Have you ever wondered about the neighbours in your street and what goes on behind closed doors? Do you know them? Do you speak to them?

I live in a relatively quiet street in a nice neighbourhood, so it came as some surprise a few weeks ago to find the road blocked with police cars and fire engines.

Surprisingly, a rented house, just a few yards from where I live and which has its frontage right on the pavement, had been turned into a cannabis factory. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I found out.

From the outside, there was no evidence at all anything was amiss, and I expect the young Vietnamese gardener whom I’d NEVER seen had no choice about his occupation as he was in this country illegally and had no passport.

Somehow the cannabis growers had managed to tap into the mains electricity and water supply in the road. All the rooms were full of cannabis plants  and heat lamps, and the house was rumbled because a helicopter picked up the enormous amount of heat emanating from the roof.

When the police pounced they had the fire crew for backup incase the “gardeners” tried to set fire to the place and destroy the evidence. It’s all sneaky stuff, but they’ve been caught, the factory has been closed down, only to have another one set up somewhere else, no doubt.

Anyway, that was a few weeks ago, but yesterday as I sat giggling over a birthday card, which depicted several golfing expressions, and had the title, Why A Game Of Golf Sounds Like An Orgy, I noticed once more the police had blocked off the road.

This time, however, there were no fire engines accompanying them. Sadly, a lady who lives not far from me had committed suicide by stepping out directly in front of a passing train, and so ambulances were on hand instead.

It was tragic and what a waste of life.

Apparently, she was known to have been depressed, but it must have been a very deep depression to make her take her own life.

The ironic thing is, she’s the neighbour of a friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and given only a few months to live. Already she’s on borrowed time,  but desperately wants to see her Golden Wedding in July. I hope she makes it.

So, what’s the point of this article?

Well, I guess I’m feeling a bit guilty as I was probably laughing whilst the lady was dying. Of course I had no way of knowing what she was contemplating, but I do know laughter is a great healer. Smiling and laughing lift your spirits and make you feel so much better, as does conversation.

Everything’s better when you have someone to share it with though and the lady who committed suicide lived alone. She had no family, and clearly no one to really talk to. I wonder, if she had, whether things would have been different?

There are many people like her.

Of course, some people just like their own company, but there are others, especially old people who are perhaps housebound and who either have no family or none close. Often they crave someone  to talk to, and just a short conversation could make all the difference between living and simply existing.

I remember the days when it was safe to leave your doors unlocked and neighbours just “popped in” for a chat. How nice it would be to go back to those happier, safer times, when people looked out for others in their community.

On the TV, I’ve seen something about an initiative called ‘Know Your Neighbour Weekend’ being planned for July 14th and 15th of this year. The idea is to encourage people to do more to get to know their neighbours. Maybe I’ll investigate  further – not to be nosey but there may be more people in my street who feel isolated and alone.

Perhaps, you could do it too?

You can read about it here http://www.esb.ie/main/news_events/press_release322.jsp /

I’m  sure everyone could, if they wanted, spare a few minutes to get to know the people in their street. As I said, you never know what goes on behind closed doors, and maybe if you did, it might save a life!

Take care

Jean
P.S. If you want to see what I was chuckling about visit the Just For Fun page at http://www.jeanshaw.com and look for the  Now I Know Why Men Like Golf page.