conuly

That's really cool.

Our block, a lot of the people here have lived here their whole lives. Many of the houses have three generations in them, and people have lived there for at least one full childhood.

So even if you don't know everybody's name, you definitely know everybody, it's considered safe to let your kids play outside on the assumption that there's effectively a lot of adults checking in on the kids and older kids helping out (I make a lot of snark about the hordes of unsupervised children, but it's really a good thing), and adults really will just stop unrelated kids on the street and tell them to behave, that sort of thing.

I don't like a lot of people on the block that much, but at least I trust that, in a pinch, they'll be able and willing to help me out if urgently necessary, and I'd help them... even if we're not exactly bosom buddies here. (After the tornado passed over, the people on the block were the ones who cleaned up everything, and in good time, too.)

We also have people who plan to rent just in the very short-term, so that's an interesting combination!