When we moved into our new neighborhood, we got lots of "looks." After a few weeks, it became clear that our habit (learned from our time in an urban environment) was to keep our garage door closed. In our new rural setting, that was akin to saying we were not open to hanging with our new neighbors.
Which, of course, was further from the truth than even the President can achieve on his worst days.
We are, by nature and habit, back porch people...and we are out there all the time, inviting neighbors over whenever we see them. But, that's just not the culture here. These are garage partiers. But, our garage is a disaster.
A recent article on Curbed brought it home to me. So, we'll attempt to clean the garage and open the door more often. But, really...
Come around back. It's much nicer.
Mostly, we've found it is the younger (in their mid to late twenties) neighbors who virtually close up their houses (both front and garage doors are always closed) as if they never want to be bothered. And they don't hang out on their own decks or patios either. Honestly, it's kinda weird. We tend to wave or nod to those who are outside when we bike or walk around our neighborhood. Most people strolling the sidewalks are respectful (thankfully so) and just wave and keep going. Full disclosure: We are also backyard, deck people, but we do leave the garage door up so people know we are home. C'mon Bill, you can do this:)
Posted by: Lee T | June 29, 2020 at 14:09