The people nearest to you are the ones you are most likely to overlook.

You know the traffic on your street better than you know the family in the flat below. You have shared a gate, a generator and three rainy seasons without learning their children's names.

Proximity is not relationship, but it is the cheapest place to start one. Neighbours are the people who reach you first in an emergency, long before anyone in your WhatsApp groups can get their car out.

It begins absurdly small. A greeting that stops walking. A plate of food sent across on a Sunday. A name learned and then actually used.