frank theriault mused: > > Luckily, I have no driveway (the semi I live in was constructed around > 1920, and I guess that places for cars for the working-class weren't a > priority with builders). I just had to shovel a bit of sidewalk. In > fact, our houses are so narrow that I shovelled the walkway of the > neighbours on either side (they do it for us, as well - nice > neighbourhood).
When I lived "back East" (Nashua, NH) I often used to clear snow for a neighbour. Mind you, that's at least partly because I'm a lazy devil, and wasn't going to clear a 40' long (by 15' wide) driveway by hand; I had a snow-blower. By the time I'd got dressed in outdoor gear, etc., it didn't take all that much longer to do an extra driveway or so. (And when the guy across the circle hurt his legs, and was walking with canes for a couple of years, he couldn't clear his own drive very well. Of course his house _would_ be the one with the steepest slope ... I shifted the bulk snow, and other neighbours cleared the steps, etc.) That was a nice neighbourhood, too. Oddly enough, despite the reputed "New England Reserve", I found it easier to get to know folks there than out here in California; we've been here almost ten years, and there are still people less than six houses away we hardly know at all. I suppose the layout has a lot to do with it; there, we were on a cul- de-sac, so the nine houses formed an automatic neighbourhood group.
