Neighbours

Do young and middle-aged people leave pensioners alone and lonely? Are neighbours of any age interested in the welfare of the elderly person next door or across the street? In what ways do they help them, if at all? How do they show their sympathy, if it is needed? Do they come to their aid when the old people are ill or suffer bereavement? These are some of the facts we set out to try to discover about neighbours—neighbours as judged by old people through their everyday actions. To have asked if they found their neighbours friendly would have told us little. ¹ Instead, the questions used were: When was the last time you spoke to your neighbour for longer than to say ‘Good morning. It’s a nice day’? When was the last time any of your neighbours did something for you? What was this? At this point we slipped in a couple of counter questions: When did you last do something for your neighbour? What was this? Returning to the main thread of questioning: When was the last time a neighbour came into your home? If (when) they do so, do they sit and talk? Or is it a brief ‘pop in’? How often do you see them in your home? Finally: How often do you go into theirs? We noted also the kind and height of the fences or hedges (if any) separating the pensioner’s home from the homes on either side, front and back.