No BBQ Today
In this small mountain community, neighbors pretty much know if something is out of place, but if not, you may find us online using “Nextdoor” for information.
"Nextdoor" is a community forum that focuses specifically on the neighborhood where you live. Up here, it has more meaning.
To one of the new neighbors, this platform must have seemed like an extension of her sounding board from the city to bitch about everything imaginable instead of using the site to gather and share useful information.
But when a local man posted about a car driving erratic, we were all taken back by her new way of thinking.
The new neighbor would take no advice and endlessly berated the local man, demanding that he not post useless comments about how to drive, get a life, and have a nice weekend.
Usually, I just brush things like this off, but it was an interesting morning.
No BBQ Today
So, Ann was busy burning breakfast this morning when she brought up a story that she had read in "Nextdoor" yesterday about cars speeding or a loose cow or something. I was dealing with the damn smoke alarm…again, so I didn't catch what she was trying to say.
When the smoke cleared, and I got my hearing back, I asked the o’l girl, "Who hit what cow, was anybody hurt, and if not, is there going to be a BBQ?".
She let me know that the cows were safe, so scratch the BBQ, but there seemed to be some concern about how folks drive around here.
I sat down and reminded her of what we already knew. The weekends always bring out the worst in drivers, they will all be gone by Sunday evening, and never take your eyes off the frying pan when there is cheese involved because I'm still hungry.
Those clowns don't live up here or give a damn about you or me. They could be impressing their weekend dates or pissed off because they don't have one, but either way, they care little about your thought process while they fly past you on the main road, and the best that we can do is report them.
"Why post it on Nextdoor," she asked. "Why burn breakfast," I ask before focusing on her question.
Simply put, I think that we post events like that because it violates what we believe to be right and wrong so egregiously that we lose our shit and want to know if others feel the same.
So, we tell our stories, and the chit-chat on Nextdoor begins. First this way, then that, with some of the very questions themselves being questionable as the chatter takes on a whole new direction.
By the end of the thread, you can tell who's serious, who's hungover, who just woke up, or all of the above. The question gets lost in the turmoil, but the last words still drip in as the thread slowly dies.
But the question still remains. Should we post about the things we see? Probably not everything, but…
We post things on "Nextdoor" to give and receive information...end of the story. But up here, it also gives us a sense of community wherein questions are answered, not just by somebody out there, but by a neighbor. It brings both the writers and readers as a community together up here, unlike that of a city.
So, when we have drivers losing it on the mountain road with erratic driving, should it be posted to the neighborhood?
Well, that might depend on how pissed off you are at the time, and up until this morning, I was sure that nobody would fault you for it, let alone give you grief over it, but yes, of course. Post away and preferably with a photo. Information is a good thing.
But it's a strange and foggy world right now and providing your point of view regardless of how helpful, insightful, or just being neighborly it may be, risks the ire of those not so inclined.
My strategy? I just thank the good Lord for Ann and get on with the day.
Well, I'm going to give this breakfast thing another shot, so you go on and have a good day, and before I forget, drive safe out there.
God Bless.
Thanks for listening.