It always amazes me that people living on the same street for decades haven't made any effort to get to know their neighbours. For some, although they've lived in close proximity for twenty years or more, if confronted by the sight of someone walking down the street, they mightn't bother to glance at them as they pass, and even if they did, mightn't recognize them as someone who lives six houses up the street.

On our way to the ravine for our daily ramble as we went up the street, a couple was walking down the street. We know one another and have for many years. We stopped to chat amiably for awhile, when before too long another figure came walking down the street. We know him too, since he's our next-door neighbour. It occurred to me, as I greeted him that the other neighbours might not know who he is.

So I asked if they'd met one another, feeling a little silly doing so, since they've lived, each family, on the street for well over twenty years and not that distant from one another. Nope, no idea. I introduced them by name, and a light went on so that the couple asked if he was the person who lived right beside us, whose Hallowe'en and Christmas decorations are so delightful. They knew the house, but not the resident. One can only shake one's head in disbelief.

On then, into the ravine, after we'd exhausted topics of mutual interest and parted. And during our walk on the forest trails we came across others who live somewhere in the neighbourhood; we've a vague idea of the streets they live on, and we've known them too for many years, since we come across those outdoor-lovers more frequently than we do the people who live on our street.

Each time, we stop, we discuss things and then move on, the feeling of collegiality and neighbourliness serving to warm us on a cold, windy winter day. True, the sun was out and brightly warm but the wind blew the chill air as deep as it could into the folds of our garments. Still, the landscape itself is worth the effort to stroll through and admire, and we do so. As do the other regulars that we so often see doing the very same thing. Very few of whom are among the people who live on the same street as us, whose access to the forest trails is so convenient.