We were rather close with our next-door neighbours years ago, until one fine day the wife found out that her husband, in the words of my mother, '养了个小龙女', and subsequently moved out and went their separate ways.
The house then changed owners twice; first a Chinese family which moved out about a year later, then an Indian family, but also moved out a few months later, not too long ago. During their respective stays we did not utter a single word to either of the families.
Nobody had an issue with anything, until today we realised paint was splashed onto the next door, with typical loanshark wordings on the lift landing asking for money to be repaid. On the door too, were some papers, apparently addressed to the Chinese family regarding unpaid utility bills.
We have no idea who the loansharks are after, whether is it the Chinese family or the Indian family, given our zero interaction with them. We don't really care too, but going by recent reports on how loansharks go around harrassing neighbours after the original people whom they lent money to disappeared, I hope they leave us alone. We just repainted our house door!
Interesting how there's a recent campaign to help new immigrants get along with their neighbours.
People were much warmer when I was much younger. When the original neighbours were still living next door, we not only knew the family, but also knew the wife's sister and her family; I recalled talking to the wife's sister's daughter before haha.
My aunt, who lives a couple of blocks from us, visited us rather frequently so the original neighbours knew her too. Vice versa, my aunt's next-door neighbours at her block knew who we were as well, so back then, Chinese New Year visits to my aunt's house would definitely include her neighbour's house as well.
Things have changed.
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