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Friend and her BIG house

258 replies

subtoprem · 17/01/2023 06:19

I have a friend I met through a hobby about five years ago.

She lives in a big house that I've been to quite a few times, so I'm fully aware, but she drops it in conversation all the time. Is this weird?

Eg. I moan about having some cleaning to do, her "think yourself lucky you don't have to clean my big house!"

Conversation about when our kids were growing up "well, I've been lucky living in a big house, so much easier with space"

Inane chat about the size of her dog "yes, I'm so glad I have a big house!"

Seriously, it gets shoehorned into a conversation every time we meet (maybe once a month)

I don't care about the size of her house 😂

OP posts:
Alondra · 17/01/2023 13:40

Mirabai · 17/01/2023 13:06

Yeah and maybe the friend does too.

But the friend is not here to tell her story.

GasPanic · 17/01/2023 13:45

Bet it was less than 3.

Opine · 17/01/2023 13:52

Is it possible that she’s just stating facts. If her house is big and requires more cleaning then why shouldn’t she say as much?

Why is there the assumption that someone is bragging because their house is large? Studio flats in central london cost millions yet a 10k sqft house in the midlands could be 7/800k.
I think people are very triggered by their own insecurities.

People who brag are amusing to me. I’m very self assured so it’s neither here nor there to me what anyone is projecting. If it became tedious I’d stop spending time with them. It’s simple really.

Ofbollocks · 17/01/2023 15:45

All this fuss about bathrooms. How common. Get over yourselves. I personally much prefer my large hallway in my big house.

Friend and her BIG house
Iateallthechips · 17/01/2023 16:07

Ofbollocks · 17/01/2023 15:45

All this fuss about bathrooms. How common. Get over yourselves. I personally much prefer my large hallway in my big house.

Meh, I’ve seen bigger.

LadyOfTheCanyon · 17/01/2023 17:28

A "Butler's special" sounds unimaginably filthy if you ask me. Grin

Alconleigh · 17/01/2023 17:56

"Looks like she just wanted a whinge". Are you new to Mumsnet?! That's the vast majority of threads. Or, as in this case, sharing something mildly annoying, a bit baffling but quite amusing and wondering if other people have experienced similar. Which results in gold like the terrifying low ceiling posts. That's how this works. Repeated humourless exhortations to dig deep about why this so bothers the OP and that it must warrant sitting down to earnestly talk to the offender are quite odd (plus the helpful sidebar about how cheap it is to heat houses in Australia).

There's a definite uptick in po-faced, crushingly literal, posts here recently and it's deadening.

subtoprem · 17/01/2023 18:32

Looks like she just wanted a whinge.

It really was just a light hearted thread about something I find a bit bemusing...I'm genuinely not losing sleep over it or giving it that much headspace. I thought MN was for musing on 🤷🏼‍♀️

OP posts:
HermioneIsMyHomegirl · 17/01/2023 19:12

One of my all time favourite things I've ever heard anyone say was (in reference to my in laws being intimidated by my parents' house - it was cleanliness, not size that they were unnerved by!), 'their house?! If they saw my parents' house, they'd be approaching me on bended knee!' She was serious. I've never heard anything quite so pretentious in my life.

She was raised by a single mother in a flat (no judgement, just context!), then her mother took up with a very well off man & this girl went from relative poverty to private school with a chauffeur. But forgot her roots....she walked in to a bar with a long table, seats lined up on each side and piped up 'oh, I wonder if this is what state school dinners are like!' She'd been to bloody state school!! I think she thought it was endearing.

She was a twat, but amusing all the same!

Deathraystare · 17/01/2023 19:23

Would not like to heat her big house!

Lndnmummy · 17/01/2023 19:51

I have a neighbour like this. Avoid them as much as I can. We live in a terrace but they in a house and we in a flat. Next door to eachother. Whenever there is a conversation - only practical stuff, we don't engage in social chit chat they always have to highlight they live in a HOUSE and we in a FLAT. Ie if I say "we need to take a look at the guttering/wall/fence, rendering between our two houses they go "indeed, we do have joint responsibility here as its jointly owned between our HOUSE and your FLAT. And actually they are wrong, as I speak to them on behalf of the other flat owner who is elderly. So we are talking about both HOUSES. They even corrected my 6 year old when he offered them to wait inside "his house" as wife had locked herself out. She went "oh that's lovely darling, but don't worry about me coming to your flat. My dh will be home with the HOUSE keys soon. 🙄.
nob

Lndnmummy · 17/01/2023 19:54

subtoprem · 17/01/2023 18:32

Looks like she just wanted a whinge.

