An elderly Dunedin man who spent four days on the floor of his living room after a fall says he owes his life to his neighbours.
They are being praised by police after they raised the alarm.
Kenny Lawrie, 72, lay injured on the floor of his Port Chalmers flat for four days before a neighbour realised his curtains hadn't been drawn.
"I was lying on the floor there, and I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even get on my feet," Lawrie says.
It was a long and painful wait.
"I want to thank the neighbours in Currie Court for telling the police. And the police came to me, and I want to thank the police for saving my life," he says.
The police say it is a perfect example of neighbourhood watch.
"A lot of people don't have family who check on them regularly, and we rely on the neighbours to be doing the neighbourly thing, and just keeping an eye on them," says Senior Constable Lindsay Turner of Port Chalmers Police.
The neighbours are all shy heroes but agree that it is good to have a community that looks out for each other.
If Lawrie had been left much longer in his flat, the outcome could have been much worse. As it is, he will be in hospital for several days with sore hips and swollen legs, but that is much better than the alternative.
"I thought that was my last day. I thought that was my time was up," he says.
For now he is just thankful to be alive, and thankful for such good neighbours.
