Friends from England who come over to us every year always comment about how we here in Inishowen still retain the community spirit. Our friends find that in some areas where they live, people don’t even meet the neighbours, let alone had a conversation with them. They just put their heads down and get on with their daily duties. It is amazing how you can live in an area with half a million other people, such as a small city and have no contact with anyone, but it happens.
Sometimes you can get too familiar with neighbours though. One time when I was living in England I had a knock on the door from a next door neighbour whose wife had been in hospital for three weeks, unfortunately to have her left leg amputated. My neighbour asked me if his wife could use my washing line as she had a lot of washing to catch up on now that she was out of hospital. I said yes of course but I did feel sorry for the fact that the husband couldn’t switch on the washing machine, and for his wife of course, who had to balance on her remaining let to pin the washing out!
KEEPING IN TOUCH
You can still be in touch with your neighbours though and never meet them, with a new idea from a bloke in Dublin, who sees people as being too busy for one to one communication. Ciaran Killalea has set up a website called neighbours.ie which is designed to help residents in new housing estates to get to know one another. Householders can share their gripes, experiences and local knowledge, and even get things done when management companies, developers and local authorities have failed them. The website has been up and running since March. It has 1,200 members already and is steadily growing. Killalea hopes membership could be as high as 100,000 in a couple of years. As well as neighbourliness and banter, the site has a more serious side. In addition to the public areas, there are also private areas in each forum that can be viewed only by proven residents of a scheme. This sounds like a virtual garden fence for gossiping over, but Killalea says residents’ associations can hold meetings in the private areas.
In the future, he hopes the site will be used by prospective buyers, who will be able to investigate neighbourhoods and the people who live there. People will be able to vet an area before moving in. A west-Dublin scheme that will comprise some 10,000 homes when completed has already got 170 members to their group, even before the houses are finished. Buyers yet to move in are already discussing the shape of their new neighbourhood, venting their concerns about completion dates and forming online relationships with their future neighbours. It all sounds very high tech but it could be an ideal solution for people with busy lives who sadly haven’t the time to talk, (although if they spent less time on the computer maybe they would)!
Environmental.
Sometimes you can get too familiar with neighbours though. One time when I was living in England I had a knock on the door from a next door neighbour whose wife had been in hospital for three weeks, unfortunately to have her left leg amputated. My neighbour asked me if his wife could use my washing line as she had a lot of washing to catch up on now that she was out of hospital. I said yes of course but I did feel sorry for the fact that the husband couldn’t switch on the washing machine, and for his wife of course, who had to balance on her remaining let to pin the washing out!
KEEPING IN TOUCH
You can still be in touch with your neighbours though and never meet them, with a new idea from a bloke in Dublin, who sees people as being too busy for one to one communication. Ciaran Killalea has set up a website called neighbours.ie which is designed to help residents in new housing estates to get to know one another. Householders can share their gripes, experiences and local knowledge, and even get things done when management companies, developers and local authorities have failed them. The website has been up and running since March. It has 1,200 members already and is steadily growing. Killalea hopes membership could be as high as 100,000 in a couple of years. As well as neighbourliness and banter, the site has a more serious side. In addition to the public areas, there are also private areas in each forum that can be viewed only by proven residents of a scheme. This sounds like a virtual garden fence for gossiping over, but Killalea says residents’ associations can hold meetings in the private areas.
In the future, he hopes the site will be used by prospective buyers, who will be able to investigate neighbourhoods and the people who live there. People will be able to vet an area before moving in. A west-Dublin scheme that will comprise some 10,000 homes when completed has already got 170 members to their group, even before the houses are finished. Buyers yet to move in are already discussing the shape of their new neighbourhood, venting their concerns about completion dates and forming online relationships with their future neighbours. It all sounds very high tech but it could be an ideal solution for people with busy lives who sadly haven’t the time to talk, (although if they spent less time on the computer maybe they would)!
Environmental.
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