I woke up this morning to my housemate knocking on my door saying “your friend is here to work on the porch”. I ambled sleepily downstairs and greeted my friend. I met him in my neighbourhood about a year ago and he is just about the nicest guy. He is working on our porch on the weekends eventhough he doesn’t need the money. A little later our nearby building supply store’s truck (small business. not home depot) pulled up to deliver the wood for our porch. The driver started talking to my neighbour who was washing his car. Turns out they knew each other. No big surprise in this city.
Later on, i left to go look in on my friend’s neighbour a few blocks away. He is elderly, recently had major surgery and is recovering. I’ve been going over there while my friend is away, checking his glucose, making sure he is eating right etc.
After that, i borrowed my friend’s car to go pick up chicken feed at a feed store up near fairmount park. I’ve been going up there for a few years now about 4 times a year. The shop is non-descript with only a small sign if any indicating that it’s a store. When i get there, the lady is standing in the doorway (she knew i was coming) smiling. She had saved a newspaper article for me on chicken coops. We chatted for a long while and i found out that she spins her own wool! She’s amazing.
Back to yesterday. My plumber calls me and says “should i get coffee or do you have some there?’ I replied “we have plently. come on over”. As we hadn’t seen each other in awhile, we sat down at my kitchen table for over an hour (at no charge!) and caught up. His shop is a few blocks down and he has been my plumber for ten years. If he sees me walking in the neighbourhood he always stops.
I love my big city and my neighbourhood.
Guede
Philadelphia, PA
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