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Looking after neighbours suitcase

309 replies

ShakyBake · 25/09/2026 21:52

Neighbour of ours, friendly known her for about 7 years is off on holiday next week.
We were talking about it over the wall yesterday and informed me she will be taking 3 cases and would it be ok if I keep the suitcases (packed) in my living room until the morning she gets picked up. I said yes of course and didn't ask why. My husband doesn't understand why we need to keep them here. I said don't be silly we are neighbours and it's the right thing to do. That's not unreasonable is it?

OP posts:
Mymanyellow · Yesterday 11:54

She could come round with the cases ten mins before hand. An elaborate show of waving her off, not sure why You’ve got them now.
Hope no one on here lives near you and is a burglar. 😀

pigmygoatsinjumpers · Yesterday 12:09

TremendousFlatulence · 25/09/2026 22:32

But actually IS a blazing row an overreaction? Because if my husband, say, said 'Oh, I've agreed that the farmer's donkey can live in our bathroom for a week starting Monday' then that's the same level of stupid and yes, there would be a blazing bloody row!

That made me laugh.

I am over 70, but there is no way I would want to lug 3 suitcases on holiday and nor would I expect my neighbours to look after the suitcases for me until it was time to leave the house.

I've not read the rest of the thread after your post TF, but I hope there is an explanation.

Yetone · Yesterday 12:10

ShakyBake · Yesterday 11:26

Thank you and that was exactly my reasoning and the point I was making to him. To me, if a neighbour asks for a favour it doesn't matter what it involves just that you try and help and be a neighbour

Me and my husband are still not speaking this morning so I went to collect the cases on my own and as suspected there is a very simple explanation to this as I told my husband several times. My neighbour was burgled once when she was on holiday, she wants to tell the taxi driver she is actually RETURNING home and that she was staying with us, I have agreed that me and my husband (I've not told him yet) will wave her off from our house. She will simple come into our house 10mins or so before the taxi arrives

But why can’t she bring the suitcases off an hour before she leaves?

pelamo · Yesterday 12:12

This is mad. She could put a blow up doll on the sofa/chair by her front window, head visible above the window sill, and wave it goodbye as she leaves HER house shouting, "Bye love, thanks for having me stay, see you next time".... 😊Loud enough for the taxi driver to hear. If anyone did break in they'd think they were an extra in the film Psycho. Win win.

Mumek · Yesterday 12:14

Maybe she is going on a cruise and needs 3 suitcase for evening dresses/medication/hobby materials etc.

Millytante · Yesterday 12:16

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · Yesterday 11:53

I can't believe all of the fanciful and, frankly, utterly ridiculous scenarios that people are dreaming up... when it's perfectly obvious and straightforward to anybody who is familiar with the classic conundrum about the man who has to get a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain safely across the river in his rowing boat.

She's going on holiday to a small island nation where her DGD lives on a combined coach/ferry journey. Her DGD is crazy-mad about Sugar Puffs, but sadly you simply can't buy them where she lives. The suitcases are therefore stuffed to the gills with Sugar Puffs that the neighbour has bought from her local supermarket, clearing their shelves completely - emptied out and loose of their boxes, as you can cram far more of them in that way.

The problem is that she has a pet dog who is also a big fan of Sugar Puffs. He is also going on the holiday with her, to visit the family who live there, as they love him and he loves them. Naturally, as a dog, his sense of smell is top-drawer - so he can instantly smell the Sugar Puffs through the fabric of the cases, and is a strong and determined mutt, so he would easily be able to tear his way into them overnight, if they were in their own living room, and snaffle the lot well before dawn.

Therefore, the dog and the Sugar Puffs can never be left alone together - hence the cases need to stay overnight in next door's living room, which the dog cannot access. This part is key.

It's only by making sure that the cases go safely into the separate luggage hold of the coach, whilst she watches her dog like a hawk and takes him with her into the passenger seating area, that the Sugar Puffs will survive the journey intact.

Of course, when they arrive there, her DGD is going to be so excited to see both the beloved dog and the Sugar Puffs that she will want to scoff every last Sugar Puff within the hour, and maybe even share them with the dog in one massive Sugar-Puff-eating frenzy - which is clearly not a great idea for the health of either of them... but that's a whole new conundrum to be resolved separately, and one which OP can sadly have no logistical part in facilitating.

