Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hanging out in the common house

[David L. Mandel (75407.2361]

I think our common house is used more than those of some others who have
contributed to this thread, and the reason may be that we are physically more
compact than many sites. One unit shares a common wall with the CH; my back door
is about 30 feet away, and for no one is it more than a 45-second walk.

We're also looser than some coho communities about allowing children in their
play room without direct adult supervision. Same for the teens with their
upstairs room; and our sitting room is a comfortable place to be, enough
separated from the dining room that you can feel cozy.

Small committee meetings usually happen there; a contra dance band rehearses
every Wednesday and holds a dance once a month; other music happens sometimes;
people hold parties and special events pretty regularly; the neighborhood
association meets in the CH every other month; and often the next day's cooks
are doing prep work at night.

Nevertheless, the CH is used less than I would have predicted for unstructured
hanging out by adults. Pretty rare, except for before and after meals and some
weekends. People are busy; they like their private space, too; and an awful lot
of us are early-to-bed types, it turns out. Right after we bought our ping pong
table, it was out and people were playing a couple nights a week, but the
novelty has worn off. A couple times people have announced fairly spontaneous
cafe nights or a dance party; turnout was fairly slim; there was a poetry
reading last week.

It will be interesting to see how all this changes over time.

David Mandel, Southside Park, Sacramento