A Nice Neighbourhood!

 Bankerl sitzen...

As per usual I took the boy for his afternoon walk around the block. A long block and one that gives us ample opportunity to mingle with the neighbours.

Today I was a bit tardy in getting ready for him, but never mind, he reminded me by walking to the door and back whilst voicing his opinion at my tardiness. Yes, the boy has character.

As we walked out the front gate we encountered the little girl from next door who was walking her granny about. Yes, at the age of two and a bit, we all know who's in charge! Once she espied little Maxi, she had to come over to greet him. Lovely and it gave me a chance to have a chat about this and that with her granny. News exchanged and off we went.

About twenty meters further, the two of us encountered the next villager. Maxi is a real ice-breaker. Everyone wants to talk about and to him. Great stuff and more tidbits gathered. I feel like a gossip squirrel.

At the end bit of our walk we again encountered the little girl but this time her mum was there with her. It is nice to be able to shoot the breeze with those living next door. The four of us stood in the middle of the street ( yes, traffic is nice and gentle here ) and discussed the latest corona news among others. As we were chatting another young mother came to join our little group. Nice to have a feeling of belonging.

They used to call this ' bankerl sitzen ' which translates as bench sitting. In those days before TV's were invented or had, most of the women would meet up after a long day of hard work and sit on those benches placed at the front of houses, close to the road. 

Quite often the older ladies would tell me about the good times that were had sitting and chatting on those benches. ( Remember, those were the times without electric stoves, throwaway nappies or even washing machines. All done by hand. ) Look, we didn't sit on our bench today, but we enjoyed those few minutes of meeting up. Isn't that part of the glue that holds a neighbourhood together?

Biggi