is an arse who had a tendency to leave the gate to the rear access open so that he didn't have to get off his motorbike to open it ... reckon I've cured him of that one now ... still an arse though.

[boudicca]

...and why is it okay to say 'hi' when you're walking in the hills

I really like that. Maybe it's something to do with, you're in a less hospitable environment (well, debatable), so you have to band together with any other human being you see. Survival and all that, ask Ray Mears (or my dad), they know.
It's the same on canals as well.

[EvilBastard]

I live in a co-op building so we all own a bit of it - you'd think that would lead to more neighbourliness but it doesn't. I say hello to anyone I run into in the list, but there isn't any popping round to borrow a cup of sugar. I only know 3 people in the building by name (and one of those is a psychotic old woman that I do my best to avoid), and would recognise 4 more, but the people in the other 18 apartments I do have any dealings with. Which is a shame, because there's a seriously cute indian girl who lives in the apartment below mine and I wouldn't mind getting into her nickers.

[Brideoffrankenstein]

I'm a nodder, and would only indulge in such conversation as "Have you seen they haven't taken the bins this week?"and that's if they ask me first! (I live in a big converted house with five flats in). Past that I really couldn't give a f**k really. The woman upstairs pisses me off on a fairly regular basis and all my conversations with her have ended with me going "Really?" or "Right!" and closing the door in a brisk manner. Bloody woman!

[EvilBastard]

...and why is it okay to say 'hi' when you're walking in the hills

I really like that. Maybe it's something to do with, you're in a less hospitable environment (well, debatable), so you have to band together with any other human being you see. Survival and all that, ask Ray Mears (or my dad), they know.
It's the same on canals as well.

I think it's ok to do it because it's clear that there's a shared interest there - also, it would be a bit rude to walk past someone on a trail and not say hello. It happens on dive-sites as well.

What is comforting is that despite all the glood-and-doom merchants who propecied the demise of society as a result of the internet, social networking sites are some of the most popular sites on line. Whether it's just a forum like this one, chat engines like Yahoo, social and professional sites like MySpace and LinkedIn, or websites that promote physical social interaction like Meetup, the more technology we have access to the more we crave interaction with like-minded people. 300 years ago you knew the people in your village, or in the neighbouring streets. With the industrial revolution and the urbanisation of society, your group expanded to include people you worked with. Only with the advent of the telephone did our ability to expand our social networks to people in other cities and [gasp] countries really take off, and even then that was largely limited to people you already knew or worked with. Only in the last 50 years or so, with increased social mobility, inexpensive travel, and the invention of the interweb, have we been able to truly expand our networks.

And because these relationships generally start in a faceless fashion, ugly people like me get to have dinner with attractive members of this board who likely would cross the street to avoid me were it not for a mutual interest in curry and The Sisters

[mh]

I'm a "top o' de maaarnin'" person, I'll say "hello" to anyone (or more normally, a bright and breezy "hi there!"), and depending on whether or not they're in a rush (or I'm in one) I'll even stop and talk for a minute or two.

[Obviousman]

I just nod and say hello to a couple of them. But I wouldn't go for a real chat, have to be careful as some of them neighbours would

[Pista]

I always say hello, well rather, jo napot (good day) or jo reggelt (good morning) or jo estet (good evening).
If I said "top of the morning" I don't think they'd understand me TBH.

I'm like Michael really. I'll talk to just about anyone & the amount of people that I simply don't know by name that say hello to me is a bit overwhelming.
BTW Michael. Isn't that Shakin' Stevens in your avatar?

[timsinister]

I live in LS6. I don't trust 'em with my keys, they don't trust me with their knives and drugs.

[mh]

BTW Michael. Isn't that Shakin' Stevens in your avatar?

Whatever gave you that idea, Steve?

[christophe]

where I live now, I nod to most of the people.
I have been told I have a girl my age living next to me but I haven't seen her yet (I only live here for 7 years ) but they are the kind of people that open their garage with a remote drive inside and never go outside without the car

where I am moving to I have this sweet women living next to me she comes and say hi allmost every day.
the people on the other side... I heard they are going to have a baby one of the following days, somebody els told me

[Pista]

BTW Michael. Isn't that Shakin' Stevens in your avatar?

Whatever gave you that idea, Steve?

I see what you did there

[mh]

BTW Michael. Isn't that Shakin' Stevens in your avatar?

Whatever gave you that idea, Steve?

I see what you did there

He's great, isn't he. I have all his records.

[smiscandlon]

I live in LS6. I don't trust 'em with my keys, they don't trust me with their knives and drugs.

Welcome to G51. Most of my neighbours over the years have been junkie scum who I wouldn't p*ss on if they were on fire.

[Pista]

He's great, isn't he. I have all his records.

He's headlining Glasto this year too!