I’d have to blame myself for why I’ve never taken the time
to meet my neighbour sooner. We’ve
rented this house for over 2 years and even though I give a wave when I drive
by, that’s about all I’ve done is drive by.
But today fate and timing intervened. I met a girlfriend for coffee near my house
and decided to walk to the cafe instead of taking the car 5 blocks – I still
don’t know if they’re called blocks in Australia as each house sits on a
‘block’ too.
I know he’s a car buff as he has a huge garage and a race
car often sits on a trailer. I know he
likes golf as he can spend hours chipping uphill on his verge and landing on
the grass every time despite it being only about 2 meters wide. I know he had a
knee (or hip) replaced recently as he was on clutches for a few weeks and has
slowly returned to walking around with a slight limp. Another neighbour also
told me that his wife had had cancer a few years back and had had a double
mastectomy.
So today as I walked back from the cafe, my neighbour’s
garage was open and he was puttering about.
We said hi and somehow that led to 20 minutes of delightful conversation
where I learnt so much more about him.
He started working as a building contractor when he was 20
and built his first housing complex which he and his mother eventually lived
in. He is ‘70 and a half’. I assume this
means 6 mos to his next birthday rather than being 75. He has raced cars for 30 years and has an old
Alfa Romeo race car which he bought and restored almost 10 years ago. He has a golf handicap of 12. He’s helped one
son build a house and he has a daughter living in Hong Kong and another son
living in Sydney. Next year he wants to
go on a cruise from San Francisco to Alaska, around to Russia and past Japan
and China ending in Singapore. But I
only found these things out after we broke the ice.
It started this way.
When I first said ‘hi’ today, he asked if I’d been playing
much golf recently. I had forgotten
we’ve had a brief conversation with me admiring his verge chipping skills and
his asking if I played golf. Not often
and quite poorly had been my main remarks that day. So today I told him I can’t play until
October as I have recently had surgery.
I told him that our mutual neighbour had mentioned that his wife had had
a double mastectomy - well that’s what I had had as well.
He was quite excited that we shared this common experience –
well me and his wife that is. Who were
my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon?
Well it also seems his wife, Sandra, and I both have the same plastic
surgeon and she underwent the same reconstruction 7 years ago after she had
breast cancer.
Did you keep your nipples?
He seemed shocked that he actually asked me that. He apologized for being so forward.
I learnt so much from him today and that question was like
asking if you put butter on your toast.
If you knew my friends, it’s the first thing we talk about when we meet
someone new.
I am sure we will talk more frequently from now on and that
I will soon be chatting to Sandra about our shared experience and mutual
acquaintance in our plastic surgeon.
There was only one thing bothering me about our interaction
today. Nipples? No, the question didn’t faze me.
I forgot to ask his name.
Awkward
Update - His name is Paul!
Update - His name is Paul!
