Carly has always made a lot of effort with neighbours. Well, she has tried to over the years. When she was a student living in Hackney, May and Flo, two sisters-in-law lived next door. They grew bronze-coloured chrysanthemums and said “Shame, shame” a lot to Carly. When she was living in her first property, she became friendly with a woman who lived next door and was then her doula for her two home births. In the house she lived for 20 years she was at war with one neighbour – a grumpy old couple. They had two cars but only he drove. This was so when they did venture out in one of their cars, they could move the other car a few feet and ‘sterilise’ the space so they could always park their two cars outside their house.
But the neighbours on the other side more than made up for it. They were so friendly that they had a door made in the fence so the kids could easily go between the two houses. And then on the other side of these neighbours was another family with kids. But to enter their garden, they had to clamber over the intervening wall. But kids love this sort of thing, so it didn’t stop them hoping over anyway. Carly’s neighbour had a trampoline whilst Carly had an impressive climbing frame and swing set. They even had a zip wire which was tremendous fun until the miserable neighbours found some loophole and made them take it down. Such killjoys.
After Carly had returned from her sabbatical in India, newly divorced, she lived in an Airbnb during the first part of lockdown in Turnpike Lane, London. The neighbours there had a super-cute white kitten. But this was a short six-week stay. Next up was the house in Horsell Road, Highbury, London. It was really near the Arsenal stadium and once the games resumed after lockdown, her road would be lined by swathes of fans in red marching down her road to and from the game. She could hear it so clearly when someone scored a goal. She had two neighbourly friends there, one of whom was Bessie, whom she met when passing her garden and commenting on her flowers. She lived seven doors away. Bessie, an artist, had a long-term partner Reginald and they had some unusual ideas about food and radio waves in the environment. They only bought food from a very limited number of producers, but Carly had several meals there, accompanied on two occasions by her younger two children, Tobes and Boo. Certainly, the conversation was fascinating. And Bessie was able to look after Carly at the actual time her ex-husband got remarried on the 4th September 2022. Carly is forever grateful to her.
Then Carly moved to Walthamstow, aka ‘The Stow’. She was only there for 13 months but met so many friends and neighbours. It was a really delightful time in her life. She didn’t like the Victoria line but discovered the joys of the overground and using innumerable buses. And she made the most of her time by preparing for her move to Israel with her dog Talulah by being organised and disciplined. And Talulah turned from a puppy into an excellent dog who was happy to go on all these aforementioned forms of transport. And up and down escalators.
And off she goes to live in Israel. Talulah in the hold. Carly with all the other passengers. And it all works out. She arrives at her flat a few days later once her shipment paperwork has been cleared at the docks. She has a full container coming with 104 boxes. Six burly Ukrainians come to her place and moan about the narrow state of her road. She is a bit bemused as she gave the haulage company a heads up many months ago. And there are two entrances, but they calm down and dump the said boxes mostly in the right areas of her apartment. She is rather miserable and overwhelmed. The place smells damp. It is really dark. There is no cold water or gas and of course no Wi-Fi yet. But this will be rectified. These men make up her bed and dining room table and off they go. Carly feels exhausted and she hasn’t even started to unpack.
But she decides it is best to go out and discover a bit about the neighbourhood. And not remain depressed in her flat. She needs to sort out a vet for Talulah. But always a coffee first. And there she calms down from the morning’s antics with all the boxes and the men who were nasty and mean and complained about their tip. As she sips her wonderful coffee, she asks about local vets. So off they go. Carly and Talulah. In search of a vet. She needs Talulah to be registered and to show all her vaccine certificates and health checks. She wanders around and eventually finds the vet. They speak English and are very welcoming. In fact, the veterinary assistant, Yala, gets up from desk, walks around it, gets down onto her knees on the floor and then rolls around with Talulah. Carly just cannot believe this country. So many extremes. Carly was miserable in the morning and elated in the afternoon. But it is time to return to said dark and damp apartment. This was probably because it has been vacant for a few months, Carly tries to console herself. Whilst she is emptying the boxes she leaves open her front door and as everyone goes past to enter the lift, she can jump out and say a friendly “Hello”. And Talulah can rush out, wag her tail, and add to the mayhem.
She is not yet friendly with all of them but she is making a concerted effort to do so.
Roy is with Eden, and they have a toddler Itamar. Roy came to Carly’s rescue on the first day and shared the entrance code. Repeatedly, as Carly seemed to have a block with this code. Roy has a motor bike and sometimes her cat Bobbin sits on it. Which isn’t good, as Roy is allergic to cats. But Roy is just far too nice to say anything. She has a fun, secret game with Itamar, which suits them both. She buys small toys and hides them around the hallway. It can be cars or animals or small rubbers. And she hides them all over the show and Itamar has to find them and point them out to one of his parents. Sometimes when he is feeling brave he may re-hide them.
Noa, Pini and their rascal son Raphael live next door. They have keys which is important as Carly was forever going out without hers! And they often feed her cats. Carly has been in their mamad (safe room) during a siren, but Raphael just much prefers to come into Carly’s apartment. He can run up and down the corridor inside her flat whilst being chased by Talulah and everyone is laughing. At any opportunity, if Carly’s door is open, Raphael rushes in. This is much more fun recently since he has learnt to run. Carly made Raphael a Chanukah present last year from fabric she was given from an elderly holocaust survivor who loved textiles. She made him a book with animals and the names written in puff paint. It was his first English cloth-book.
Eran and Dana. They petitioned Carly when she arrived to seldom use her garage door as her previous tenants did, as it is so noisy. She agreed and only uses it rarely – mostly for parties to provide a direct entrance to the attendees into her garden. Eran runs a bar and comes home late, and Dana is a pianist, and Carly adores hearing her practicing and giving lessons.
Ada is a lovely and friendly neighbour. She has an old dog Max and gives Carly an unused curtain with green embroidered bugs on it which Carly has transformed into a challah cover and six napkins.
Yotam and Noa are another couple who spend half the year running their Airbnb business in Costa Rica. Yotam is so very helpful and kind. And Noa crochets, like Carly; so all good.
Eitan is head of the building committee and writes notes quite a lot. And prints them out and puts them on the central door. Probably because he is not on WhatsApp. He, however, does love her cats. There are some other couples in the building who don’t. But they do have a point muses Carly. Her cats would often poop in one of the huge communal plant pots. Even when Eitan put in loads of wooden skewers. The cats would gently and carefully move the sharp sticks apart and still do their business. For an additional flourish, they would ensure that a load of earth was flicked onto the ground too, just so that everyone knew. Carly ended up buying large black river stones which solved the problem. She turned it into a communal event and she was ably assisted by Itamar and Raphael. This is not child labour. They loved it and anyway it was mostly the adults who did the work. And guess what? No more communal cat poop…
Carly has felt so warmly supported, even loved, by all the neighbours she has met. She experiences all the effort she has put into garner friendships and being neighbourly has paid off. She feels satisfied. But hopefully not smug. She cannot abide that!
