Lady undiscovered dead in flat for 2 years.

[WendyS]

With so many people living alone these days and paying bills by direct debits so that debt's don't build up, isn't it sad that we often know so little about our immediate neighbours that something like this can happen? At what point does concern about somebody's wellbeing turn into harrassment and intrusion into their privacy?

[undercovers]

at the point they ask you to stop and you don't

[Lonnie]

I understand your point exactly Wendy, I was brought up in the 50s, open door policy, very friendly community spirit, and thats whats wrong, the community spirit is dying out all over, a cryng shame, I now live in a place where its still strong, and my wife, who had never experienced it, refuses to move, under any circumstances.

[willspal]

Hi.

Yes but if the bills were being paid by DD then surely they would come a time when the money in the bank account that the DD were being paid from would dry up. I mean unless they had thousands and thousands in there.

I live on a cul del sac where there are mostly young familes BUT if there was any older people then I am pretty sure I would be aware what they were up to and if they had not been seen for a week or 2.

Even if they made it plain they did not want anybody knocking at their door helping or offering help I would hope I would be aware if things were going wrong and I could and would step in.

We can only do so much for other people, we all lead busy lives with jobs and families so we can't be held accountable for everyone in our neighbourhood and if things go wrong then surely the finger of blame should not be pointed 100% at the neighbours.

Some people shun help and acts of kindness fronm others and people have to respect others might not want help.

I am actually very friendly with all my neighbours but appreciate that we are all young (ish) and have children in common so I tend to know a lot about them and hold the keys for a few of their houses. I would not be happy only being on nodding terms with them but equally don't want to be in and out of their homes as they don't mine.

[sukkie]

I was brought up in South Africa, everybody in our area knew everybody else and watched over each others houses. We had a yearly community braai and it great fun but the health and safety police here are the greatest killers of community.

[WoWo]

How many of you know grump old people who alienate themselves from society. All of the places I have lived there have been one or two of these types, they don't want you knocking on their door every five minutes and don't welcome you into their business.

For example I saw the old lady next door to us yesterday for the first time in 2 years. I'm out at work all day and she, most likely, doesn't go out of the door after 5.