Fairly regularly, in my neighbourhood, a block gets shut down to road traffic so that the local community can emerge from their homes and hang out. Usually, it is very kid-centric, food, treats, games, sports, and always plenty of chalk drawings.

Walking my dog Bert around the community I stumble upon these scenes regularly, and I think: this is how community builds. But the next day, everyone returns to their space and privacy.

So I was much taken last week when I chanced upon a block party that had gone BIG: no chalk drawings, but a painted road of a bucolic scene of community that screamed to road travellers: watch out, little people live here!

Yesterday, with the block party in the past, I walked Bert along the same road, and it felt slower, safer, more about the people who live there. It mattered.

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