I just moved in here about a month ago and most of this time was spent away on business - not even unpacked yet. Heard the new owners plan some renovation so I dropped by the neighbour's to understand things (in English) a bit better. Pleasant surprise! We had a long chat about all and sundry. She was kind enough to drop by with some dinner! First time in 6 years I've had that happen.
Very nice of her I thought.
Share some stories of friendly neighbours et al if you've got them and haven't done so already.

I have a wonderful neighbour a few floors up, who I often have lunches and dinners with in either of our homes. I also bake for him quite often, and leave parcels outside his door for him to find in the morning.

When my cooker was not working, he offered for me to use his.

My neighbors share their fruit .... in summer I`ll often find a basket of apples, or plums, or a punnet of berries on the back steps.

They also share their expertise with vegetables and fruits - if I leave fruit too long on the trees/vines, they`ll offer to come over to help me pick them .

This post is incorrectly labelled! Friendly neighbours here are not rarae at all if you are finding friendly neighbours hard to find take a look in the mirror and you will find the answer why

my "friendly neighbour" upstairs turns out to be the hag that complained to the agency about our balcony plant boxes looking old and the plants needed pruning...

As she is above a mirror sheet is now on the balcony boxes so she can look at herself.

We have some awesome portuguese neighbours. When we go on vacation we water each other's plants, and get eachother's mail. They've helped us when we've had problems with our laundry card, run out of butter mid-recipe on a sunday, and when either of us has too much dessert, etc, we share.

I'm really thankful for them!

I had a nasty neighbour in another building, who would write letters to me every other day, chastising me for something (often incorrectly). She'd also complain if the washing ran til 20:02 - the rule was until 20:00, but sometimes you need to wash unexpectedly, and 2 additional minutes seems ok to me.

For me, in my long life, lol, it's been the case of the rare unfriendly neighbour. Just one - he smashed by cat's jaw with a spade because he didn't want him to visit his garden.

Apart from that, we have had 'smashing' neighbours of another kind. So many fab stories to tell. We've been very lucky.

I'm so sorry to hear the story about your cat. That is really awful. Were there any consequences for the neighbour? What happened to the cat?

In South Africa the tradition of taking a tray of tea/coffee/something to eat to new neighbors while they`re moving in was something I found endearing and a nice welcome to the new people. Most times a caserole of food would be taken over late afternoon, as obviously the newbies were too disorganised still to do cooking.

Is this done here in Switzerland? I`ve had neighbors move in up/down/across the road, but sort-of feel odd about going over with foodstuff - can`t handle rejection. Do any of you do this type of welcome thing?

For me, it`s not knowing which type of people (culture) they come from .... all the different food taboos.

I am the friendly neighbour in my building.... till one neighbour told me he likes to watch me cycle my bike so he can view me form behind...and would enjoy to have a buffet off my bum..

After I squezed my infalted head out the door i decided to be a little less friendly towards him lol

I've never had it done to me, but I would find it lovely! Perhaps a whole casserole would be too much (I'm not sure I'd like to eat food from people I absolutely don't know), but a nice hello and a homemade cake would do wonders!

I have never heard of such a gesture here, but no doubt, I would absolutely LOVE it. If you want my 5 cents, I'd start small, maybe with a quiche or a cake and then see how it goes. However, while the Swiss might be reserved, cold and all that, they are usually polite enough to accept a gift gracefully.

To get back to the topic, I have wonderful neighbours. They usually watch my cat and the guinea pigs while we're gone and this summer they even mowed the lawn (we were gone for four weeks), picked the ripe beans, froze them and gave them to us upon our return...

I try to be a good neighbour too, off course. I tell my kids not to throw their balls/airplanes whatever in the yard of the one neighbour who is a little bit touchy about such things, I offer some of my harvest or a jar of self-made jam every now and then and babysit if necessary. Also, when a baby is born in the neighbourhood I offer to bring over a lunch or dinner -a gesture that is always greatly appreciated.

I will take Swiss neighbors over foreigners any day. Foreigners bring the whole neighborhood down with back home bad habits.

I don't think I'd wish you on my worse enemy.

You must be warming up to me.

I love this, and often do it. If you are especially worried about offending, you could always invite them over and offer food, or ask if they would enjoy a casserole or cake that you'd happily make for them if so.

We were living in Newcastle-under-Lyme, but were away visiting my parents here. Our neighbour on the other side were looking after Thomas the cat- and they heard him crying in a weird way in the garden late one evening. She went out to find him with his jaw hanging on one side and bleeding profusely. Phone the vet and got him there just in time. His jaw was re-set and wired - and he made a full recovery, although was always a bit lopsided. The neighbour never apologised, nor paid for the vet bill. Fortunately all the other neighbours were brilliant, and took me under their wing when I had our first daughter, home after an emergency section on 3rd day, with no family to support me, and an OH working 140hrs a week, nights and week-ends. They were all brilliant.

When we moved to Leicestershire, just a few weeks before number 2 daughter was expected, our next door neighbour had cleaned the house (which had stood empty for over a year) from to to bottom, lined cupboards, etc. Then when I started in labour, took over our 2 year old for a few days - and looked after me, us, like she was my mother for the next few years. And she was so funny too. When she got old, I looked after her - even in the early stage of Alzheimers, then visited her weekly in the OAP home until she died. Bless your cotton socks our Betty.

Here, brilliant neighbours too. We all look after each other- i help the older children with their English and German, I babysit for the toddlers - they look after our garden, dog and cat when we go away and the guys patrol our house at night. Real team-work all round. One of our neighbours will have her second soon - so her toddler is used to us and she knows she can just call any time, night or day - so we can take over when the time comes. Great!

Swiss neighbours are not normal neighbours. They are angels sent by God above. Cherish them.

Ah all my neighbours are French One man has a cat call Fufu and OHhhh how i laugh when he is out at night calling for Fufu