Watching third world videos what is most noticeable is the...

[renard_ruse]

Watching all these videos of slums and even ordinary working class areas in "developing" countries what most struck me was the closeness of all the people in the neighborhood. It explains why they have so many kids they can't afford.

 

[renard_ruse]

To be more specific, people seem to wonder in and out of their neighbor's house ( or apartment, flat, whatevr). Everyone seems to be on an almost familial basis. People wander into their neighbor's dwelling to watch TV and nobody cares.

 

[oggbashan]

And Coca-Cola signs are evrywhere.

 

[oggbashan]

Wandering in and out of other people's houses? That was the situation in London when Og was young. Child care? A neighbour would keep an eye on your children and feed them if required in exchange for DIY or Gardening help from the husband. I had so many unofficial 'aunties' that I lost count, but I knew the difference between them and my real aunts.

 

[FL30]

To be more specific, people seem to wonder in and out of their neighbor's house ( or apartment, flat, whatevr). Everyone seems to be on an almost familial basis. People wander into their neighbor's dwelling to watch TV and nobody cares.

What you're talking about seeing on TV is pretty much what I experienced in the 60's & 70's in the US.

Growing up the 60's & 70's, it was like that where I grew up and it was a "big" city. No one locked their doors or windows or garages.

My grandparents never ever closed their garage door, and nothing was ever stolen out of their garage and there was a LOT of valuable stuff in there.

We slept with the doors open and only a screen door to keep the insects out.

Always playing in the neighborhood with other kids and it wasn't unusual for parents to keep other kids over for dinner or to watch them while the other parents ran errands.

It was a very communal community

You didn't have all the crime that you do now or the strange stuff happening, either.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hell, the 50s, and 60s were the same where I lived. All the mom's on the block looked after all of us kids.

And we played outside all the time, sometimes, even in the rain! And puddles didn't even slow us down. Mud? It was something to make thing our of. Wet grass were our slides.

Oh and we had to be indoors by the time the street lights came on.

I lived and grew up in Chicago.

 

[oggbashan]

Part of the change is because most Moms now work...

In the early 1970s, my wife was pregnant and had given up work (partly because I had been promoted to a significantly increased pay - the pregnancy and the end of work).

In a block of 18 houses, she was the only one at home all day. the other 17 women were strawberry or fruit picking. My wife collected about 12 children from Primary school, looked after them until their elder siblings came home from school, and took in all deliveries for the 18 houses.

Without her, the other 17 couldn't have worked full time.

 

[hobbit.]

my wife
In a block of 18 houses, she was the only one at home all day. the other 17 women were strawberry or fruit picking..

is this why you have a hatred for eastern europeans?

 

[oggbashan]

is this why you have a hatred for eastern europeans?

I don't. When did I ever say I hated them? I hate imported criminals that plague London.

That village still provides many seasonal fruit pickers, very skilled and productive, working sometimes alongside Eastern Europeans. But the Eastern Europeans had reduced in number long before Brexit because of better employment prospects in their own countries. Now Spaniards, Portuguese and Greeks are more likely but the locals outnumber them.

Some people, even in SE England, are not afraid of hard back-breaking work.