Everybody needs good neighbours

It isn't always a good idea hanging all your dirty washing out to dry on a blog. For example, I could have kept my mouth shut about the diesel thing but of course I didn't. The mother in law called earlier.

"So what are you going to do about that diesel thing?" she said.

"I don't know," replied the hubby, looking at me accusingly again (this argument had sort of been dropped until then). "Ask the wife."

I suggested we cross that bridge if we ever get the car back.

In the meantime, speaking of dirty laundry, Sarah - who we'll be living upstairs from very soon - emailed today to say that as she knows I'm keen to try cloth nappies again but put off because I don't have my own washing machine, she'd be prepared to throw our dipes in with Peg's at the end of every day. Now that's what you call a friend.

She's also going to let us add our scraps to her compost tumbler in the back garden once we're installed.

I know this might read like a one-way street with us getting rid of all our crap - quite literally - and Sarah getting nothing in return, but she does get rid of the guilt for running a washing machine half-full, she gets some extra lovely compost to put on her putative future tomatoes and she gets to polish her eco halo into the bargain. Which, er, almost makes up for dealing with our nappies.

I love this not only because I want to compost and do cloth nappies and she's making it possible, but also because it plays into the joint ownership ideal we discussed yesterday, pooling resources for lower environmental impact. Well, not quite, because Sarah still owns the washing machine and the garden, but still. It's all terribly exciting. What with the compost, the nappies and the Park Slope co-op, we'll soon be turning # 108 7th street into a veritable hippy commune.

Perhaps we Delaney Lethbridges will pay no rent and squat for maximum effect.

Hm, that might not go down so well with Sarah...

And on a final neighbours note I do have to mention how lovely our neighbours up here have been taking us shopping, stopping by and even taking us to buy a bottle of wine this evening (god bless you Kel). Gives you back some faith in human nature. Kelly, Cathy, John, thank you.