Thankful Thursday: Neighbours - Again

I woke and rose around 0630 this morning.  It was still dark.  Sunrise today was at 0808.  Not that anyone on Lewis would have known that because it was an almost dark 8℃ with a Northerly force 6 blowing.  I'd forgotten what getting up every morning in the dark was like.  When I lived through permanent Lewis winters the dark didn't really worry me.  In summer with it's 24 hour light one does summer things and in the depths of winter with it's 6 hours of light (if you were lucky) then one hunkers down and does winter things.  I sometimes use the fact that I don't have that hunkering down time now as an excuse for not doing so many of the jobs I want to do such as sorting out my thousands of non-digital photos.

This morning after I got up I sat with the computer reading blogs, writing some emails and generally forgetting all about time.  I had nothing planned for the day and I certainly will not be venturing into the garden.  So in the kitchen I sat with my hot waters and lemon until rather disgracefully late and, still in my dressing gown (it's just too temptingly warm on these cold mornings), I went and had a shower.

As I stepped out - about 10 am - the phone rang.  It was my next door neighbour.  "Are you OK?"  "Er, yes." "Your blinds in the living room and bedroom are still closed and I've been really concerned because you are never in bed at this hour of the morning."

I hadn't visited that side of the house since I'd got out of bed.

I've mentioned before on Thankful Thursday - many times I'm sure - what wonderful friends and neighbours I have.

So this morning I am repeating how very very thankful I am for such wonderful friends and neighbours who make sure that everything is well in my world.  I am an extremely fortunate fellow.

Thankful Thursday: Neighbours

I have many times in blogs and so on mentioned how wonderful it is to have good neighbours.  Well I'm lucky because I don't just have good neighbours, I have wonderful neighbours.  So what's brought this to mind in particular?  Quite a few things really.  Pat and Dave, friends who do so much for me, are neighbours albeit they are first and foremost friends. I could not wish for better and the list of their goodnesses is too long to catalogue.

My immediate neighbours are also friends and true Christians.  I say that because aside from professing their devout beliefs their actions demonstrate those beliefs.  

A few tangible examples.  During last winter when I was away and Lewis experienced much colder weather than is normal (it rarely goes below freezing at my house on the coast but last winter it managed nearly -10℃ (14℉)).  My outside tap connection burst.  My neighbour put a temporary sealing cap on it despite being unable to find the stop tap and turn off the water whilst he worked on it!  He then proceeded later to put new piping in.  That's just one of many kindnesses I've experienced.

In fact another neighbour several years ago saw that one of the windows in my garage had been broken in a severe gale (presumably something was blown into it) and came out in the gale and put a temporary boarding over the window.  I came home and decided that it was much safer with the new arrangement and it's still like that!

I could go on but I just wanted everyone to know how thankful I am for my neighbours.  I could not have better.

Good Neighbours

I mentioned a few posts ago how moved I was by the kindness of neighbours.  Now I may be lucky because I have absolutely wonderful neighbours.  Let’s face it not many people, never mind people to whom one is not related, would just hand you their car keys and say “I won’t be using it tomorrow.  Just borrow it whilst your car is having its tank drained.”  Well two of mine did just that.  I go away for six months of the year to my ‘other life’ in New Zealand and the house is looked after.  Spesh opens my mail, throws away the dross, emails me the important things, files everything and is more efficient than I am myself at looking after my affairs.  These are just a few of the things that make me realise how lucky I am and how wonderful people can be.  I could go on and on but I think I’ve made the point.

With such neighbourliness comes care.  My neighbours care about and for me and I care about them.

I was reminded yesterday when thinking about neighbours of the way in which Blogland has become a real place to me.  Leastways that small township (to use a Lewis analogy) in which I live and of which I am a part.  Katherine went away for the weekend without telling us and seems to have left a few worried souls back home.  Those of us who know Adrian felt his loss recently.  Those of us who know Deedee felt for her when she had difficulties in her job (ages ago it seems) and worried when she went ‘missing’ recently.  L’Archiduchesse has disappeared again and those of us who follow her are, I know, concerned.  

There is, however, a subtle difference.  In Eagleton if my neighbours (metaphorically because no one actually has milk delivered in the township so far as I know) left the milk on the doorstep for a day someone would pop in and find out why.  It would be expected.  When one of our Blogland neighbours leaves the milk out I, for one, had a reluctance to ask why they have not taken it in.  I‘ve overcome that now.  After all we are all real people behind our words and photos and we wouldn’t be blogging if we didn’t want our neighbours to take part in our lives.  Would we?