if you can’t be responsible and respectful with SIX neighbors then you don’t deserve the privilege of owning property.
Yeah had a neighbor that would just pop in all the time. It was cool until it wasn’t. We moved and barely speak now. I think I know one person in my new neighborhood and it’s very much just an acquaintance.
Everyone’s dream =
I’m not seeing an A/C unit on this thing anywhere.
If you have this, you’re already cool enough.
No one outside of high school has six friends.
No one makes friends with six random neighbors. And certainly they don’t all consider each other friends.
There’s a reason this is called a “dream”.
No one outside of high school has six friends.
Me, a guy with maybe a dozen friends I hang out with on a weekly basis, whistling past the graveyard of loneliness
There’s a reason this is called a “dream”.
One trick to living in a cul de sac with six of your closest friends is to meet your neighbors and become friends with them. I’ll say that COVID really helped me with this, personally, because during the peak I was just out on the driveway or walking the local trails trying not to go stir crazy and… so was everyone else. Pretty soon we were doing impromptu parties on the driveway and yoga on the lawn and whatever else we could to avoid the isolation of a pandemic.
But you don’t need a killer virus to wave to your neighbors, say hi, and strike up a conversation. And there’s a compounding effect. When two people are out talking, you’re likely to pick up a third. When five people are hanging out at the end of a day, it can quickly become ten or more.
If it’s an instinctual response to wish for this kind of thing, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine people gravitating towards these relationships IRL.
prove it
I suddenly remember all those 80s and 90s sitcoms where the friends live right nearby and wall right into each others homes without knocking and just start talking without any greetings. This picture is just as unrealistic.
Houses are too big + the yards too small.
No thanks.
“It would get old fast”? Op, I’m afraid you don’t have good friends. When I was a university student, I was in a shared apartment with two friends. It was great: you always had someone to do stuff with and group activities were much easier to schedule.
Now that I’m older it would be nice to easily check who’s up for something, spontaneously grill with everyone or simply sit together in the evening and talk.
My friends group still goes on vacation together from time to time and I love it. If your friends are only enjoyable in small doses… I don’t know… that sounds sad.
Also with a house of your own, everyone would have enough space to retreat if necessary.
Besides from the bad gardening that was mentioned by the other posts, I would love to live like this.
Man, this. I moved in with a friend to my first apartment like 10 years ago. With two more a couple floors down.
Nowadays all 4 of us live in a big house together and it’s great. Sure there’s some conflict, but at the end we’re still friends and we can reconcile like adults. I’d move more of our close friends in if we had the space. We even briefly had a 5th housemate when he was between apartments and that was cramped, but still actually very nice.
Good friends is the key - to me, this sounds great. I have plenty of friends I’d love to have this close, it might even be hard to pick “just” 6.
The only problem I see here is the lack of fences, trees, and plants. And the size of the houses is a bit too big for my needs.
At the end of the day it’s not the details of the pic but the concept conveyed. All the homies, within walking distance, with someone probably available to hang whenever.
I have a small friend group and we go on vacations together all the time. There are about 6 of us then I bring my kids too. We go to beaches, cabins, amusement parks, you name it. It’s awesome. I wish we all lived on the same st too. I bet we could even save some money by cooking meals together more often.
I thought when I had kids I would be out of any kind of group like this but my friends are awesome. Occasionally they will do something and I’ll have to turn it down because it would be too hard but they always keep asking and we ask them too.
I literally cannot comprehend secured housing. Its like a dragon or unicorn. Sounds rad AF, but 10,000% unrealistic.
secured housing
I’m not familiar with this term. help?
I think they mean not renting? Or maybe living in a defensible space??
Right. “Comprehend” is the wrong word, it should have been they can’t imagine ever having secured housing.
I know what it means, but not 100% sure it applies here
it means stable & affordable. like your landlord can’t kick you out, and your rent won’t be jacked up unreasonably
it means stable & affordable. like your landlord can’t kick you out, and your rent won’t be jacked up unreasonably
yeah that would be the best interpretation, hopefully the right one. thanks!
Pretty sure he meant gated community.
