Dear Mary | 27 February 2010

Q. New people have moved into our terraced street and made themselves very popular. Prior to their arrival everyone kept themselves to themselves in the typical London manner, but now there is a lot of what my husband calls ‘Coronation Street activity’ led by this very social, very community-minded couple. They are definitely a force for good, but my husband bitterly resents the threat to his privacy when one of them suddenly knocks on our front door out of the blue with something like Neighbourhood Watch news. No one other than the postman has knocked on our door (without ringing first or being invited) for 20 years until these new people came. Although the other neighbours clearly love it, we do not. We find it intrusive. How can I, without seeming stuck-up, tactfully ask them to stop suddenly knocking — but to ring us up if they have some news or other neighbourhood business to discuss?

J.