6:41pm Monday 30th June 2008
By Tom Letts
I like a party me, and so under no foreseeable circumstance would I ever miss the annual Park Avenue South street party. It has all the ingredients to make it an interesting and enjoyable evening
- food, drink, a bouncy castle and middle aged people dancing. Much planning had evidently gone into this year’s event - the food was varied and abundant, the raffle prizes were all well
appreciated and all seemed to run as was planned.
But this has always been the case. This year however, I found myself astonished by something: I don’t know, not even by sight, many of the people who live on the same road as me. There are some
I know very well, some I know cordially, and then there are the majority of residents I don’t know at all.
This unfamiliarity proved to be a nuisance in fact, as on more than one occasion I was questioned, or rather interrogated, behind the guise of mere interest, about whether or not I was ‘meant
to be a part’ of the party. In other words, was I or was I not a Park Avenue South resident - the implication was that if I wasn’t, I had better scoot. To whomever it was who, not exactly
politely, asked whether or not I was supposed to be there; shame on you for not knowing your neighbours. But then shame on me too - I had no idea who you were.
I can only speak for myself, but I imagine a lot of people are in similar situations, knowing only a few of their neighbours. Now I’m not calling for neighbouring on a ‘Desperate
Housewive’s’ level, but I do think it would be no bad thing if people made more of an effort to get to know each other. I say this for no reason other than it’s polite and
worthwhile. You may even discover a friend - one of my best friends lives only 22 doors up from my house, yet it took a chance meeting on the street three months ago to bring us together, after a
lifetime of living so nearby.
It’s for this sort of reason, and the fact that it gives me the opportunity to barn dance, that I enjoy our street parties. It provides an excuse for people to introduce themselves and to make
fools of themselves on the dance floor in a friendly environment. It’s an evening that brings people who should know each other together. But more importantly, there’s free face painting,
and everyone loves that.
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