I’ll never understand why US suburbs like to utterly nuke any kind of nature around their houses and replace it with “lawns”. Like, I’d rip that stuff out and at least plant some potats and shit immediately.
It is actually a anticommunist thing
Care to elaborate?
I heard of that, I think it was some propaganda piece. Like “look at those poor sovjets, have to grow their own food because the state can’t provide. Meanwhile we’re so civilized and advanced”. (Interesting sidenote: The culture of huge lawns came from the UK I think, rich people in the 1800 and 1900 displayed their wealth that way).
Not saying it wasn’t like that in some places, just that it’s so unfathomably stupid. And now there are US Tiktokers talking about “lifehacks” of growing your own food, with other US Tiktokers calling people who do that libtard commies and whatnot. US culture is a disaster on life support.
I just can’t fathom why seemingly a whole class of US citizens apparently aren’t able to use their damn heads and still do this nonsense.
Coming from the UK is correct, it was literally an artistocratic flex at having literally useless land. I read a dissertation a few years back that also linked this to a Baudrillard style simulationist desire for the upper class not to see land with any practical value immediately besides their homes because they were resistant to accept that their wealth was exercised from any real action, and instead they’d pretend it was just a truth. But beyond the lawns were forests and fields, because they had to exist.
When lawns were adopted by the bourgeoisie, who only had half an acre of property, it was already trendy to have the surrounding acres of the house be only lawn. The bourgeoisie simulation was to have the house surrounded by lawns as if it were to then give way to fields and forests, which of course did not exist, just your neighbours equally ugly plot of land.
What I never understood about all of this though, is that gardens are equally cosmetic vanity. I have fond memories of the garden of my grandmother, which has a small greenhouse and two raised vegetable beds at the back, but everything else was flower beds, a pond, a summer pavillion, a small lawn, a shed and a scattering of trees and bushes. Other than the small sections for growing vegetables, it was all entirely for vanity. But it was beautiful. Hell, the small lawn was even pretty functional as the primary place to set up chairs in the sun and play ball games.
I am British, and once this island was forest and mountains from shore to shore, with meadows and plains being rare. The lawn never made sense here, and caught on less in in the Soviet Bloc as plains become more common in nature. America is a land with far more natural plains, and the lawn is further removed from it’s original status. It’s imitating an imitation of a denial of reality, Baudrillard would have a field day.
But I did mention, in my grandmother’s garden, playing ball games on the lawn. American sport is largely built on the suburban madness that is lawns. I’m not talking about sport born in urban centers like basketball, or sports from true rural areas, which I can only assume is rednecks drink driving, if watching US shows has told me anything, but Baseball, American Football and even golf are sports made for lawns. It’s hard to detangle lawns from middle class America without stopping middle class kids play sports in their gardens.
One day they’ll add vegetable gardening to the Olympics and America will be saved, and Joseph McCarthy will be stuck in hell on his fucking lawn.
sports from true rural areas, which I can only assume is rednecks drink driving
We also hunt deer, go fishing, and throw bean bags into a wooden box called a “corn hole”.
You’re not supposed to tell them about corn holing! You have to wait until they’re at a BBQ to spring it on them and expect them to participate without any explanation.
Every year, my company has a company-wide cornhole tournament at our all-employee bbq shindig. I entered it last year, assuming it was a casual fun thing and everyone there played once or twice a year, like me. I’m from two states away, and it really isn’t as big here. It was not casual. These people brought their own bags, some well over $100 a set. I was embarrassingly outclassed. Out in the first round. This year is corn hole and go karts. I’m going to try that instead this year.
It’s hard to detangle lawns from middle class America without stopping middle class kids play sports in their gardens.
They still play on the lawn? Thought by now they’re kept mostly indoors (or in cars) for helicopter-parent-reasons, safety or sth. At least that’s what I heard. A german news moderator for the US also mentioned it once, some Karens in the neighborhood thought of child neglect because the kids were playing in the front yard or going to the playground alone (gasp!).
