#neighbors
It was hard for John not to notice the new neighbors. Elena was a gorgeous brunette who, with her husband, Adrian, moved into the quiet suburb right beside John and his wife Carolyn. John’s office window overlooked Elena and Adrian’s back deck and their sliding glass doors. John had never seen this as a positive when his former, elderly neighbors Edna and Walter lived there.
Elena, however, liked to do yoga outside every morning and was generally not shy about sunbathing topless or, especially at night, strutting through her own house in the nude with the lights on.
John eventually worked up the nerve to talk to her, spending an inordinate amount of time “pruning” the bushes in his back yard, waiting for her to come out. They had a quick but fascinating (for John) conversation, which culminated in Elena inviting John and his wife for dinner later that week. Over dinner, Adrian explained that they had moved from Barcelona and how Adrian worked in the Spanish consulate.
As the wine continued to flow, the conversation drifted to more adult topics. Carolyn, who was a bit more conservative than most, pointed out that she had noticed Elena likes to avoid tan lines. Although Carolyn seemed to intend it as a rebuke, Elena laughed it off as she and her husband said how surprised they were at how prudish Americans can be.
John didn’t want his wife’s comments to either derail the evening or, worse, inhibit Elena from freely displaying her gorgeous body. He slowly directed the conversation elsewhere and then made an excuse for he and Carolyn to leave before the subject came up again.
That night, both John and Carolyn surprised each other with how vigorous their lovemaking was. They both had the best sex since their honeymoon.
Over the next few days, John made it a point to be outside more often, especially when Carolyn was out of the house. He and Elena would chat pretty regularly–John was surprised at how interested she seemed in him. Finally, after about a week, John spotted Elena walking out onto her deck. She was wearing a striped smock and nothing else.
She didn’t say a word, or even look in John’s direction–she stretched and moved seductively, as if she knew she was being watched. Finally, as John was staring–more gawking–at her, Elena turned her eyes toward him and gave him a coy but knowing smile. She nibbled her finger as she held his gaze and then motioned with her finger for him to come closer to the fence between them.
“My husband is not home,” Elena said. “I don’t know when he’ll be back,” she purred. “Maybe you could come over and keep me company?”
John couldn’t remember how he got there, but the next memory he had was being in Elena’s bedroom. Her delicate, warm hands were on his belt, and then his manhood.
They made mad, passionate love for what seemed like hours. Finally, near exhaustion, Elena suggested they grab something to eat from the kitchen. It was odd for John to be here, where for nearly a month, he had spied on Elena from his window next door.
“Next door!” The words screamed in his head. His wife was surely home from shopping now. Had she heard he and Elena? Had she wondered where he was?
Elena spotted the panic in her new lover’s face and chuckled lightly as he rushed to the sliding glass door to spy on his own house. “You should not worry,” Elena said. “She will be fine,” she added, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind as they both stood on the deck.
“Adrian is a very talented lover,” she said over her husband, just as John could hear Carolyn’s moans and the rhythmic banging of his own headboard against the bedroom wall next door.
Post link
Detroit has been through decades of social and financial problems ever since the city slowly slumped into oblivion and collapsing on itself until bankruptcy. The auto industry fueled the city’s growth for many years starting at the beginning of the 20th century with the advent of the automobile.
Fast-forward to the 21st century and everything is gone from the city once thrived with the biggest industry of the West. But it wasn’t enough for Detroit as it gamble its entire economy on cars rather than diversifying the industry investing in different fields. By the time politicians realized that it was too late.
We can trace back how the city developed into something fit only for those having the ability to afford cars, while the rest of those who relied on walking were left out of the equation for good. Today Detroit still lags behind in having an effecting public transportation system to make a significant impact, but it’s very hard when the entire city was developed inside the car-culture.
Three freeways isolate downtown from the rest transforming it in a citadel.
One of the main issues that affected the urban development and prevented the city from adopting a better road system, was the the layout of the freeway system that chokes downtown Detroit. The John C. Lodge, Fisher, and Chrysler freeways surround the urban center isolating it from the rest of the city.
Artificial barriers in the form of roads, ramps, collectors, are responsible for creating specific condition among neighbors, mostly negatively impacting hundreds of blocks at the time. Developers find this method very useful to separate high and low values housing so it won’t affect the pricing market, thus ensuring specific parts of town remain within a specific yield of profits.
