Neighbourhood oddities on your daily walk

[Sennetti]

What do you see that you don’t understand or find odd??

For me it’s the fake bricked up windows on new builds.

What are they all about? I see loads of them

We have someone that keeps dressing up. So far they've been a dinosaur. A frog and someone off paw patrol. Quite odd to see a dinosaur prancing past the window

We walk round or newish build estate most evenings. Over the last 10 days, one house has been 3 different colours. Thought I was imagining it the first time!

This morning one of my neighbours was repeatedly trying to start an engine, to no avail. He kept turning it over whereby it whined and died, over and over for about 10 minutes constantly. It became very irritating in the otherwise peace and quiet I was enjoying in my garden.

I had to stop myself from shouting over the fence "Stop it ffs. You've flooded it!"

Another neighbour has a bright pink Giant Door Bow made out of net curtain fabric on their front door, and matching bunting in their windows for the last year. Now that's odd.

On old houses it was because there was a window tax so less windows meant less tax. I was going to suggest it was to make the new builds look quaint, but i don't really know.

OMG I've just realised I have become THAT neighbour!

This is what lockdown is doing to us!!

On my walk I regularly pass a house which has made plant pots into minions - cheers me right up

another that has a dog statue on top of a wall - not small either

All the bricked up windows I’ve seen have been overlooked by other buildings. I presumed this was to fit in with privacy planning requirements and was cheaper for the builder to use the same plan but brick up the windows. Who knows though?

Pics

Oo another amazing thing is, if we head off on a long walk, which we do on the weekends, there's a loop that takes us over a hill and down some wonderful woodland footpaths. The best bit being the secret exotic farm!!! They have zebras, wallabies, emus, and I'm guessing much more! If you didn't know it was there you wouldn't be able to tell at all.they have high fences for privacy.

When I started daily walking a couple of years ago I looked at the route I had followed on Google maps afterwards, and wondered what a certain venue was that I had passed but not noticed because it had very high walls.
Turns out I've been living very close to a very discrete naturist club...

Bricked up windows as pp says , It's to do with the old window tax...

skill-builder.uk/how-many-windows-can-i-have-in-my-extension

The window tax was the not so bright idea of William III aka William of Orange. It was introduced in 1696 and, despite being a very unpopular tax, remained in force until 1851. Those who could not afford to pay it bricked up windows depriving themselves of much-needed light and air. Many of these windows still remain bricked up today but a growing trend among new house builders is to build in bricked up panels where there were never intended to be any windows.

A growing trend among new house builders is to build in bricked up panels where there were never intended to be any windows

Not only does this help new houses blend in with their surroundings it also has the effect of visually breaking up an otherwise boring brick elevation. Boundary walls in particular, where window areas are restricted to prevent fire spread, can benefit from a couple of dummy window panels, complete with sills and stone lintels or soldier courses.............................

I've just seen an elegant old woman with 2 little dogs and a pushchair. The smaller of the dogs was in the pushchair enjoying the ride.

Cute rather than odd, I often walk past a field with a group of llamas in it. Makes a change from sheep.

Really weird, saw my first motorised unicycle yesterday and also noted the bricked up windows in new build feature too! Where is saw then was on a vast new build estate so nothing to be in keeping with?!

op re the dressing up -maybe its a new style Protective clothing to prevent him getting coronavirus (aha! a new theory on the dinosaur extinction - they had an outbreak of coronavirus - my sense of humour is getting more & more warped) terribly boring round here but dh has said he is beginning to be a bit neighbour watch nosey old git

There’s a house a few streets over from us that has around 15-20 mannequins arranged in his front yard. All dressed and most with garishly painted faces. So not traditionally ‘scary’ faces like ghoulish but sort of over done makeup type of thing. The effect of which is terrifying. I’ve only seen them casually standing around the yard as if at a party but a friend of my said she saw them gathered around a fire pit once. Not the best photo (I was terrified the owner was going to come running out) but you get the idea. There’s more along the fence line

@lemontreebird I thought you were going to say the dogs were pushing the old woman . The sun has got to me, clearly.

I don't think I see anything strange on my walks, only the things people put in their windows ie the rainbow drawings etc. Oh actually, I tell a lie, I saw a tree with a smile painted on it the other day. Turns out it was from WWII. Oh and a curiously short post box.

@TheUnquestionedAnswer for some reason that short post box has made my day!

How strange they are designing new builds with bricked up windows! It looks more balanced but why not put in a window?

I think a lot of older buildings have bricked up windows because people were avoiding the window tax in 18th/19th century. Are there are plenty of older properties nearby with bricked up windows, perhaps the design is trying to reflect the character of the area?

A few people have left boxes of puzzles/games/dvds for passers by to take. A lovely foal in a field with her mother. A man living in a bender in some private woodland.

I never knew that about a window tax!!! That is so weird!

Developers need to know they look odd and we don’t need them!

Eyes peeled on my next walk then, I want to see a dinosaur and mannequin and some Llamas

There is a house near me that i see on my walk and it still baffles me. It is a normal semi detached house and has a single storey extension (which is the kitchen), and upstairs on the side of the house there is a window, but its not a window its actually a door, that lead onto the flat roof, but its a normal flat roof, not made to have people walking on it. It a glass door to. Really baffles me.

I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary, sadly.

However, a home-school family (they've been home-schooling for years) puts up a "Joke of the Day" on a large blackboard easel in their front yard. It brightens up my walk.

Every few days, they'll put up a new recipe they've tried together or book recommendations for the benefit of the neighborhood.

There;s a house near me that is really creepy. It's a small, dark cottage with tiny diamond paned windows. It's really dark and there are weird occult things and skulls in the windows.

I'm sure the occupants are lovely but it's like a funfair haunted house.

I'm shielding so not allowed out, also can barely walk! However, I love the idea of the recipes and book recommendations.