Edited

Please accept this gold star for that. Fabulous work!

Millytante · Yesterday 12:20

ShakyBake · Yesterday 11:26

Thank you and that was exactly my reasoning and the point I was making to him. To me, if a neighbour asks for a favour it doesn't matter what it involves just that you try and help and be a neighbour

Me and my husband are still not speaking this morning so I went to collect the cases on my own and as suspected there is a very simple explanation to this as I told my husband several times. My neighbour was burgled once when she was on holiday, she wants to tell the taxi driver she is actually RETURNING home and that she was staying with us, I have agreed that me and my husband (I've not told him yet) will wave her off from our house. She will simple come into our house 10mins or so before the taxi arrives

Getting a quick trip to Marks and Sparks organised must involve terrifically Baroque chicanes and feints round your way!

TorroFerney · Yesterday 12:25

ShakyBake · 25/09/2026 22:05

Shes in her 70's and I said to my husband we should be helping and just had a blazing row. I'll ask her tomorrow and update them as I'm fed up with this and just trying to be neighbourly

I consider myself neighbourly as I say hello to my neighbours!

Bjorkdidit · Yesterday 12:29

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · Yesterday 11:53

I can't believe all of the fanciful and, frankly, utterly ridiculous scenarios that people are dreaming up... when it's perfectly obvious and straightforward to anybody who is familiar with the classic conundrum about the man who has to get a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain safely across the river in his rowing boat.

She's going on holiday to a small island nation where her DGD lives on a combined coach/ferry journey. Her DGD is crazy-mad about Sugar Puffs, but sadly you simply can't buy them where she lives. The suitcases are therefore stuffed to the gills with Sugar Puffs that the neighbour has bought from her local supermarket, clearing their shelves completely - emptied out and loose of their boxes, as you can cram far more of them in that way.

The problem is that she has a pet dog who is also a big fan of Sugar Puffs. He is also going on the holiday with her, to visit the family who live there, as they love him and he loves them. Naturally, as a dog, his sense of smell is top-drawer - so he can instantly smell the Sugar Puffs through the fabric of the cases, and is a strong and determined mutt, so he would easily be able to tear his way into them overnight, if they were in their own living room, and snaffle the lot well before dawn.

Therefore, the dog and the Sugar Puffs can never be left alone together - hence the cases need to stay overnight in next door's living room, which the dog cannot access. This part is key.

It's only by making sure that the cases go safely into the separate luggage hold of the coach, whilst she watches her dog like a hawk and takes him with her into the passenger seating area, that the Sugar Puffs will survive the journey intact.

Of course, when they arrive there, her DGD is going to be so excited to see both the beloved dog and the Sugar Puffs that she will want to scoff every last Sugar Puff within the hour, and maybe even share them with the dog in one massive Sugar-Puff-eating frenzy - which is clearly not a great idea for the health of either of them... but that's a whole new conundrum to be resolved separately, and one which OP can sadly have no logistical part in facilitating.

Edited
Grin

Well that is an excellent cover story if she is a drug smuggler or has murdered her DH.

Perhaps we should feed the thread into ChatGPT and ask it to write a cosy crime novel based on this premise. We'd make a fortune.

Planesmistakenforstars · Yesterday 12:30

This isn't a "very simple explanation." Why/how would anyone pack 3 entire suitcases, and not need a single thing from them for a few days? Do you know where she's going and how she's getting there? Coaches have a limit on luggage space. Most airlines only allow 2 checked pieces at most, many only 1, and it's costly to pay for more, not to mention weight limits. It's nuts that you haven't thought why she can't just bring them round just before she leaves. And of course she has some kind of explanation for you, but it doesn't make it true!

Ophy83 · Yesterday 12:33

If that's her concern you could just go to her house 10 mins before she leaves, and wave her off from there so the house doesn't look empty. Not sure why your DH needs to be involved.

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · Yesterday 12:48

pelamo · Yesterday 12:12

This is mad. She could put a blow up doll on the sofa/chair by her front window, head visible above the window sill, and wave it goodbye as she leaves HER house shouting, "Bye love, thanks for having me stay, see you next time".... 😊Loud enough for the taxi driver to hear. If anyone did break in they'd think they were an extra in the film Psycho. Win win.