Another important issue is the large presence of parking lots surface downtown. Highlighted in red the volumes dedicated to car parking are spread out comprising a large portion of the city core. Whenever cars have a place to be stored they will create incentive to use them everywhere as an extension of people’s lives that cannot be excluded.
The two portions in blue represent large areas of vacant lots that once hosted buildings. Today they leave tremendous gaps between blocks that reminds of Berlin in 1946 after the rubble removal. Focusing on the site located on the top-left corner we can comprehend how much Detroit has been neglected.
The highlighted area has an approximate dimension of 176,900 square meters of vacancy (plus/minus the presence of some buildings).
A close up of the area shows how depressing the area appears. Temporarily parking lots are placed where once buildings stood as there is no certainty of the urban plan for this area.
Uptown faces the same issues of large presence of parking areas that make up for a large potion of the space. The gargantuan suburb conveys tens of thousands of drivers every day requiring areas to leave their vehicles somewhere. Although commercial and public volumes required park spots for obvious reasons, they still represent a small percentage compare do the rest.
The red area represents the high-density portion of Detroit while the yellow one is low-density with suburban-type zones. This has been impacting the city for decades: everything revolves around vehicle ownership and those who don’t cannot rely on the weak public transport system or downtown residency.
Crime and high rents have pushed people away from the high-density areas towards the suburbs. Downtown is a corporate fortress that is ‘protected’ by a ring of freeways which doesn’t allow for a smooth transition towards the fringes.
The sprawl of Detroit -like many American metropolis- has impacted the life style of many citizens who are subjugated to the condition their neighbors dwell. In the last 20 years the city has suffered from crime sprees, major city corruption, financial collapse.
To build and to maintain such enormous suburbs required billions of dollars that cannot be made back in tax revenues: low-density neighbors don’t yield enough property taxes. The city was lost with a 20 billion dollar budget gap in 2013 after declaring bankruptcy.
The only way for Detroit to swamp itself out is to drastically rethink its urban design by reshaping vacant lots and abandoned neighbors. Building hi-density zone with enough green and public surface will create a major investment for the future.
At the same time public transportation must be made bigger than it is today, so streetcars and buses will have to increase in fleet size and stop network to provide access to everybody from the city fringes to downtown.
Illustration by Galina Tachieva repairing the sprawl.
Retrofitting neighbors has the best ability to render any city a place worth caring for. Once dead malls and flat surfaces are reborn building gracious communities and promoting pedestrian activity, then everything can become precious again . Areas that are well lit and offer rich patterns in their design will always engage the eye placing more importance in its care and existence.
Detroit can surely use what New Urbanism has done to other cities by reclaiming unused volumes and structures to increase their values by tailoring places around people first and cars second. Redeveloping city blocks opens for new opportunities of business and residential units for mixed using, departing from the old concept of leaving the housing pod with the car just to make small purchases.
Hadjia’s twin granddaughters Asia and Hafsa. After Eid prayers.
: Nana Osei - 2021
#accra #ghana #alhajiisreal #hadjia #mother #neighbors #family #islam #eid #eidmubarak #prayers #ashantiimmigrant #streetstyle #streetphotography #sonya7 #sony #fashion #everydayafrica #dynamicafrica #visiterlafrique #accrawedey #twins #granddaughters (at Tabora Alhaji)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPBhKuZJDn0/?utm_medium=tumblr
Post link
Hadjia! My neighbor, my mother, her family, and her kind heart. After Eid prayers!
