Death Next Door

My neighbour, Eva, who lived next door to us passed away on Sunday. We didn't even know about it until Phill read it in the papers today and called me at the office to tell me. No wonder we haven't seen her walking around the past few weeks. She usually walks past the front of our house to speak to the neighbour who lives next to us, on the other side. She can sometimes be seen doing this walk back and forth almost 5-6 times each day. Maybe it was a hint for us to walk out to say hi but I don't cos I'm sometimes too tired to make conversation.

But...I always make conversation whenever I bump into her or when I drive out of my driveway and see her standing outside her house, I'll stop, wind down my car windows and have a good chat with her.

But I can't help feeling like I could have done more. It was really a toss-up between being a good neighbour and wanting my privacy and space. She had a tendency sometimes to sound fairly bossy in terms of saying what we should do to our place. But it could be her way of making conversation. But honestly, it was her smoking that was a big turn-off.

I know she is almost blind and can't use the stove or oven cos she can't see and has her meals delivered via a local Meals on Wheels service organised by the local council. I did offer her to come over for a meal but she didn't take it up. She offered me her lemons from her beautiful lemon tree but I didn't take any either.

She has friends who visit her daily but she still seems lonely. Perhaps her blindness limited her activities and exacerbated the loneliness and quietness in the house. She has children who lives in Mansfield but she has lamented her daughter chose to live overseas than with her but she spoke fondly of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The street we live in, Parwanoff, was named after her husband because he built the 6 units that are on this small and private street. I remember her stories about her husband and I can tell they were very much in love. However, I got the sense that she really lived when he was alive but life seemed to have stopped for her when he died. She always talked about wanting to die because she was blind and not knowing why she was still alive. She did finally get her wish when she passed away at 78. I felt sad she died fairly lonely but it may also be a matter of perspective since she had friends who cared enough to visit regularly but maybe she wanted familly...