Who is walking past my house at 3am?

[dottydally]

So having exhausted all of our own theories, I wonder if MN has any good ideas.

About 6 weeks ago I bought a Ring doorbell. I'm expecting a baby in a few weeks and I'm already excited about knowing whether it's worth getting up to answer the door.

The strange bit, though, is that since having the doorbell I've noticed that someone keeps walking past my house at 3:25am. I live at the end of a cul-de-sac so it's not a through road. Theres a green out of the front of my house which separates the path running along the front of me/my neighbours and the roadway. The mystery walker is always wearing a high-vis jacket and only usually walks one way (into the dead end). It is always bang on 3:25am.

I am the last house on my row and I've already spoken to the house in the very end of the cul-de-sac and it's not them.

I wondered about the milkman but I know he comes about 5:15 as he often meets my other half.

It's not every day, but averages 3 times per week. Not always the same day.

The most recent time the camera caught them was 3:15am yesterday morning. They were 10 minutes early and this time walked both ways past my house, with a torch shining on the floor as they walked back. There is approx 20 seconds between them walking past the first and second time.

So, wise MN, any good ideas? Or am I going to have to camp out at my window from 3am tomorrow in the hope of seeing them?!

When you next see him , run outside and ask him what day the bins need to be put out . When he looks like this , apologise and say you panicked because you thought he was a bin man and you didn’t want to miss them . Then this leads nicely into asking him what he actually does and where he is going.

(Unless he actually is a bin man and he doesn’t look at you all in which case he will tell you what day to put your bins out )

I was woken or disturbed for about a year at about 4/4.30 a.m. by the sound of a car stopping outside, door slamming and then driving off. It was every morning and I thought it was someone going to work, there is a nurse living up the road and thought someone was picking her up.

However, one morning I looked out and it was a car arriving, stopping, someone getting out and going to the house opposite. They either collected something from a container or put something through the door, I suspect a newspaper delivery. I am still woken by it 6 years on.

He might be delivering something innocent and cutting through to get to the next drop off.

No Hi Viz though.

Our water meter readers come along in the early hours sometimes, hear the sound of metal as they open the covers, but only one man at a time. Inspections are 2 men and they do come along in the very early hours but only once in a while.

I wonder if he’s going the same place as my neighbours. The entire family, mum, dad, three teens and a dog, all pile into the car at 3am most nights and go somewhere. They did this even when the youngest was in primary school.

I’ve seen the water metre readers out at 6am but I’ve only seen them once and I am out at 6 am every week day.

What on earth is a family doing all going out at 3am every day? Perhaps thats the end of their nights sleep as they go to bed at 7 every night and drop the dc to dgp each night after 3 and go to work.

No one works.
They are up all night. Whenever I get up in the night for a wee I can hear them moving about.

Oh. And they are the gps of the youngest teen.

BTW OP

You have very good diagram skills and lovely neat writing

Why is no one reading the OP - the Walker doesn’t come back and it’s a dead end!!!

The diagram suggests that actually one can do a circuit of the green and come back the way you came.

He’s walking a dog. The dog is on the green pottering and sniffing about, so you won’t see it. He does a circuit on the road and goes round the green and then back out of the cul de sac to where he lives, or perhaps he lives on the cul de sac on the other side. Then he goes to work.

Another idea, when my cat went missing we went out at daft o'clock everynight to see if we could spot him, he was the type of cat that would sleep all day and be out all night so it was the only time I could catch him out and about. It's amazing how many cats come out when your shaking a bag of dreamies at 3am! Unlikely but possible.

It's probably a ghost.....if it's a dead end and he doesn't come back..... definitely a ghost

What @FastAway said

LeZa has it. It's obviously the ghost of a Thames Water hole inspector, who is haunting your cul de sac as it's where he was happiest in life. Can't believe it took five pages for the penny to drop

@Hefzi we have solved the mystery 🖐️

Are you near an evangelical church? Middle of the night prayer walk of the neighbourhood?

Prize for Most Unlikely Inventive Explanation of the Thread goes to AppleKatie

always happy to take a prize.

I don’t speak from complete ignorance however... this is a thing in certain places!

@Slappadabass did you find your cat???
Oh and OP? Water board, or fellow insomniac. My neighbours are very bamboozled by the hours I keep - they comment on lights being on at all hours I smile enigmatically and wander off!

Maybe a shift worker walking the dog before or after work. Or getting the cat in before work.

Most likely, it's coco the clown in a cunning modern disguise. Set your alarm for 3, and see if balloons arrive before him. Or if he invites you down to where they all float. If Jonn boy turns up on the street then you're probably fucked.

What OP needs to do is dress up as a shrub and stage a stake out. That’s the sensible course of action.

brilliant! MN gold

Argos sell amazing cameras. £30. We have invested in 2 (advised by police) they so far away too. Beep when someone walks past and you check on your mobile. It is not against the law to have cameras. They actually prefer them in homes. If it is worrying you, invest is my answer.

@dottydally oh you'll have loads of time to scope this out when the Baby comes op!

I spotted my neighbors being burgerled once while breastfeeding and alreated my (now ex) dp, who ran out and chased them away.

Definitely a shift worker or a dog walker

My bil had hyperthyroidism and still get up at ridiculous times of night/early mornings - he made my sister a cup of tea at 4am today 😳
He will go out for a walk or a cigarette at such times

Could they be getting a lift share from a neighbour who parks on your road?

If they've got a dog with them, they may be walking the dog at that time because it's less than friendly and so they're minimising the chances of running into someone else.