Where is the lockdown community spirit

I am 79 and have asthma and arthritis. Several of my lovely neighbours have offered to help with shopping if needed. So far my son brings my shopping on Tuesday when he is off. He is a doctor and so is my daughter in law. A few days ago a lady from my local council rang up and asked a few questions and if I had any help with shopping. I said my son was doing that. Then she said that if there came a time when he wouldn't be able to do that, the council could provide me with a box of essentials at no cost! I am amazed that the council will do this. Apparently some people get it every week. Why? If they were able to do their own shopping they would have to pay, and in the end somebody is going to have to pay, aren't they?

My eldest son(lives over 70 miles away from me) but he does live very near my ex in -laws,(not his grandparents,only my youngest childs) but he called at beginning of this & gave them his number& told them to let him know if they need anything..but my ex FiL is very sprightly& theyre not very old so he likes to get out & get things himself i think..my ex, their only son,has recently moved far away from them& has only been seen once since this began.(he never was a very nice person)...

I like that saying MerylStreep

geekesse
As I always say: the road and the phone runs both ways.

My partner who is partially sighted with ill health had a phone call at the very beginning from the vision people but they said they could only help people who had nobody at all. There was odd little notes pushed through his door to say people would fetch items for you but nothing for sometime now. I moved in with him as we do not normally live together we stay at each others property and with the odd home delivery and my trips to the shops and some help from his children (who have all left home and have their own familes) we have survived. No help from the government even though I filled in the vulnerable persons form. His neighbours are self isolating as he has a pacemaker and have not been out since lockdown started.

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I think we all got 'nextdoor' leaflet too,at beginning,but i think you had to register for it so i think maybe no one wanted to do that?...im not out of my 50's yet so didnt bother- i think our area are keeping to ourselves in case we catch or spread the virus,but also shop is a 2 minute stroll away so maybe folk are going when on their exercise hour i was lucky enough to find hand wash in there when no where had it at beginning of march..higher prices than supermarkets,but better than nothing..

We have our dd who just lives round the corner for us, picking up our perscriptions and shopping, if I can’t get a
Slot. Neighbours have checked we are ok.
My sister has help from her dd but she’s fed up. Which is sad she has good neighbours who get the paper and milk etc.
And one of her ds is doing there shopping. But she’s in a bad mood. So not texting her at the mo, just leaving her to it.

It's clearly over here where I live! I've had a personal message slipped through the door and a printed one and twice asked for help on our local Facebook COVID page. Today a lovely young woman has brought me a growbag for my six tomato plants! It cost £4 and she would accept any money so I'm going to give her tomatoes when they fruit.

I live in Wandsworth. No offers of help here from neighbours but I did not expect any. I have lived here for 43 years and I have been housebound disabled for slightly over half of that. My privately employed cleaner carer is on full pay furlough. A local church put a note through the door giving a number to phone. I think if I need help I will go to the online neighbourhood scheme called Nextdoor which is keen to help with all sorts of things.

VE Day? Well over half the people who live in my road have ancestors who were on the other side 75 years ago. I spent the original VE day in a childrens hospital in Tite Street in Chelsea as I was a war casualty.

I work at a GPs surgery and we've called each and every one of our vulnerable patients to find out what help, if any, they require. There are a couple of organisations set up in the area to help and several of us at the practice have delivered medications to people who are self isolating, shielding or simply can't get to the pharmacy.
In relation to the original post: What a damn shame that everyone thinks it's someone else's responsibility to look after their neighbours.

Neighbours across the road ask if I am ok. Everyone else just gets on with their own lives. I could curl up & die & no one would notice until my food delivery sits on the doorstep till someone nicks it then complains about the smell from my place. No community spirit here & never has been as lot are older & others are Incomers who move here as its cheap then move away again.

Here’s a thought. Instead of asking ‘why aren’t people being nice to me?’ Why doesn’t the OP, and anyone else who is stewing resentment, initiate something themselves? Set up a WhatsApp group or Facebook page for your street and advertise it by putting a poster in your window. Ring your local store or post office and ask them to put a notice in their window. Reach out to other people instead of just expecting them to reach out to you. There may be people who would love to help, but who have felt that their approach may have been rejected or unwelcome in the past.

