My neighbours

Everyone knows each other in my neighbourhood, which is not surprising in a rural area. However, this does not mean everyone gets along well.

My immediate neighbour is an elderly couple. Mrs Shaw is the sweetest woman I have ever met. She wears thick round glasses and is always dressed in brightly coloured clothes. She invites me to sleep at her place when I have heated fights with my parents. She makes mouth-watering caramel-salted cookies, which she distributes to all neighbours periodically. Mr Shaw is quite the opposite. He looks like he has seen enough of the world after 80 years and his head is always buried in a book or a newspaper. His health is feeble and he does not find any motivation to even talk to his wife, let alone everyone else. The couple has outlived their only son, who died years ago. They seldom talk about their son.

Adjacent to my house lives the posh Hobbs family. They have moved away from the city a few years ago. They were drawn by attractive house prices in the rural area and the dream of living away from intoxicating pollution. They are the only ones in the neighbourhood to have a swimming pool. However, they are also the least appreciated family in the neighbourhood. The Hobbs teenagers often organise wild parties when their parents are away. They would invite their city friends, but not a single neighbour. Alcohol consumption is never moderated. The parties frequently end with a visit by the police or with someone in the hospital due to a drug overdose. The parents are no better than their children. They once went as far as taking one of the neighbours to court because of 'the intolerable smell of the poultry farm'. The Hobbs won.

My favourite neighbour is Jimmy Choo, primarily because of his amazing life story. The thin be-spectacled man suffered from a serious illness in his childhood and lost the ability to use his right leg. He nevertheless persevered. He went as far as participating in the Para Olympics as a runner, which is the most prestigious international competition. He is now retired and has decided to move here, to the countryside in order to practice his second main hobby, writing. He met his beautiful wife here and they are now happily married. They are expecting their first baby. We will soon have a new little neighbour.