New Neighbor

Now that I have ranted about folks moving into the country and not understanding how to get along in the county, the stage is set for something I was going to write last week.

The whole neighborhood is up in arms about new people that are moving in, and they haven’t even moved in yet. R&J, who built their house soon after we moved into ours, have split up and sold their house. J has apologized to everyone on the “block” for selling to the person that bought it. “He’s an asshat*,” she said.

“What makes you say that?” we asked.

It seems the person in question, before moving in, is going to have a security system installed. This is bad. It implies that he doesn’t trust the neighbors. This is a place where doors are not locked, even when people are gone on vacation. My customer, to whom Mocha and the sheep belong to, even leaves her front door wide open when no one is home.

Security systems around here mean that you have a dog (or two), which is/are meant as an early warning system. Early warning that someone is walking/driving up your driveway so you can get your clothes on after your . . . um, shower, yep that’s it, shower (most of us have a knock and walk policy; knock once, or yell “Hello” thru the screen door, and walk into the house without waiting for an invitation).

So, the new neighbor is putting in a security system. The other residents are making fun of him already and he hasn’t set foot in the neighborhood. The fun making is masking the suspicion with which he is being viewed. If the house he had bought was a multi-million dollar mansion, we could probably understand. But the house, although very nice, is not what a rich person would buy to store his Egyptian artifact collection in.

So why does he need a security system? Does he not trust us already, without meeting anyone in the neighborhood? Is he a shady type himself, in which case we should be distrustful of him? Which in turn brings up the question, will we need to start locking our doors?

What a great impression the new neighbor is making. He is being judged before anyone has met him. There may be legitimate reasons for him needing a security system, but he has damaged any future relationships by this one simple act (the damage which he may be able to fix, with a lot of hard work). Much better if he had moved in first, met some of the neighbors, and spread word of the reasons for needing a security system instead of letting us guess that it has something to do with his country bumpkin neighbors.

I won’t even go into his plans of paving over the beautiful gardens, that J had lovingly put in, in order to put in a pool and tar the driveway.

*Word changed from original phraseology.

UPDATE:
Wichi Dude has a post about his experience as a big city boy that has culture shock when he moves to Kansas.

Comments

[DCE]

Let's face it, some folks just don't get it. Whoever it is moving in obviously has some citified paranoia issues thay haven't resolved. I'd also keep an eye on 'em during town meeting. You just know they're going to want to have the town provide some unnecessary service that no one else cares about but that they had 'back where they come from'....

*sigh*

Yes, we all differ in our trust of our fellow persons and our paranoia. HH and I differ in this area, as you well know. He's of the mold where one battens down all hatches while I like windows and doors open. (It's a good thing that I like open doors since I'm too absent minded to close them, let alone lock!) When I traveled so much while living in Albuquerque, I once came home from 2 or 3 weeks away to find that I'd left one of the back patio doors open (not unlocked--open!) The only time anyone ever broke and entered was a car that I had (somewhat inexplicably) locked while attending an event one night in downtown Wichita KS. This I ascribed to kids because they were too incompetent to hot wire the car and merely bummed up the ignition switch so badly that I couldn't drive the car until the switch had been replaced. That was one night that I was thankful to have Sis and Wichi Dude on call!

[Wichi Dude]

I think I'll do a post on this as I could get windy.

[billy]

..for our sins we have a couple of 'talking books' in the car (books on tape) - one of these is bill bryson's "notes from a big country"...in it he describes his moving back to new hampshire...how on the day of their arrival their furniture hadn't arrived from england..when the neighbo(u)rs heard this they immediately supplied him with furniture from their houses - even down to a microwave...he describes how doors are unlocked; how, when it rains, the cinema ushers go out and roll up every car window that is parked near the cinema (note - windows open); how when they get back from trips often they find food in the fridge...this sounded "idealistic" to carolyn and I - it also sounded ideal :^)...now you are telling me that it is real - fantastic!!!...when can we move in???...

[Bogie]

I volunteer the new neighbor's house as a place for you to stay at Billy!