: Nana Osei - 2021
#accra #ghana #alhajiisreal #hadjia #mother #neighbors #family #islam #eid #eidmubarak #prayers #ashantiimmigrant #streetstyle #streetphotography #sonya7 #sony #fashion #everydayafrica #dynamicafrica #visiterlafrique #accrawedey (at Tabora Alhaji)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-EibJjrQt/?igshid=1aw0cw7ypcu7x
Post link
Bar✨Hôtel✨Restaurant✨
@lepigalleparis #LePigalleParis #LePigalleHotel #HotelLePigalle #LePigalle #Pigalle #SoPi #SouthPigalle #JAimeMonTiequar #Paris #Paris9 #WelcomeInPigalle #WelcomeToMyNewNeighbors #Neighbors #BackFromThePoliceStation #Convalescence #Hotel #HotelDeQuartier #RueFrochot #FrochotStreet #Frochot #OPENINGSOON ✨ (à Le Pigalle)
Post link
Opening Soon ✨
@lepigalleparis #LePigalleParis #LePigalleHotel #HotelLePigalle #LePigalle #Pigalle #SoPi #SouthPigalle #JAimeMonTiequar #Paris #Paris9 #WelcomeInPigalle #WelcomeToMyNewNeighbors #Neighbors #BackFromThePoliceStation #Convalescence #Hotel #HotelDeQuartier #RueFrochot #FrochotStreet #Frochot À très bientôt ‼️ (à Le Pigalle)
Post link
Real
.
.
.
.
#dogs #beagle #jackrussell #potcake #dogsofinstagram #beaglesofinstagram #potcakesofinstagram #beaglesofinstagram #jackrussellsofinstagram #donut #petsofinstagram #otherpeoplespets #neighbors (at Los Angeles, California)
https://www.instagram.com/p/COoHXJ4DIKM/?igshid=t4ue025u0dsq
![http://techpriestbilly.tumblr.com/ Thanks for this submission! Keep em coming people! =]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/90a5c1711709f2baf6e23eb112e2d5ee/tumblr_mv7gfsngdy1sjo65ko1_1280.jpg "http://techpriestbilly.tumblr.com/ Thanks for this submission! Keep em coming people! =]")
.ೃ࿐ few night stands ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
heyyyyy!! I’m working on a new story called (for now lol) “few night stands” and I’d like you guys to help me out with it!!
Just to set up the plot lol, it’s about a girl who owns a flowershop and the guy that owns the tattoo shop right in front of it.
It’s mostly gonna be set while she’s pregnant but i don’t know if HE should be the one to have gotten her pregnant and them getting closer because of it, or if she got pregnant a little bit before meeting him.
What do you think? Comment or send an ask!! Or any vibe you get from the story, anything you wish would happen, I’d love for this to be collaborative <3
My next door neighbor
CHAPTER 1:
Few weeks ago she talked to me about wanting to learn and get together about gardening. So we did. I gave her over 12 gardening books for her to keep and expand her knowledge. So far…
1. She bought few fruit trees that mine can help pollinate.
2. We both bought a different pecan tree that will pollinate each other.
3. She cut down 2 trees, I took them for my raised beds and gave her 4x4s for her to enclose her vegetable patch.
4. I’m planting more blackberries and grapes near the fence line so she can harvest. She gave me elderberry starts.
5. She gave me cardboard, I gave her bird netting.
With everything going on in the world she’s worried about how costly food is getting.
Let’s see how this goes… chapter 2 coming soon
5/1/22
Zac Efron shows off his perfectly-chiseled abs in this brand new photo from his upcoming movie Neighbors!
The 26-year-old actor is joined by his co-star Seth Rogan in the Instagram pic, which jokes that he’s part of “Bound 4″ after Seth and his buddy James Franco released their “Bound 3″ spoof video the day before.
“Whether you’re a #KanyeWest? fan or not, fans are #Bound2 get a kick out of this new still from #ZacEfron and #SethRogen?’s film #NeighborsMovie Check out all the neighborly shenanigans when the comedy hits theaters next May! #uhhuhhoney,” the caption reads.
Post link
Low Tide on “The Brown Coast”
Every week, we feature a story from our archive, now available online in full to subscribers. Today, Daniel Johnson looks at a 2002 Wells Tower story, from issue no. 161.
If you ask me, there’s nothing funnier than a man seeing all that he’s created—built, grown, accrued, whatever—brought to ruin by the simple, ruthless, infuriating existence of his hapless neighbors. Such is the fate of Bob Munroe, the tragic hero in Wells Towers’s short story, “The Brown Coast.”
Post link
That’s a wrap on all the Neighbors festivities at the Funny Or Die frat house! Check out Delta Psi Beta’s president, Teddy (aka Zac Efron), in the new comedy May 9th! - #TeamZE #SXSW #FODxFB
Post link
