Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What's the strangest thing you've seen in someone's house that they thought was 'normal'?

646 replies

00100001 · 14/08/2021 21:53

I'll go first.

When I was 7, I went to a friend's house, and had bright red mashed potatoes for dinner.her dad always put food colouring in food. She thought this was normal, a d everyone had coloured mash.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
sashh · 15/08/2021 03:46

@Confusedandshaken

I've got a glut of cucumbers atm. Will definitely be serving them with vinegar tomorrow. That sounds delicious.
Try cucumber with mint sauce.
Barkingdog · 15/08/2021 04:11

When I was a child our neighbours had dark red carpet and it was permanently covered in plastic matting. Their sofas were also covered in plastic and us children weren't allowed to sit on them.

Rosegoldfan · 15/08/2021 04:16

Another one here for the fish pond in the living room. The garage was attached to
the living room, most of the wall had been knocked down to leave about a 4 brick wall and the pond spanned the garage. It absolutely stunk.

Another friend had a pay phone in her house maybe a good idea but at age 10 I thought it was strange.

The porn is so abusive makes you wonder what else went on if that was normal.

FortunesFave · 15/08/2021 04:27

@Rosegoldfan

Another one here for the fish pond in the living room. The garage was attached to the living room, most of the wall had been knocked down to leave about a 4 brick wall and the pond spanned the garage. It absolutely stunk.

Another friend had a pay phone in her house maybe a good idea but at age 10 I thought it was strange.

The porn is so abusive makes you wonder what else went on if that was normal.

My Aunt had a pond in her living room...in the 70s. It didn't smell but she had this one fish that swam upside down as it had bloat or some horrible fish illness. She used to feed it by hand.

The payphone in the house...makes me think of brothels in the 1950s!

Fedduup32 · 15/08/2021 04:28

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Longdistance · 15/08/2021 04:28

@Confusedandshaken add white vinegar to the sliced cucumber, salt, sugar, paprika and slice some garlic or red onion in with it. It’s very nice.

Namechangenumber23 · 15/08/2021 04:35

@IncludeWomenInThePrequel
That's just horrific, I mean, why? When you mentioned being sewn into one, it made me shudder and think of that episode of Tales of the Unexpected "The Landlady"

LopsidedWombat · 15/08/2021 05:42

A house I went to just a few times as a teenager that I will never forget. They let (pet) birds fly freely around the house at all times which resulted in there being vast quantities of bird crap splattered all down the walls. Every wall. And on the furniture, down the back of the sofa. I mean it was honestly everywhere. The skirting boards were also thick with dog hair to the point they were no longer visible. It almost looked like there was a draught excluder along the bottom of every wall. The kitchen sink was piled high with more dirty dinnerware and pans than I imagine a family of ten would own. They invited me and my mum in happily each time so obviously it was normal for them, no embarrassment or anything whatsoever. We didn't know them well either, we used to foster guinea pigs and that is where we would collect the new ones from.

speakout · 15/08/2021 05:52

Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. I was 12. I had no idea people ate such amazing food.

savagebaggagemaster · 15/08/2021 06:09

Dh and I were invited to afternoon tea at a retiring colleague's house. There were shelves full of books all placed in alphabetical order which had been carefully wrapped in cellophane. She was a very staid spinster colleague or so we thought; then we noticed the Joy of Sex on the bookshelf. Grin

HumunaHey · 15/08/2021 06:14

@doublestar So she abused her brother then. Of all the ones I've read, this has really creeped me out. Goodness knows what else she did to him. Her poor brother.

Onthegrid · 15/08/2021 06:28

My grandparents did cucumber in vinegar and the are from the south east, I think it is more of a war or post war thing than regional

ForkedIt · 15/08/2021 06:28

Isn’t the issue with the rice pudding not that it existed, but that the family made a big deal of it being ‘pudding night’? If I went somewhere and there was a big fanfare over pudding I’d have been expecting something a bit more exciting.

L1ttleSeahorse · 15/08/2021 06:39

Id be fairly excited about it as a pudding. I havent had it in so long I really am going to make some next week...

Onetraumaatatimeplease · 15/08/2021 06:46

A five foot tall wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. At the very top of the very dark stairs.

LopsidedWombat · 15/08/2021 06:47

@ForkedIt that's how I read that one too. A hyped up pudding night you might expect something slightly more decadent Grin

ZombeaArthur · 15/08/2021 06:54

In high school I used to go to a friends house and they always had a huge pot of pineapple boiling on the stove. They had it with every meal.

Another friend had such a messy, filthy house. It was so bad they would keep the kitchen door closed and squeeze through a tiny crack in the door to get in as it was in such a state they couldn’t bear visitors to see. It was like that constantly. Also their bedroom was in such a state, walls not decorated, writing on the walls and nothing on the floor. Carpet worn so thin in the living room you could barely feel it under your feet. They always had holidays, nice car, big TV etc, so I can only assume they chose to live that way, rather than being forced to.

Eralos · 15/08/2021 07:05

@youvemademyshitlist my dad does this and I actually do it with the toaster. I love having a clear kitchen I hate seeing kitchen counters filled to the brim with clutter.

MWNA · 15/08/2021 07:11

And at another friends house having beans for tea and them mopping up the bean juices with bread afterwards (not even toast and butter which wouldn't be as bad) it was just plain white bread - the thought of it still makes me want to throw up to this day!

The utterly snobbery of this is repulsive.

romdowa · 15/08/2021 07:14

My ex once took me to visit a family friend of his. Minute I walked in the door there was this awful stench and once I entered the loving room I discovered exactly why. The woman had cages with foxes in them stacked all over the place, It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. They were filthy and the cages were tiny. She claimed to be an animal rescuer and rehabilitater but she was just an animal horder and abuser. I faked a headache so we could leave and I called the rspca... who did nothing.

EveningOverRooftops · 15/08/2021 07:15

A fishing net fixed to the ceiling and in it was a traffic cone, novelty fake boobs, a lobster and some other sea related items. Walls had the brass stuff all over them.
It was the 90s 😬

SpeakingFranglais · 15/08/2021 07:18

@pheonixrebirth

Going for Sunday dinner at my friends house and her mum put a plate of sliced cucumbers in vinegar on the table along with the gravy boat. I've never seen or heard about cucumbers in vinegar before or since. Just weird???
Was it our house 😂😂😂

Very 70s but we always used to have onions and cucumber in vinegar on the table with a gravy type dinner.

Even now, pie and gravy has to have mint sauce, pickled onions or (my favourite) pickled red cabbage with it.

Starstar7 · 15/08/2021 07:19

When I was a child I went to a friend's house for tea and they ate breakfast cereal for dessert.

Peachee · 15/08/2021 07:29

At a boyfriends house when I was about 14. A real stuffed badger pride of place, at eye level when you sat on the sofa, in the lounge.. it didn’t last long! X