The nicest thing a neighbour has ever done for you?

[Heathofhares]

Neighbours get a really bad rep on here. So I thought I might see if anyone else has lovely neighbours or is it just us?

So for starters not only did the neighbours stay completely positive, in the face of huge disruption during our recent building works, and look after our garden and pets while we were on holiday but they even dealt with the remains of a very pungent dead fox that crawled under our shed to die whilst we were away.

Anyone else have the antithesis of mums net neighbours?

This is the nicest thread, so cheering.

I was having a terrible morning with my DS who was a very difficult and demanding baby, and I was walking up and down with him screaming on my shoulder. I kept looking through the big window onto our road, and the neighbour opposite spotted me. She came across and said " Are you OK? Want to come and have a coffee?" I went across, and had a lovely hour with DS happily playing with her little girl. It was many years ago, but I never forgot that morning.

Families in our street so not just direct neighbours
Look after pets and water flowers when we are away

give us eggs from their chickens most weeks. Give us all lovely birthday and Christmas presents.

Buy us a round if we are ever in the local at the same time

Once we had no water for a couple of days due to some problem in the area. The shops had none left and I was stressing because I had a formula fed newborn and only had one bottle of ready made formula left then only the powder I couldn’t make without water. I had a knock on the door and my new neighbour who I’d never even met before dropped round a 6 pack of 2 litre bottles for me because he heard I had a baby and wanted to make sure we were ok. He had driven to the next town to get water for all the neighbours.

I also remember my childhood neighbours being lovely too. My mum was a newly single mum, hardly any money and had scraped enough together to take us camping. When we were away someone had set fire to the fences at the back of our house (house backed onto a footpath) and the neighbours clubbed together, bought and installed a new fence while we were away and wouldn’t take a penny from my mum.

Our neighbor Chloe dropped off some fruit for us last summer.

Another Londoner here with lovely neighbours.

Two sisters live across the road from us and they took turns to get shopping and take the DD’s to nursery and school after I broke my foot and couldn’t walk for two weeks.

Next door is rented by a bunch of 20 somethings who were all shopping for the older residents during the lockdowns and repaired a fence for another neighbour.

My DH is a hero to the Nepalese family a few doors down as she got locked out of her house one day and had left a huge pot on the stove and her grandson was asleep in his carry cot. DH climbed over 4 fences then in through a first floor window to then open her front door.

She rewards DH with the most amazing Nepalese food on a regular basis.

We all take parcels in for each other and feed cats/rabbits when needed.

Years ago there was a fire in a neighbours house (sadly this killed two young girls). Another neighbour kicked their door down and tried to get in to rescue the girls.

The other immediate neighbours had to be evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night (approx 16 people). They all slept in the homes of other neighbours in the street)

A couple of years ago two men kicked in my door, beat me up and demanded money. They were disturbed when a male from across the road arrived with a baseball bat. There was blood all over the kitchen (one had cut his hand) so the neighbour and his wife invited me in to wait for the police and an ambulance to check me out. The police suggested the ambulance as I am in my 70s. They gave me a drink of tea and allowed me to stay until the police and my nephew arrived. Another neighbour from further down the street stood guard outside the house as the door was hanging off.

My vile NDNs did not even put their heads out the door or ask how I was next day. The other neighbours remarked on this behaviour!

My neighbour brought my cat in from the garden for me the other Saturday (the cat's back legs decided not to work - which the do occasionally and I had popped out).

This is the same neighbour who came in for 3 days to sort out the cat and guinea for me when I was swifted into hospital with Covid.

The whole family is so lovely. I'm due to move soon, but in the same street, so I won't lose touch.

Oh and further down the street have an allotment - they often leave fruit/veggies out for people to help themselves.

My next door neighbour hugged me when he told me he’d got the all clear from cancer and I burst into tears. I was crying because I was coming home from being with my dad whose cancer was terminal and was in considerable pain. And it wasn’t fair that someone else was getting through it and not my dad (different cancers but similar enough that they had the same consultant).

Takes someone special to be understanding in that situation!

When we had our DS, the neighbours offered to help look after our DD if needed until family arrived and they bought us round an amazing dinner when he was born.

Lent me their car for a fortnight as my ex husband had taken mine.

Other side - chatted to me at 3pm about the fact I was 42 weeks pregnant. Came round again at 6pm to borrow a screwdriver and I’d had the baby on my bedroom floor. After their disbelief, they went home and plated me up a roast dinner.

Her voice getting more and more high pitched and incredulous is one of my favourite memories.

Our lovely neighbours are forever passing home-grown beans and home-made jam over the fence to us. When said fence collapsed and we had to try and wrestle three new panels into very tight supports on a ridiculously windy day a few weeks back, our lovely neighbour who's a retired engineer and very handy with DIY etc. was out like a shot to help us. He also spent an hour helping DH to remove a very awkwardly placed side-light bulb from the car a little while back, producing ever more ingenious bits of kit from his shed until he found something that would grip it. Another neighbour supplies us with a steady stream of home-grown rhubarb all summer, and we came home the other day to a beautiful geranium plant on our doorstep. It's just a lovely friendly street, really - we're very lucky!

Saved my husband's life

My neighbour can be batshit crazy sometimes. However, when someone tried to break into our house one evening, she chased them off. Twice!

So much. When I fell down the stairs and broke my ankle they came over and stayed with our then 4 year old for hours whilst I was in a&e until 2am.

Taking her out for two hour walks when I was heavily pregnant and struggling in the heat last summer so I could relax. They then looked after her when I went in for my csection.

Stuff like taking in bins and feeding cats for each other - in fact, that goes for the whole street to be honest.

We are moving next Thursday. Going to miss them so so much.