Not really getting the point though. Most lawns are huge, there’s enough space for playtime and some nice flowers or vegetables. Most houses even have a front and back lawn…
You might find an odd scenario of someone calling the cops on kids on a slow news day, but that is not the normal scenario anywhere.
sports from true rural areas, which I can only assume is rednecks drink driving
You know how europeans think that yellow school busses must be a movie trope, but they really are everywhere all the time in America?
Same concept
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQaMr3UHOWE
“No mam who owns his home and lot can be a communist, he has too much work to do”
- William Levitt
Also a chem industry lobbying to sell fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and paint
It’s just that much easier for developers to raze all plants to the ground before grading and running other heavy equipment. These are new construction and so those developers aren’t accountable to anyone, and I’m sure the local jurisdiction doesn’t care. That’s not a justification, for what it’s worth, just an explanation.
What I’ve never been sure of is why people don’t eventually realize how much nicer everything would be if they just replanted trees (or left them in the first place) but they seem to be used to suburban hell. If you drive everywhere it’s less of an issue that your environment is shit.
You’re assuming people who are forced to buy into the suburban hell have a choice.
If a person had a choice between a 100k house in a suburban hell or a 100k house in secluded heaven. That they pick the suburban hell.
Have you seen the housing market in the US?
It’s also funny how “Suburban” meaning has changed. It’s supposed to be non-urban.
But with these “suburban” neighborhoods in cities. It has basically became a word for a neighborhood with houses built next to each other and less about where it’s located.
Suburbs use to be an inexpensive option as opposed to urban living.
If a person had a choice between a 100k house in a suburban hell or a 100k house in secluded heaven. That they pick the suburban hell
Because of jobs. Unless you are retired or able to work remotely, jobs are a leash that control where you can live.
And even if you do work remotely, you can’t count on that lasting forever.
One of the primary reasons I actively chose the suburbs was so that I’d be able to get another job if I lost my fully remote job. After ten years, exactly that happened, and I got a job with a commute to downtown.
I’d be able to get another job if I lost my fully remote job
Not having other job options is quite a risk. Small towns that rely on one main employer are usually devastated if that employer relocates or shuts down.
Also big box stores are usually not too far away by design I’d wager. I’ve heard zoning laws caused most of the US to be a complete desert for shopping unless you have a car since everything is so centralized. Depending on the state a “secluded heaven” might very well be dozens of kilometers away from the market, right?
I can’t even imagine this… no matter where I lived so far in Germany, let it be countryside, city or at the city border, there always were small shops, kiosks and/or bakeries nearby (<1km). I can’t fathom having to drive even if I’m just craving some candy while living in what’s supposed to be a proper neighborhood.
Can confirm. I am trapped in suburbia for at least three more years.
I can’t wait to head for the hills.
Don’t they also have these “neighborhood associations” that forbid them to do anything that falls out of line?
HOAs are indeed common in the “land of the free”.
even without HOA. non HOA streets often also maintain a perfect lawn
I don’t get it.
hate lawn maintenance, I find that if you let it run wild and full of local wild vegetation they are so much prettier and fun to look out, look at all those butterflies and bees.
So what I suspect happens is that in newer development communities, the people building them just seem to find it easier to level/bulldoze an entire plot of land to build a neighborhood. Then they just don’t feel like putting plants and trees back in after construction is complete out of pure cost and laziness.
For older neighborhoods in the US, you’ll find a lot more foliage. I love it when I go to an older neighborhood that has large trees that canopy the area. They do exist here…it’s just that they have to be a bit older. My condo complex has some wonderful tall trees and plants everywhere. It’s not a new complex though and they seem to care more about plantife than some others do. They even randomly planted a massive tree last year for some reason lol. Seemed to require some pretty big machinery to haul it and put it in lol.
Before I bought my current place, there was another complex I was looking at. The trees were even larger and provided even more of a canopy across the area. It was gorgeous. And again, the neighborhood was a bit older.
Yeah, it’s impossible to develop a greenfield site without scraping everything off. You have to create and get approval on water runoff management plan for any new development. That means grading everything and often these days it also means managing and impounding water on-site without dumping it all into the (overloaded) storm drain system. When there’s no grass you have to install silt fences to keep silt out of nearby streams while building. You can’t get final approval, and remove the silt fence, until there is some kind of ground cover and that basically means grass since it grows fast and is easy to apply. Even if you somehow left the trees there’s no way they’d survive the process.
