Every year I forgive my next door neighbour John (Giovanni) his prolific spreading and digging of blood and bone (surely one of the most unneighbourly of products on earth) when he drops off bags of mandarins and oranges that he has grown in his garden.
This time at home has been a boon for neighbourhood fruit and the sharing of such. Have you also experienced this phenomenon?
I’ve eaten feijoas from my mother-in-law and from the community basket in Yarralea Street in Alphington.
I have had lemons from up the street, limes from my other next door neighbours, tamarillos from my mum (also made into chutney by my friend Ali - and she gave us a jar).
The other day I collected a bag of crispy persimmons from the community box out the front of a house in Howitt Street in Northcote.
I even picked a fig from that tree behind the houses, near Mr Wednesday, when I was walking to work one day.
Good fruit things. Happy neighbourhood days.