It's nice to know your neighbours and greet them when you meet in the stairwell. However, when the stairwell becomes a garden, a stargardtiens have some problems.
Recently I moved inside Kenya, and I now live in a residence made up of several bungalows. There are some permanent tenants, like me, and ongoing guests for two or three weeks. The long-term residents you get to know, the guests come and go. The small settlement is generously built with a common garden between the bungalows, also providing access to the cottages. The problem now is that the central walkway is much too far away to recognize anyone when I sit on the porch. Sometimes it is only after some delay that I actually realise that someone is out there. The question then arises for me, what should I do? I could call out a noncommittal greeting. With the risk that I greet the person only after he or she has already passed me for the most part and turned his or her back on me. Or that I greet the same person for the third time within an hour because he moves back and forth. Add to that the fact that in principle I don't like to call after people over a greater distance, I find it a bit rude. And if I don't greet them, it feels even ruder..... As a result, sometimes, I don't like to stay on my porch.
This article is part of the series "Stargardt in Africa".