• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

friendly neighborhood

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

On Sunday, we went about introducing ourselves to the immediate neighbors. Since then Mari's spoken with the ones on either side of us on the same side of the street, either in person or by a note in our mailbox.

The note-writer, the fellow north of us is a university professor who's written several books on the trials of the war criminals from the government in Japan after the war (the same dudes who later went back to form the anti-communist government). It turns out he spent a year in Edmonton! He's divorced, lives with his two adult daughters, and grows fruits I don't recognize in his yard.

The lady on the other side of us is on her own and has spoken with Mari several times. She heads out for a walk at 05:30 every day and her bike needs work. Sadly, my pump (despite being Japanese) doesn't support the Woods valves she's got. I guess we'll need a foot pump. The Japanese bike market is gigantic and crazily variant.

Between the two of them, Mari's been given a number of leads in the neighborhood, has been introduced to the woman who lives next to the professor - who runs the local PTA, which the professor founded many years ago - and is generally being made to feel like we're very welcome. Another mum that Mari's met in the area lived in Toronto for a summer when a student.