neighbour etiquette?

[lersh]

We've lived here for 20 years and our eldest have moved out but we still
have a 13 year old
at home.
I work full time and have a busy life, plus we've experienced mental and physical ill health in our family, so sometimes I'm dashing in and out in the car without stopping for ages to chat to neighbours.
I'm friends with one couple,
who dh and I often go out with for socials etc and I always say hello to neighbours, nodding, taking in parcels.
My daughter has spoken to the grandchild of a family opposite who she goes to school
with and he's told her that granddad is fiends with everyone in the road and thinks we're weird. Admittedly whilst I talk to people on occasion, often I'm
busy in and out and night just nod
and smile. It made
me wonder if there's an expectation to make friends with neighbours?!

oh and I'm a contributor to the street facebook page 🤣 nothing controversial,
just general trivial stuff, nothing aggy or controversial

Couldn’t give a shit what one rude old man thought about me.

You sound like you have a normal level of neighbour interaction . We are all friendly on our road, nod and say hello type of thing but but not any closer. I personally think that's enough.

Everyone's different. There's no right or wrong. We've been in our small street 3 years and there are plenty of neighbours I've never spoken to and wouldn't recognise them if I passed them. I haven't seen the neighbour on one side for months ( l know he's OK though from Washing in the garden and lawn mower going etc).
I think for some retired people, their interactions with neighbours are very important.
The neighbours we're attached to are very neighbourly and sociable. Every time I look in the garden they've got other neighbours there. I feel like the neighbours are their whole social life. We get on well. I take them birthday gifts, they feed the cats and i look after their dog sometimes. We've had them round for dinner once - but sometimes I have to avoid them. I can't get into a 30 minute chat after work when I need to feed the kids, cook dinner, get the laundry on etc. I feel that because they're retired they've forgotten how busy life can be and they assume I can stand in the garden chatting for hours.

Me neither. All the more reason to keep out of his way would be the conclusion I came to after hearing that.

Yeah I don’t know any neighbours. I’ll say hello if I see them and know their names, we are a terrace of 6 and don’t know or would recognise the one at the far end though, but the others know nothing about them other than saying hi. They probably think we’re weird… but we are young with kids and out and about all the time. I imagine for older people neighbourly interactions are more important.

I'd have to chap the cheeky auld bastards door and ask him why he thought we were weird and give him some home truths.

He may not have actually said the word weird but that's how the teenager has interpreted it.

that's true!

tempting, especially as his grandson has been picking on our dd for years!

Times have changed. It’s common for the elderly to be friends with neighbours, because that used to be the norm. My parents were pals with numerous neighbours and would pop in and out of each other’s houses.

People live very different lives nowadays.

We wave or say hi to neighbours; sometimes have a brief chat on a dog walk. We are not what I’d consider friends with any of them.

That definitely deserves a conversation!!

Well grandpa clearly isn’t friends with everyone on the road as he hasn’t made any attempt to start a friendship with your family! I’m a logical sort so I’d just point this out to your DD and then crack on as you are already doing.

Grandad is probably no longer working and has all day to pester interact with his neighbours.