Fuck McMansion developers, and fuck lawns, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a reflection of an entire system of land-use policy and not just stupidity, or whatever.
A lawn is generally easier to take care of than a collection of various plants and trees. First thing I do at any new home is plant a fuck ton of edible plants, and my neighbors always talk about not having the time or energy to do the same
I’m unsure if I’m allowed to have tomatoes growing but so far no one has said anything so places without hoa care a lot less!
Imagine not being able to decide what you grow in your own yard. Wild.
The only laws I’m sure the township has is lawn height. I don’t think it says anything about gardening things. I’m glad to not be in a hoa?
With lawn height you mean they heard the scientists and you need to have a couple square feet of uncut lawn, right?
They don’t care about the backyard if its fenced so…sort of???
OH FUCKING GOD, YOU MEAN I’VE CONSENSUALLY AGREED TO A COMMUNITY SET OF RULES? THE FUCKING HORROR OF THIS SHIT SHOW!!!
If you have to agree to it to buy something as basic as a home then it isn’t truly consensual. Hell, it isn’t even truly consensual for less necessary stuff like cars (you “agree” to surveillance - arguably a necessity in less developed places), digital goods (same - also more or less necessity), games (you agree to not own dogshit) and other things. Hell, you keep “agreeing” to workplace rules supposedly “freely”, but we all know it isn’t.
There are certain basic rules everyone has to agree to (laws) to uphold society, but other than that any agreement like HOAs have to be truly optional if your argument is supposed to work. And no, just “going elsewhere” isn’t a fucking option in the current disastruous market. Especially since that nonsense appears to be so common in the US.
🙄👌 whatever you need to tell yourself
🤡
Beep.
No wait — boop.
Boop
Pest control might be part of it.
Pests, like birds, butterflies, bees…
I once had a distant relative react to a worried conversation about the extreme reduction of insects in nature with “but that’s great! Way less moscitos, and a clean windshield!”.
I swear to all higher beings, I never wanted to punch a stupid person more than in that moment.
My British friend says that Americans don’t have lawns. They have grassed in areas.
In a neighborhood like that, you’d probably end up with a fine and they’d charge you to ‘fix’ it for you.
My aunt and her family lived in a place like this. It was such a weird vibe. We never walked or rode our bikes anywhere, we just played in the yard.
I consider the ideal distance for friends and family to be 1hr walk/5-10 min drive.
Except for my youngest sister. For her, an Emirates gold flyer program.
Friends 1 and 7 control the choke point and use it to starve the rest of the friends.
Calm down Netanyahu
Friend 4 has the best line-of-sight for machine gun nest and sniper fire.
I’d be so into this if there was something we could all walk to at the end of the block. Like a main st or something
Friend 3 runs the pub at the end of the block. Doesn’t even need a car.
Or a large wall with cannons and machine guns to keep out any trucks with flags on them.
This is the first thing that came to mind when I saw this.
(Ed, Edd & Eddy was sooo good)
I also really respect and like the finale, which is rare for a cartoon
YES I loved that show
Who has seven friends?!?
I have my DND group, so four there. Plus two more that participate regularly in our discord and hang out periodically.
So six friends, plus spouses so that’s 7 houses occupied.
If any of them elected to keep grass instead of native plants and trees they are out of the cul-de-sac.
I think one lawn/arena for the cul-de-sac is fine. If I had 7 friends, spouses, and kids in that, we’d be playing pick up football/lacrosse/hurley/rugby/ultimate-frisbee all the time.
Yeah the lots should be reconfigured for better utilization. The backsets on the detached units could be reduced, and the buildings clustered to the right/back corner of the property. The Street could be replaced by a laneway on the property line next to the cluster of homes, freeing up the entire left/front for this common area, and garden/greenery etc
With houses no less.
I’m just happy someone else said it.
Six actually, you are one of the seven friends
