First one down.
When we moved in we didn’t know anyone in the street. It was the fourth night we were here, New Years eve that I met Chris. He was sitting in his front step, keeping an eye on the ferals who were running amok outside their house. In a most un-Tony move I went and introduced myself and spent an hour or so keeping watch with him.
We said hi every now and then, did the neighbourly wave and the like. He told me that he and his girlfriend had moved in in October after moving down from Queensland for her work. They often sat on the step in the evening, having a drink and a chat. Then they weren’t sitting on the step, there was no sign of his car for a few weeks until he appeared one day, back on the step. I went over to say hi and he told me he’d been in a pretty severe car accident but that things were getting better.
I think I saw him once or twice after that, it must have been around April, but then he was gone – no sign and his car was no longer parked out the front. One afternoon I notice a different car pull up and he hopped out. I was busy so I didn’t go out, and when i saw what he was doing I was glad I didn’t. He opened the garage door and picked up a piece of paper resting on two striped bags. He read the paper, folded it back up and dragged the bags in to his car before driving off.
Not long after a different car, with a different guy, was parking out the front of the house. I have no idea who he was although we decided to ignore him when one night he stood outside the house yelling at a taxi driver, telling him “at least I’m not driving taxis” and to “go back home”. Lovely.
For the past few weeks the place has been quiet, with only a couple of appearances. Today she drove up early in the morning and wandered inside. Ten minutes later the removal van appeared.
So, first renters out of the street. Fingers crossed the new tenants will be quiet, in these cases it’s sometimes the better the devil you know. I guess we’ll find out this weekend, and with the last two houses apparently done and awaiting their new residents the street is complete and it’s time to see how our little piece of the world is going to turn out.