Not quite Ramsay Street...

National Night Out was this week in the US. For those not familiar, since 1984 NNO has been at its bare essence designed for folks to get to the know their neighbors and who lives in their neighborhoods; coordinating block parties, cookouts, flashlight walk arounds, and most importantly sitting on your porch or front steps ("stoops" as we call them in Philadelphia) and just talking to your neighbors. The rationale is simple: to build a sense of community. Your Farmer had participated in previous years and it's pretty cool.

NNO now has worldwide participation. Except in Australia where it appears to be unknown.

It puzzled me as to why until I thought about the different way the denizens of US & Australia live at home. In a fundamental architectural difference here, living spaces are in the back of the house and bedrooms in the front; while that reversal in the US meaning living areas are very visible to the street. And to ensure isolation, many houses in Australia are walled completely from the street meaning there is no front stoop or porch to be seen anyway; very different than in the US.
It's like if you're not located somewhere miles away from your neighbors, people here try to make sure it feels that way.

I guess NNO never comes to Ramsay Street.

- Farmer Ted