a real neighborhood

I live in a real neighborhood, which is a delight. Having grown up in the suburbs, I feel like I am still having 'aha' moments where I just enjoy it.

First of all, we walk or bike everywhere. Having no car, this is both a necessity and often an enjoyable aspect of life, though on rainy days when I'm fighting with the shopping bags and the stroller it can suddenly be really tiring. But it does mean I get to experience things in a more colorful way than when in a car - I stress around less too, I think.

Examples of neighborhoodness here in Vesterbro (on the west side of Copenhagen) I've enjoyed lately: The other day I went to a Moroccan sweets bakery a few streets away, and while there I asked the man if he knew of a drycleaner nearby. He asked me to wait, and called into the back of the shop. An older man came out, and asked, 'you have the jacket with you?' He told me he had a shop around the corner, and since I wasn't ready to just give Peter's suit to a stranger, I said I'd just go to his shop. (I thought he would have somebody working there while he was at the bakery.) But no, when I got there, a friend of his watching the store for him told me to wait. And sure enough, there he comes across the street with his sweets in his hand - waving to me. It wasn't even a full cleaner's, a sort of jack-of-all-trades shop where he fixes shoes, makes keys, etc. Made me smile.

Then I walked to a bagel shop to see about ordering some cakes. I was going to buy a muffin but didn't after I heard that they don't take debit cards. The owner said, 'Just take it, and pay for it next time you come.' Made me smile again.