I was in London today, talking to two groups of people about neighbouring, trying to surface stories and engage interest. This afternoon I spent a good while talking to an older lady who has lived in the same house since 1957. Her memories of traders, customers and places where she had worked behind the counter or as a cleaner were vivid. Neighbourliness was simply based around her connections as a mother through her children and daily errands.
It was clear that there were plenty of people who she knew enough about to dislike and distrust thoroughly. Nowadays the assumption is that if residents 'know' a high proportion of others in their neighbourhood then everybody is probably getting on well together. This received wisdom is weakened by this lady's account: she was still spitting distaste for quite a few folk not seen for forty years and was ready to detail precisely why.
She felt neighbouring now was no different really, except that for her personally she knew fewer people, she couldn't keep track of the coming and going. When I asked what she thought it had been like for older people forty years ago, were they at risk of being isolated or did neighbours look out for them? she said they all had 'home helps' and meals on wheels, that's what was different. So maybe the state was bigger then, proportionately.
