I was behind a guy in line at a store today. While the woman at the register was scanning his items, she asked, "Do you live around here." Just making conversation, I'm sure.
The guy said, "I moved here from New Jersey 4 months ago. Seems like most of the country thinks people from Jersey are mean and nasty - they are way meaner here in Phoenix." The lady at the register agreed with him, and they discussed road rage and other recent incidents.
They aren't wrong.
To be fair, this is a big city. And, I think it's a given that people in big cities are less friendly people than in small towns. To be even more fair, that is a gross generalization - it depends on the person. I've come across some very nice people here in Phoenix. And, cold, prickly people, too. There's just so many more people, and you tend to notice the nasty ones more.
I have a theory. It's not just the big city thing. When I first posted photos of our house here, a few friends asked me about the 6' wall around the property. It isn't just this community - I would guess that over 95% of the homes built in the Phoenix area in the last 30 years have a block wall around them. Maybe it's a desert thing, as I've seen this in other desert areas.
Seems to me that those block walls keep people from knowing their neighbors: they landscape their walled-in yards for outdoor living... swimming pools, hot tubs, outdoor kitchens, pergolas/ramadas (providing shade), patio furniture and umbrellas (for more shade). They don't get to meet their neighbors like back in the good ol' Midwest.
Summer is too darn hot to be outside, even in the shade. This time of year, though, is pretty nice; it was mid-70s for a high today. As it gets colder (and it will), some of us have propane patio heaters. Ours is like new 'cause the only time it was used was to try it when we first got it. I enjoy being outside, but not enough to try to heat the whole outdoors. Sounds like something your parents said to you when you left the door open when you were a kid, huh? ;-)
2 comments:
In Petaluma, CA all the homes has 6" cedar board fences around the back yards. The cats all used the cross pieces as a highway around the neighborhood. Concrete and CMU are durable and do not rot or get termites, so that is that way to go in the desert.
We the nice older couple passed away and the new neighbors bought their house next door, the first thing they did was cut down some huge 45 year old pine trees that gave us afternoon shade and put up a 6 foot vinyl fence all around. I pointed out that the two houses had no fence and had got along well for almost 50 years, but they wanted privacy. (Later they put in a pool).
What's that old saying? Oh yeah: fences make good neighbors. I don't necessarily believe that. I do appreciate the privacy this block wall affords, though. For full disclosure, these 6' walls don't stop the coyotes. There is a reason that Murph isn't allowed outside without Mom or Dad supervision. We haven't seen a coyote in our yard, but we have seen them go over the wall in other parts of our community.
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