Where do I know that face from?

Have you ever been out somewhere, seen a face pass by perhaps with a smile at you, and thought, ‘where do I know you from?’

Have you ever walked from your house or driven away and looked at a neighbours home and thought ‘I wonder who lives there?’

ONS statistics show that, in the UK, 8.3 million people live alone! They represent 30% of all households. Think about that, step out onto your street and look at the number of homes near you. It could be that of ten homes near you, within three of them people live alone.

Many of those people will be happy and lead very normal lives but the chances are, however active and engaged they may be, there is a moment where find living alone in a home, going back to an empty house, is a hard thing to live with.

Community is a wonderful thing, we are social animals and we lead busy lives. We all engage with our world in different ways and some of us are more gregarious than others.

Life is generally easier for those with partners, with family in the same home.

The least likely people often have had the most amazing lives.

People surprise me. It’s something I learnt long ago and it’s still the case. We naturally draw conclusions about all sorts of things in our lives and particularly about other people.

I have been very lucky to do the job I do. Every week I meet ordinary people and I love chatting with them because so often you find they have had amazing experiences in their lives.

Todays challenge is to say hello to a neighbour, have a chat, learn about them. Amazing things get achieved in our world by ‘ordinary people’, you may get a surprise and enjoy a wonderful tale.

NHS – Loneliness and mental health

ONS – Families and households in the UK: 2022

Do let us know how you get on, share with us on social media (you’ll find links on the right hand side of this page or at the bottom on mobile). We’d love to hear from you, to see some pictures and by all means share ideas for next year. We already have a growing list we couldn’t fit into this challenge.

Please continue to follow our Advent Challenge here

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