We received an invitation to attend the Valley Neighbourhood Watch Group tonight. Needless to say it was delegated to me (by one) to attend this auspicious occassion and to represent us as the newbies on the block!
What a turn out. There must have been 40 people there. Apparently one of the goals is to have a rip roaring street Christmas party (interpret that in the light of the fact that the avereage age was probably about 60+. No offense to family of that age or older!!) It turns out that the City Council will pay for it as well because it is all in the name of community development and safer communities, so long as we have it in October (who knows why?) The long standing residents figured, "hey, why not if they are paying?" So the date is in the calendar. Given ChCh's reputation for party crashing I am not putting the date on here - next thing you know the text messages will be flying and there could be a few gate crashers.
One particular item that came up for discussion was a particular resident's nephew (and his car mad friends) in our street who has lost his licence and fallen foul of the law. She is helping him onto the straight and narrow. Well there was little empathy for her mission I'm sad to say. Actually they are pretty tame but there was no end of discussion on this one. On one hand it was great to see such a strong neighbourhood gathering and people wanting to know their neighbours. I guess what saddened me (but it is also very human and I can understand it) is that strong desire to protect what is and usually that means a rejection (rather than a reaching out to) of those who threaten or challenge what is perceived "to be."
We enjoy the neighbourhood, the welcome we have had and the fact that our kids are so often out playing with neighbourhood friends. The next year here will be interesting in terms of how things unfold.
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