"Um?"
Jenkins, who was sitting on a chair chatting with Mr. Goodman at Bell's lawyer's house on St. George Street, suddenly frowned when the cat looked at him. For a moment he felt watched, but that feeling quickly passed.
"Mr. Williams, what's the matter?"
Mr. Goodman, who was dressed a little more formally, asked, and Jenkins shook his head, thinking it was his own illusion.
St. George's Street is not very long, and all the houses have their own owners. It's just that the residents who live on this street all year round only account for two-thirds of them, and most of them have come to the party.
Mr. Goodman, a longtime resident of St. George's Street, introduced Jenkins to his neighbors. Although Jenkins didn't know them, they all knew Jenkins, and they were even a little cautious when greeting him, probably not just because they were not familiar with Jenkins.
Attorney Bell was the organizer of the party and the initiator of the St. George's Street Residents' Self-Government Committee. According to Mr. Goodman, Mr. Bell is the most prestigious and responsible person on the street, and everyone trusts this lawyer.
The image of Lawyer Bell fits Jenkins' imagination of a middle-aged man of the successful wealthy class. He is tall but thin, and he is very capable. When he appeared in front of everyone, he was dressed in a meticulous formal attire. Although his face was a little serious, he didn't look like a difficult person to get along with.
He was able to speak the common language with a Wangdu accent, greeted everyone familiarly, and even spoke to Jenkins in a normal tone, and he did not feel awe because of Jenkins' identity.
This gathering of neighbors is held once a year, and this is the 13th year. At the beginning of the party, everyone mourned for the tragic death of the neighbor, the widow Margaret, and then began to discuss various matters for the new year.
Aside from the new neighbors moving in during the year, there were not many changes on this street. Even though everyone moved out collectively at the end of last year, the tranquility and peace of St. George Street remained unchanged.
Therefore, the meeting went on quite smoothly. Every time Bell's lawyer announces the terms or matters, everyone will vote by show of hands, and if anyone has doubts, they can also raise them for discussion.
When it comes to sharing HOA costs, it's natural for new neighbors to say whether they'll pay for it. Miss Silver Flute, that is, Mrs. Mistalla Frante, seems to be staying here for a long time, and decisively stated that she can join the community management plan.
Attorney Bell, as Mr. Goodman expected, very euphemistically stated that Jenkins' house now occupies two households, so he needs to pay double the expenses.
"I think that's all right. It's just that since I paid two gold pounds, should I enjoy the right to double?"
he asked.
"Of course, this is equivalent to Viscount, you have two houses on this street, so you will naturally enjoy double services."
Lawyer Bell said this, he directly called Jenkins "Viscount", even though Jenkins had not yet gone to Beldyland to accept the nobility because of the Queen's physical deterioration. But the others had no objections, so the matter was easily resolved.
Aside from the terms and agreements that had lasted for many years, the most important extra in this meeting was the discussion of the installation of streetlights on St. George's Street.
Since the Church of the Sages stated that it could afford part of the cost of streetlight installation and cooperated with the city hall to immediately install streetlights for the main road, other churches finally understood that the Church of the Sages wanted to use this method to spread the faith.
After a preliminary assessment, it was concluded that doing so would yield more benefits with less effort, and other churches in Nolan also began to consult the city hall about whether there is still a lack of funds for urban infrastructure construction.
But even so, St. George's Avenue in the west of the city has only installed simple street lights at the end of the street and opposite Jenkins's house, which obviously cannot meet the needs of all residents.
Lawyer Bell's proposal is that everyone pool some money, and he has a way to contact the people in the city hall, so that a sufficient number of lamps can be fully installed on St. George's Avenue in advance.
Installing a lamppost is not very difficult, and there are enough gas pipes buried deep under the street. As long as the valve at the bottom of the lamp post is opened, an extra pipe is connected to the underground gas pipe, and it can be used with a little adjustment.
The reason why Nolan City Hall did not install street lights on a large scale is because it is extremely difficult to dig the road surface during construction in winter, and the second is because of political considerations. As for what Jenkins is considering, I don't know, it's what the old man said.
Most of the neighbors do not support Bell's proposal, they are unwilling to pay extra money, and judging from the current trend, St. George Avenue will have light by this fall at most.
It is quite unwise to spend money to own street lamps half a year in advance, so in the end Lawyer Bell could only regretfully throw the paper with the proposal into the trash can next to him.
Another important thing is that the problem of epidemic prevention is gradually becoming more serious. After the Evergreen Forest War, there were reports of corpse plague everywhere in Nolan. The church estimates that the peak of the plague outbreak will appear at the end of this month or the beginning of the next month, and then it will slowly disappear due to the city's active disaster prevention response and the loss of the skull sword as a source of power.
After the news was changed, it was told to the citizens of the whole city through newspapers. So the current situation of epidemic prevention is still not optimistic, and in order to prevent this infectious disease from invading St. George Street, neighbors need to be prepared.
Needless to say, things like washing your hands frequently and eating cooked food, other things like paying attention to your health at all times and regular inspections also need to be emphasized.
Some people even mentioned the issue of pets. After all, there are many stories of small animals spreading plagues. Of course, the mention of pets is not aimed at Jenkins' cat, which catches mice - although chocolate does not, and mice are carriers of many terrible diseases, so it is beneficial for epidemic prevention.
The reference to pets is for Mr. Goodman's pet chicken.
Someone complained cryptically that they were often woken up by the sound of cock crowing recently, and the residents who lived near Mr. Goodman's house also agreed.
Goodman expressed his apologies for the incident and said he would send the chicken away as soon as possible in the near future.
"My cousin's family is in the city for vacation, and they will go back to the country next week."
He assured everyone, so they didn't say anything more.