Ase Lindqvist

They are good neighbours in every respect except the cars, and the cars were a disgrace for about six years, and I said so, and they wrote me three letters explaining why it was complicated before somebody finally went and drew a line on the ground.

In thirty-one years not one of them has asked me to come to anything. Not once. My daughter finds that sinister. I find it restful. They asked me to a meal in 1994 and I said no and that was apparently minuted somewhere, because it never happened again.

I use their hall for the quilting group. Free, forty years, they leave the key under the same stone, which I have told them about.

Do I know what they believe? No. I asked once. The man said, we try to pay attention and we try to keep our promises, and I said, well, so do I, and he said, yes, that is rather the difficulty.