Support your local...

How much of what you need to live a full and happy life can you find in your own neighbourhood?

And, by neighbourhood, I'm referring to whatever is within about 15 minutes by foot or bicycle from where you live.  If you stepped out of your front door, hopped on a bike and rode a comfortable distance (not enough to really even raise a sweat), what could you find?

Neighbourhood is a strange concept, geographically speaking.  It doesn't necessarily overlap with other geographical markers.  For example, I've lived in three houses in Townsville, and in one house my "neighbourhood" takes in parts of four suburbs, while another takes in the entire of one suburb, and the third barely took up a quarter of a suburb (for some reason, they decided to just keep adding to Kirwan instead of making a new suburb - the whole suburb is actually bigger than some towns).

When I lived in Tasmania, my "neighbourhood" took up almost the whole town.

And I tend to think that we all have two neighbourhoods, anyway - the one around the place where we live, and the one around the place where we work.  For some of us, that's the same neighbourhood, but I know of people who live and work in different towns (something I used to do myself).

So, what's in my neighbourhood(s)?  How much of my needs (physical, social and spiritual) can my neighbourhood cater for?

What shops and services do I have close at hand?  What are my local neighbourhood sporting teams?  Schools?  Churches?  Clubs and craft groups?  Doctors' surgeries and dentists?  If I want to take up a new hobby, can I do it close to home?

I've long been fascinated by the fact that the older suburbs in Australian cities have almost everything you need within walking distance, while the newer suburbs don't.  It's like the fact that we have cars has lead to an expected lifestyle in which we no longer need local communities.

Our streets are just places where our houses are.  We sleep there and watch TV.  If we want to do anything else, we just drive to the other side of town...

Yes, I can drive my car to any sporting club in the city.  So what relevance do such clubs have for local communities any more?

Yes, I can drive to any supermarket in town.  So who goes to the shop that's just down the road from me?  And, if I don't, and my neighbour doesn't... then how long can it survive?

I want to be more locally engaged.  To know what exists in my neighbourhood and make use of it.  Unfortunately, I'm very bad at paying attention to things like this.  The best I can do is usually (but not always) getting my haircut somewhere near wear I live or work and only buying newspapers from shops within walking distance.  Which actually just means I rarely buy the paper (not a big problem, my local paper is pretty crappy)...

Even though I live in one of the older suburbs, and I can actually fulfill quite a number of my needs close at hand, I don't.  I drive all over town to find what I want (or buy it online) - making me firmly part of the problem.

Oh, well.  Eventually it won't matter.  There won't be anything "local" to support.