Sidewalks
- wadE
Ok, first things first, pardon the blatant adverstising, but go read
this...
You back? Good.
So like I was saying, Wade's gambit from
yesterday
got me thinking.
So, what can you do when you live in a neighborhood without sidewalks?
At our current place, we didn't start to meet our neighbors until we got a dog. That doesn't
mean you need to go out and buy a dog, but chasing your dog down in your neighbors yard is a good
icebreaker to say "hi, sorry about running into your yard, but my dog saw a squirrel and went nuts...
by the way, I don't think we've actually met..."
You can also go for walks, even if you have to be in the street. The only good thing about living
in suburban neighborhoods on dead ends (I refuse to call them cul de sacs, using French makes them
sound like a good thing) is that traffic shouldn't be so bad that you can't walk in the street safely.
Even in our current place we walk in the street, even though one of the streets is busy during rush
hour because it's become a cut through for people to avoid traffic on Shady Oak Road (bastards! Slow
Down!). Anyway, go for walks, say "hi" to people you see. Here in MN you should definitely see
other people outside. When we have 70 degree weather in April, just about everybody gets outside
to enjoy that.
If all else fails, do the very non-Minnesota thing and walk over and knock on the door. While
people tend to be very private, more often than not if you make that first step you'll get a warm
Minnesota Nice welcome, and I mean that in a good way.
Earlier this week Chelle, Luna, and I were at the new house checking stuff out when a kid came out
of the back door at the house next door. Luna ran over to investigate and we met one of our new
neighbors, Connor. We then met his sister Holly, and her parents Mark and Becky. Really friendly
people. Thanks Luna!
Anyway, if you want to get the low down on the neighbors before actually walking up and knocking,
you can always find out their names
here.
Don't think of it as snooping, think of it as doing your homework!
;-)
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
