Sounds like a false goodbye, and would you really want to keep in contact.....yes it does seem abit irish, some people are full of falsities! :)

Some people don't know how to break the ice. Perhaps they felt as if they *were* being neighborly with you (Their standard may be different). Perhaps they are feeling a little pang of homesickness or preparing to miss the place already. I would just be gracious, take the e-mail address and then, if you don't feel like communicating, toss it.

No it doesn't. I had a neighbor do exactly that. He rarely spoke when we were both outside puttering around. He declined invitations to Christmas parties. Yet when they moved he knocked on the door and started chatting as if we had been old friends for many years. He emailed somewhat aggressively for nearly three years. Then one day it stopped. And now I haven't heard from him in almost 5 years. It makes no sense at all!

For me, there are two possible explainitions. 1. They, in contemplating your departure, and the potential of worse neighbors moving in, have realized that they could be loosing someone who could have been a friend. And now a note from my darker side: 2. Building a face to face relationship takes time and in the modern world work. To establish an ex-post -facto relationship, you don't need anything more than an email address and a computer. This allows them to look back fondly, and even generate some "memories" of how great the neighborhood was back when they the "_your last name here_" family lived here. This also allows them to add one more address to the ghastly list of Christmas letters(family brag sheets)that a family can send out. And all for the price of a postage stamp.

I think that some people are part of the "neigborhood click". This means that to be a part of this you have to socialize with these people all the time and answer to all their "beck and calls". Not all people want to be this close to their neighbors. I know that my husband and I don't. We have too much going on in our own lives. We also don't want to be part of the on-going gossip. We want to be neighborly by saying hi and good-bye, support their children's activities by buying candy, or sending yearly Christmas cards, but we don't really want to get involved in all the crazy stuff. We don't want problems and the best way to avoid that is by NOT GETTING TOO INVOLVED. If one of them does not like us, that is fine. We know that we have never done anything to any of them and if they have a problem that is their problem. We also know that there are people in every neighborhood that want to have gruges, or have an envious nature and why should that bring us down. We want to be friendly, but not commited to the neighborhood click. Also, we have fixed up our home and invested a lot of money into it...we love our house and too bad if they have a problem....it is THEIR problem and NOT OURS.Marelen

Understand that to them you may seem like someone whom they'd enjoy a friendship. However, people have been burned time and again trying to befriend neighbors in close proximity. "Once bitten, twice shy" as the saying goes. So some people don't make close neighbors friends, to avoid major problems. It's hard to get over, but he made note of your good attributes...for when he moves. It's a compliment! The ball is in your court.

No. In my opinion what i have realized is that most people are wrapped up in their own obligations, some people are so busy they do not have time to be neighborly in my opinion why take people so seriously that are not doing anything for you.

It is weird but it is a fact and I agree with it. Say even though you're not very close in neighbourhood, if let say you're on vacation or elsewhere and you met them there, you'll be likely to greet each other warmingly then you're at home. Nature's like that.

that dont make sense to me either