But what if the taxi driver catches sight of 'Saucy Susie', decides that she's very much 'his type' - and then comes back after dropping off the neighbour, to try his luck with her?

Then, after banging for 20 minutes (on the door, obviously...), he can see her right there in the window, wide-eyed, looking right at him when he stands there, but not answering the door... so he calls an ambulance, fearing that she's had a stroke?

So the neighbour returns from her holiday to find that, not only has she had somebody break into her house anyway after all of her fear-driven precautions (albeit the paramedics rather than a burglar), but she's been featured on the front of the local paper in her absence, under the headline 'Filthy OAP in steamy sex fetish scandal' - and everybody calls her Pervy Pam for the rest of her days.

All things considered, she would probably have preferred somebody to just come and take her telly, claim on the insurance and then get on with her life with her reputation unbesmirched.

pelamo · Yesterday 13:00

@BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows 😊 Brilliant, I think I'd better think it out again!

pelamo · Yesterday 13:01

Ophy83 · Yesterday 12:33

If that's her concern you could just go to her house 10 mins before she leaves, and wave her off from there so the house doesn't look empty. Not sure why your DH needs to be involved.

This is the perfect solution. You are obviously very intelligent and/or are working with the security services who know exactly how to do these things. 😊

Needtocomeupwithabetterusername · Yesterday 13:06

Hadenough32 · 25/09/2026 21:55

Yeah that's weird why can't she keep them in her own home. I'd be concerned she's drug smuggling and going to say you had the opportunity to hide stuff in the cases in case she gets caught

I was about to say this too. It sounds very dodgy to me.

thepariscrimefiles · Yesterday 13:06

ShakyBake · Yesterday 11:26

Thank you and that was exactly my reasoning and the point I was making to him. To me, if a neighbour asks for a favour it doesn't matter what it involves just that you try and help and be a neighbour

Me and my husband are still not speaking this morning so I went to collect the cases on my own and as suspected there is a very simple explanation to this as I told my husband several times. My neighbour was burgled once when she was on holiday, she wants to tell the taxi driver she is actually RETURNING home and that she was staying with us, I have agreed that me and my husband (I've not told him yet) will wave her off from our house. She will simple come into our house 10mins or so before the taxi arrives

Why does your husband have to wave her off as well as you? I'm pretty sure that it will piss him off and he will probably refuse.

RealEagle · Yesterday 13:09

Just imagining you waving her off and you’re husbands face looking like thunder😂

LizzieW1969 · Yesterday 13:11

That’s a weird request from your neighbour, why would she need you to be keeping a case for her in your house? I’m with your DH on this one.

Ophy83 · Yesterday 13:11

pelamo · Yesterday 13:01

This is the perfect solution. You are obviously very intelligent and/or are working with the security services who know exactly how to do these things. 😊

That's my cover blown!

LongDarkTeatime · Yesterday 13:19

This reply has been withdrawn

Post withdrawn at author's request

Mirroredclock · Yesterday 13:23

I actually think that it’s a great idea.

wizzler · Yesterday 13:27

I’m wondering how many clothes she has left at home if she has three cases packed in your living room. What is she planning to wear this week ?

FamBae · Yesterday 13:28

I'm still team husband, I wouldn't want them cluttering up my living room for days for such a silly reason. The morning of her trip or the evening before if a very early start would be more than adequate. She's basically got muggins next door to faciltate her freeing up her hall space all weekend and you even went round and collected them. No wonder your dh's got the raving hump.

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · Yesterday 13:30

Your neighbour isn't very orange, maybe looks a decade or more older than her true age, terrible hairstyle and quite manly looking, is she?

Are perchance the suitcases labelled 'Pooty-Poot', 'Chyner Shiner China' and 'Greenland (NB: the bigger, icy one that isn't actually called Iceland)' and with a big button-shaped bulge on the sides?

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · Yesterday 13:33

wizzler · Yesterday 13:27

I’m wondering how many clothes she has left at home if she has three cases packed in your living room. What is she planning to wear this week ?

Maybe she isn't actually going on holiday at all, but instead is planning on turning her home into a naturist retreat. She's just gone through her house ruthlessly in preparation, to purge it of all offensive (fabric-based) items?