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| Who knows who is listening in the next booth. |
Eavesdropping may not be good manners but sometimes getting to know those people in the next booth can be so much fun.
This year we live in a townhouse with a large back deck enclosed by a high fence which is situated next to the street. The street is a buffer against neighbors that may be eavesdroppers (like me). It was one of the things that drew us to this property in a community that is small. But it turns out that more people are listening than we could even imagine!
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| Here in our townhouse, the street is just on the other side of the fence. |
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| In Oregon, the neighbors are just over the fence! |
The thing is, my husband and I "disagree" sometimes...and we disagree outside, inside and sideways. It is not a pretty thing to hear I am sure.
We also work things out about people we know both far and near. But we do NOT talk about the neighbors...not here or in Oregon. We are smarter than that. Still, my husband and I talk to each other continually. Good, bad or indifferent, that is the way it is.
Sooooo...it turns out that the neighbors listen as they walk by or they may even just go outside to check on us! Thankfully our friend, Share, tipped us off. Oh dear! We are "disagreeing" indoors a lot more.
The upshot of the whole thing is, like email, people can misinterpret what we say because 1) they don't know our sense of humor or our background and 2) they don't know WHO we are discussing and 3) they take meaning from their own phobias.
I always have known that the neighbors are listening! Darn! In the next booth, there are two old people (us) that are both just a little deaf so they don't speak in soft voices.
Now, we are mending fences because I really do like these people, I have not talked about them at all...and I think their dogs are wonderful. It is so good to have life, real life, going on around me.
Wanna come over for cocktails? We are having a small party soon.
How close are your neighbors?
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Too funny! We have an arbovitive hedge and a fence. We can hear people talking as they walk past but they can not see us! I love to eavesdrop at a coffee shop, I learn so much!
ReplyDeleteMe too. I think because I am retired I am so curious about what people are doing...why are they drinking coffee at 10:00 am when they should be at work? :)
DeleteWe live across from the elevator in our apartment building. Our neighbours stand outside our door. We can be quite loud in our disagreements.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should do the opposite and what I would do...open the door to be sure no one is there. It all makes me laugh anyway. In Tucson we do not know anyone nor do we care what our reputation is in the community. Things are a lot different than they were when we a working couple.
DeleteI have neighbors right next to me in our apartment complex. It's no problem in the winter when the windows are closed, but in the summer, I hear their conversations easily. I guess they hear mine, too. No way to avoid it except to close the windows. :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you are like me you can sense when the time has come to close everything up. When we were in the RV resort, I would say "Goodnight John Boy" because our units were so close. I learned about privacy and just ignoring most things when we were there. Our situation here is no surprise...not at all.
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