Party Neighbor

Every now and again I profile a neighbor. Party neighbor is not the "hey we had a rockin' time at his house" kind of party. Party Neighbor is the flag waving, love my candidate kind of party. He's super huge supporter of what we call the "Bull Party" because their logo is a red background with a black pull. I can't remember the letter abbreviation at the moment but their number is 28, I think. Every political party has a number here and I think it has to do with their position on the ballot, but I'm not clear on that entirely. No matter, we're getting side tracked from the fun that is Party Neighbor.

Party Neighbor renovated a very derelict house a few years ago. There was a tree growing through the roof of the thing. His family started the renovation process and went fast and furious on raising it the house and really making it into a nice home. They made some style choices that to a western eye are absolutely crazy but they aren't western people. They put their water tank high and in the corner of their house, just like ours, it's a tower. It's THE WORST PLACE to put a water tank. It's nearly physically impossible to get to later on when you need to clean it or put a flapper in it. Their garage is super weird; it doesn't look like it holds a car but it does. Just.

When Party Neighbor moved in, he scowled a lot. He would walk the streets of our neighborhood and sometimes, just our street and scowl. He looked at everything very suspiciously. Then our neighborhood started getting bumper stickered in party stickers. They stick these things to anything that doesn't move. Then the party flag would go up at his house, like all the time. Very strange. No one in our neighborhood is very outwardly political or patriotic.

Over time he has mellowed. His son is growing up and his wife and family can be seen a bit more often. They have a dog now. He still walks the neighborhood but he doesn't scowl anymore. He definitely seems more at home. But now he has bumper stickered the front of his own house. And he has had some word stickers made that he has also stuck to the front of his house. They are party slogans. What's funny is that they are behind the trees and the wall so no one else can see them.

My favorite Party Neighbor story though is the celebration of holidays. It's customary here for each party or major business to put up a sign for whatever holiday wishing people success and happy whatever the day happens to be. It's normally with a picture of whatever predominant candidate is supporting it. Party Neighbor gets one of these banners for each holiday. Huge, raise it high above the street banners. And the banner inevitably goes in front of the house that is directly across the street from his house. No one lives in that house because it's low and get flooded with the rains. Party Neighbor puts up his banner sometime about 5:00a.m. They sits in front of his house and looks at it. Throughout the day you'll find Party Neighbor looking at his banner. Just staring at it. Not interfering with anyone else, or passing out literature. Just staring at his party banner.