I'm the freest person to have as a neighbour because you can never find me crossing my lane, exchanging words, or fighting with neighbours, but at the same time, I'm very open to my neighbours. The fact that I mind my business does not mean that I don't talk with neighbours or relate with them. No, I do that a lot, but I have boundaries regarding the kind of things I involve myself with.
Some months ago, a friend came to my house and saw a series of phone chargers scattered on the floor close to the extension box and, out of curiosity, she asked to know if I owned all of them. I said no, that most of them belonged to my neighbours, and I went on to tell her how I once lost my charger and later found out that one of the neighbours had picked it. After many not-so-loud confrontations, the neighbour sluggishly returned it.
"Ehhhh! And you still allow them to come and charge their phones in your house?" she said in a slightly loud voice, and I smiled.
That's my life. I find it odd to be inconsiderate or not open to people around me. I believe they should have my interest at heart just the same way I have theirs. I believe they should be able to have my back whenever I'm not around and something goes wrong in my house. And oh yes, they've been there for me countless times because I do have people coming to look for me even at midnight, and my neighbours always do the right thing by directing them to me or collecting whatever items the visitors brought and keeping them for me until I return.
Although we don't share "personal" things deeply with each other, anytime I travel home, I always make sure to pack any food item I have at home to share with them. It's not usually much; it could be just a tuber of yam, and it goes a long way in maintaining the neighbourhood bond.
One family in the compound are indigenes of the city, and they have bushes where fishes are reared naturally. As in, they are not the ones who added the fishes; they usually come from the flood, and they harvest the fishes when the bushes covered with water start drying up. Each time they come back, they always give me fish, and I usually enjoy eating the fish from the bush(natural breed) not the ones that are reared in a fishpond.
These little gestures have been fostering the relationship of everyone in the compound, and I know I can travel for a long time and still not feel that anything has gone wrong with my house. In fact, I have two neighbours that drop their house keys with me whenever they're traveling. That's the level of trust we have.
We have never had any issue of quarrelling or fighting, and that's because we are ALL MALES in the compound.
Thanks for reading
This is my entry to Week 179, Edition 01 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community
Image used is mine