The Neighbour

Of all the people in the street we grew up in – we stayed the longest. We moved in in 1983 and my parents moved to another house in the same town in 1997 or 8. Eventually all the neighbours had nicknames given by my mother. It was at the time when M-net started and whatever she would associate the people with she would add a –net at the end.

The lady across the road was loer-net, she peeped allot and we had a joke about her curtain having a permanent wrinkle. Whenever a car stopped in front of our yard or anybody else’s you could be sure that the curtain would move. Boy she was up to date on everything that happened in the neighborhood. It was also her daughter who fell pregnant on the first date after calling my sister and I “loose” for having so many friends over after turning 16 and she was only allowed to date when she turned 18. Today she is married to one of my old boyfriends…mmmm lets not go there that’s a whole new blog.

The woman in the house next to her was koekkie-net. She baked biscuits and sent her children selling it all around the neighborhood. I can remember the cake fumes that came from her house - I can still smell it.

The woman next to us on the right had 3 children and a fourth was on the way. She was st**k net – yes it was funny in those days. (I hear she has five now and is living in Vierfontein).

I remember many neighbors from my childhood. The ones that was barely scraping by and other ones that had a good life. They were never too tired to lift a hand or shout a quick hallo. There was a time when we all knew our neighbors and they would welcome you with a cup of coffee any day.

I’m not sure what the old lady’s name is that lives next to me. The other day I was at work, it started to rain and all I could think of was my washing on the line. She took it off the line and put it neatly behind my back door.

I gave her a thank you note with some chocolates.

We still have good neighbors.