Dear LPG, 

I just want to talk about something that I find quite annoying and that is the very British habit of peeping out at what is going on from behind the curtains of the front room window. This is something that happens more and more in our modern version of England.

We all have times when our family’s private lives spill out of the house and into the front garden.  I remember one occasion when I was much younger, and my older brother and I had a somewhat heated argument which started in our front hall.  But we ended up saying a few things we shouldn't have as he followed me through the front door and into the front garden.  At that time I was so upset that I only had time to focus on our disagreement, so I made a bit of a show while I talked rather harshly.  It was only after the disquiet was over that my mother was upset about what the neighbours would think.

Over the years similar things have happened in the other front gardens of our street where I live and I find it really upsetting to see the neighbouring curtains twitching.  I am now a firm believer in either being the neighbour who goes out and tries to offer some help or gets on with their own life. 

There are so many slightly embarrassing things that occur as we leave and enter our homes,  I am now disabled and unable to leave the house without a lot of assistance.  As I am helped between my house and the cab, car or ambulance needed to transport me; I often see the curtains of neighbouring windows twitching.

Rather than taking a covert look from behind the front room curtain I have always found that going out, or opening that window and being seen to watch, wave, offer a greeting, or a little help to be a much more productive course of action and one that I appreciate as I begin one of those often rather awkward short journeys.

People move house more often and neighbours so often don’t know each other  well enough to share a ‘Hello’ as they pass up and down the streets these days, and offering help can be a really good way to  begin an advantageous friendship.

RP, Sydenham.

LPG has found a little relevant information

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