It really was just a light hearted thread about something I find a bit bemusing...I'm genuinely not losing sleep over it or giving it that much headspace. I thought MN was for musing on 🤷🏼‍♀️

It is OP. Ignore

Lndnmummy · 17/01/2023 20:02

Personally, I did find lockdown extremely challenging with two young very active boys. If my friends had gone on about how they don't know they'd cope without their garden, 6 bedrooms, large office in the garden etc I would snap and say "you cope if you have to". I am sure I was over sensitive but I found all those comments really crass. To me it translated as "I have no idea how I could cope if I had to live like you, I couldn't bear it". It is really insulting and actually I al damn proud of my flat. Lockdown it is was awful but imagine all those people who had it so much worse. So much worse. It really changed how I viewed some friendships.

latetothefisting · 17/01/2023 20:36

KickHimInTheCrotch · 17/01/2023 09:01

In our old house we had the biggest garden on the street. Not bragging but we did, it was end of terrace and twice the size of the others. I used to mention it from time to time eg duribg lockdown we could spend all day out there, eating, camping, building obstacle courses and dens. I don't see it as bragging, just having a conversation. Is no one allowed to mention anything that sets them apart? Your friend probably feels a bit embarrassed about her inherited house.

It depends what your 'mentioning' it consisted of though. e.g.
"What did you do on the weekend?" "Oh it was nice and sunny so we just stayed in the garden pretty much the whole time, kids camped out and made some dens" - Fine.

"Argh the kids are driving me nuts, we're all on top of each other in this flat,'" "Oh that must be a nightmare, I'm so lucky we've got a good sized garden, I'd have gone mad during lockdown otherwise." Possibly okay as a one-off mention, not if repeated or out of context.

Specifically saying at any point or in any context "We've got a really big garden/the biggest garden on the street/twice the size of the others" - yes, bragging, dickish, unnecessary, and a really really boring topic of conversation.

Darls3000 · 18/01/2023 17:44

Is t this just the opposite of people who always say what a tiny house they live in? It's just very British to be bothered when it's the other way around. Perhaps try saying 'your house isn't that big' next time she moans about the size and see why she says. I think she means no harm.

fetchacloth · 18/01/2023 18:02

Notplayingball · 17/01/2023 06:56

Probably overcompensating for other areas of her life that aren't so great...

I wondered that too 🙂

Pedallleur · 18/01/2023 18:02

Reminds me of Whitesnake singer David Coverdale who would talk about his 'spectacular Lake Tahoe home' whenever he could in interviews

KatysMumJen · 18/01/2023 18:05

BringMeTea · 17/01/2023 08:51

Could you start carrying a hipflask of tequila and whip it out and take a nip every time she says the words 'BIG house'?

🤣🤣🤣 deceased!

Gatekeeper · 18/01/2023 18:28

reminds me of someone I worked with whose husband had an Aston Martin car and dropped inot conversations "oh- we went out at the weekend in the Aston Martin" etc etc. Henceforth we did the same with our Fords, Toyotas, Skodas, Vauxhall, Ladas showing my age until she got the hint

GreenSunfish · 18/01/2023 18:30

Simonjt · 17/01/2023 06:47

I have a friend who does this, he is currently claiming he can’t afford his utility bills, yet he can afford a cleaner, a gardener, a million pound house, a range rover and matching his and hers aston martins in a custom colour named after their cat…

I can’t describe how much I hate this kind of thing. It’s so tactless and crass!!

Pants0nFir3 · 18/01/2023 18:39

Yeah,like STFU!! Lol

GardensandGrandDesigns · 18/01/2023 18:47

These descriptions have really made me chuckle! I would love a friend like this, I would be in hysterics at the theatrics!!

Jonnywishbone · 18/01/2023 18:52

I find it totally appropriate to talk to friends about the difficulties caused by enormous penis and stess of having a gigantic bank account so can see why someone with a a large property would want to discuss it at every opportunity. It's not at all vulgar or boring.

Exdonkeylover · 18/01/2023 19:09

Have a friend who does the same. Any chance to show / say what phone, car, house they have. They're in there and telling everyone about it. Including those (like me) that don't care!

JudgeRudy · 18/01/2023 19:13

I actually find these type of situations amusing. I had a colleague who used to bang on about EDI and BAME at any opportunity....and if there wasn't a natural link he'd make one. He even shared a pic of Nelson Mandelas cell toilet when we were talking home renovations !
We used to play a game and count how many 'speaks' before he shoe horned it in. Could you have a counter phrase ready....maybe refer to your 'teeny tiny house' in a sneaky mouse voice. I'd like to say she'll get the hint....but my colleague didn't!

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