I think I mentioned that last year I decided to employ someone to cut my grass. I was sick of doing it myself because while I don't have much land, trying to cut grass on the side of a mountain in searing heat just wasn't my thing, so I called the guy who cuts my hedges and he jumped at the chance. He is pretty reasonably priced and it seems to be working out with him cutting the grass about twice a month - depending on the weather. What a relief that is!
Well the grass was getting a bit long as we had had quite a bit of rain recently so while we were having our neighbourhood clean-up on Sunday I hesitated to cut in front of my house but then thought no, that is what I pay him for. And yay, when I got home Tuesday evening it had been done. It is a lovely garden with a beautiful view so when the grass is cut it is quite stunning. And as an added bonus for my gardener, my neighbours also decided to employ him - I guess things kinda snowball like that don't they.
Anyway, at the top of my garden I have a few raised beds where I have planted what is laughingly called "my veggie plot". I could plant a lot more as I have the room but I honestly don't have the time to take care of any more - maybe when I retire. And next to the raised beds I planted a peach tree, which amazed me by actually producing a few (very small) peaches last year - I had assumed it was too cold, and some red currant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes. Trouble is, between all those bushes the weeds were growing at a rate of knots so I had decided that this Sunday I would get out there and tackle that. Buuuuut, when I got home last night I saw that the weeds had all gone. It was weird because I don't remember my gardener doing it and he normally doesn't but .... As I was stood there pondering, my neighbour tootled over and asked if I would mind if he cut the hazelnut tree back, then the mirabelle plum tree, and how about the honeysuckle and the lilac????? Only he wanted it to be "nice for the wedding" in two weeks!!! Wow, I told him it wasn't necessary but he insisted. The way he put it is, he spends 10 minutes chopping away and the next 30 watching the Tour de France so it is no big deal! I tell you, I have great neighbours (all of them in fact) but I think I am particularly lucky with both sets of immediate neighbours. Of course over the years we have always helped each other out - I was dropping his wife off at the hospital once a month on my way to work for a while - but hearing what some people have to put up with (One Family, One Income I am talking to you), I really appreciate having such nice people around, all the more so as I live on my own now.
Oh, and off on a totally different tangent, this morning I thought I should start getting my backside into gear and get back to walking more, even if it is otherwise too hot to exercise. So I caught the express bus which dropped me at the train station in 20 minutes and hopped off to walk the last 30 minutes to work. The hotels around the train station are particularly popular with Japanese tourists for obvious reasons and traffic being heavy around there, when you want to cross the roads you really can't nip over between traffic - you have to wait for the "little green man". So a whole bunch of people were standing waiting for the lights to change when I spotted two (Japanese?) women standing partially on the road waiting to cross but totally absorbed in their phones. After a couple of minutes the "little green man" appeared and everyone scooted over to the other side. While I was crossing I watched the women tapping away on their phones and continuing to do so for the minute or so that we had to cross. By the time they had looked up the lights had changed back to red and they were stuck there again. A younger woman just looked at me and laughed saying "now that was surreal", and yes indeed it was!
What great neighbors! I'm reading thinking why can't we have that, haha and then you go and mention me. LOL. At least we really like our neighbors across the field. The one's next to them are super quiet and hardly ever see or hear them. The lady behind us in the alley has been gone for over 2 weeks now....so we have been whooping it up in the alley! hahaha! (ok, we've only been out in the alley once, lately)
ReplyDeleteWell you have to admit, your past and present neighbours really do take the biscuit don't they!
ReplyDeleteI am fortunate enough to have very nice neighbors also. Not only do we do the occasional things for one another, but we also watch each others property while anyone is out of town. Its a mutually beneficial thing that works well.
ReplyDeleteWe have mostly good neighbors now-pretty much always have. One is not particularly friendly, but nothing wrong with keeping to ones self, and a few are new so don't know them much. It would not be fun to live otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI think there are about 25 houses in our little neighbourhood and while there have been tensions on occasion we have never been involved. And yes everyone has the right to keep themselves to themselves, but as you can probably tell from my post about cleaning up our neighbourhood, we tend to be a pretty friendly bunch, and like I said, my immediate neighbours in particular are great, which is just as well. You could live in absolute paradise but bad neighbours can make our life hell.
ReplyDeleteOf all the tourists in Greece I saw several Japanese ones nearly get mowed down by buses/taxis on our trip. Almost totally oblivious to the outside world...perhaps Japan is so safe that that would never happen?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking how sad it was that they were in such a beautiful city and all they looked at were their phones. And don't even get me started on those that feel the need to talk constantly on their phones round town/on the bus/in a restaurant, etc. I honestly can't think of anyone I would want to be in touch with 24/7!
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