I'm very proud of my son who lives in a flat on a newly built development. He has an older lady living in the flat below them and put a note through her door several weeks ago offering help if she needs it. She keeps her heating on 24 hours a day all year! so their flat is very warm. We are also helping out our neighbour who is self isolating. It really depends on what your neighbours are like.

You started other thread Gingster too asking same question we all answered a few days ago about after lockdown....feeling lonely at all?....

We do all the usual i.e. shopping, phoning, and meeting outside a couple of times a week.
But OH goes one step further. We have 2 elderly neighbours who always had a Sunday roast with their families. Now he makes 2 extra meals and delivers them.

Prior to the current situation neighbours kept themselves to themselves and seldom spoke - I felt it was because I was elderly (albeit still fairly active then), if they offered/asked if I needed anything I might expect them to do things for me. No chance! I was useful for taking parcels in but after a long spell in hospital I decided enough was enough. A normally friendly outgoing person I realised I had to think of myself given that a long spell in hospital had left me housebound. Currently I have fought and survived Coronavirus and am now out of hospital. As for many, the hardest test of the essential lockdown has been not seeing my family and the small children. But it has brought a silence which I have learned to appreciate. I do feel that everyone, in every age group, will have been affected in many ways long after this ‘nightmare’ has passed. Just hope that some of the genuine community care/kindness generated by so many will continue despite the probability that life in the future is going to be somewhat different. A special thought to all those who have lost loved ones and friends. And grateful thanks to those who nursed me, despite all the Hazmat/protection etc which made us all feel we were in a Sci Fi film and seemed unreal.

We are a road just off a High Street in a town. Everyone has a green/red card in the window, and there's a functioning WhatsApp group for those who were able to join and wanted to.
I think lots more neighbours are now chatting to each other.

Our village has an organised support team, with leaflets through all doors stating who the road coordinators are.
Fortunately we do not need any assistance and have DSs living nearby.
Like others, in recent years new houses have been built around the village, but everyone has come together offering help, free items and general friendliness.
But I do have to say, it’s alway been like that.

We live in a close of 30 houses. Though we're both over 70, there's been no note through the door or anything else. A neighbour did offer if we needed anything, to let her know one evening during 'the clap'. Nothing for VE Day.

In normal times, we might say 'Hi' to two or three neighbours if we see them in passing or vice versa. Otherwise it doesn't feel terribly community spirited round here.

A pity as you'd think that a close would be - er - closer, IYCWIM. Good thing we don't actually need help at this time.

I don't think you can expect much from neighbours these days. But I'm sure there are organisations or the local council that have volunteers.
I do remember reading a thread a while back when someone had received a note asking if they need anything...etc from neighbour but they didn't appreciate it. Funny old world we are living in at the moment.

Here on Hayling island we have Hayling helpers, other volunteer groups, 3 notes through the door offering..quite frankly we are in undated with offers of help IF we need it. Also there is a national scheme run by RVS (Royal Voluntary Service) contact them if no other support is available locally.

Our street has been brilliant in supporting the elderly and vulnerable, and I think that my community in general has been really excellent. I have noticed that the 'best' streets are the Victorian terraces and the more modest semis. The ones bereft of the community spirit locally are the millionaires' detached and where there are long front gardens with tall hedges and trees. Is it our visibility to each others as neighbours which promotes community relations?

Gingster Same here apart from one neighbour who at the start asked if we were okay. This was when I was taking some chunky chalks to her children who were drawing on the pavement. Never had any contact or offer from anyone since. The area is mainly families who are too busy complaining about the fairy doors they place on the woodland park being removed. Technically litter but they see it as theft! Community spirit - never heard of it.

Our street, which is quite long with over 300 assorted houses and bungalows, semis and detached, has a mutual aid WhatsApp group started about 6 weeks ago. Note was pushed through everybody’s door and you responded if you wanted to. It’s been wonderful, shopping undertaken, items swapped or given away, including frog spawn. The image of buckets of frog spawn going up and down the road was quite funny. Everyone has observed social distancing and on VE Day many of us had tea at 4.00pm in our front gardens. We met neighbours we had never spoken to and it was wonderful. The group has a variety of ages from elderly to young families and we have all vowed to continue this community spirit after lockdown.