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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I've just been threatened

657 replies

Mitmoo · 03/08/2011 01:37

I've had the garden turned into a camp site and three children sleeping in tents aged 14. They were fast asleep by midnight. I've just had an elderly neighbour knock the door, I've left the outside security light on so they have light, it is mainly on my back garden but lights up around a little bit not
much. The children felt safer

He has told me to turn off the security light as it is keeping him up. I said don't be ridiculous it is 1 o clock in the morning and close your curtains.

He says it is a hot night and he shouldn't have to close his windows. I say leave your windows open use your curtains to block the light.

He says, if you don't turn off the lights I'll be back at 3 am and you wont like what I'll do, there are consequences and you wont like them"

I feel like that is a threat, one of the children heard it and was scared, I've woken all three children, got them inside and left the light on.

AIBU for thinking this w shouldn't be allowed to make veiled threats, scare one child and force me to get the other two in from their sleeps in the garden just to make sure this tosspot doesn't follow through with his threats which he says will happen at 3 am?

The kids and me were asleep, it was just the security light, it's not like they were causing any trouble.

What do you think? Excuse typos sleepy typing.

OP posts:
aprilbear · 03/08/2011 11:29

Light pollution is a genuine concern anyway, regardless of which neighbours were individually inconvenienced by it. It's an appalling waste of electricity to leave a light like that on full all night, and in Many areas it's impossible to just enjoy the natural star and moon light.

Btw the comment about the police threatening the neighbour with 'warning him off' confirm absolutely that this story is ... Ahem .. Embroidered a little!

SoupDragon · 03/08/2011 11:29

Have you been in the man's bedroom? You seem so certain that there is no way the light could have been bothering him.

Original poster
Mitmoo · 03/08/2011 11:29

soup I left it on for an hour because I was so hacked off at being threatened, then turned it off. I asked them to let me know the outcome, the man lives to the back of me so it's not as if they'd have far to come.

OP posts:
YouDoTheMath · 03/08/2011 11:29

Perhaps he would have found that if he'd closed his eyes, most of the light would have been blocked out that way. In fact YES! A combination of closed curtains and closed eyes does tend to have that effect...

Wanker.

Why do people have to kick up a stink about ONE night?

Different topic really, but when I left secondary school we weren't allowed to have fireworks at midnight at our leavers' ball, because in previous years the school's neighabours had complained to them about the noise.

It's ONE NIGHT A YEAR, for fuck's sake.

scurryfunge · 03/08/2011 11:29

Cupcakes......that will be police speak for "both parties were given suitable advice to stop fucking annoying each other and grow up"

Original poster
Mitmoo · 03/08/2011 11:30

April think what you like I am waiting for them to come back now. I hope they do.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 03/08/2011 11:30

If he lives one street away, there is no way he would skip along to yours to complain about the light if it wasn't bothering him.

acatcalledfelix · 03/08/2011 11:30

I can't believe how ridiculous this has got! As someone who is a very light sleeper, I'd be furious if someone told me that I was being ridiculous for saying their light was keeping me awake. How the hell do you know how much it's lighting up his bedroom? Even if it's just a little bit of extra light, that can have an effect on whether someone can get to sleep or not, and poor sleep is bloody horrible.

And keeping it on once the kids were brought inside? Well, any credability you had disappeared as soon as you said that!

No of course he shouldn't have said what he said in response, but TBH he was probalbly knackered and desperate by then so anything could have come out of his mouth. And you know that so why call the police?!

OP, I read the beginning of your original thread, and I see that you are stressed, but that's no excuse for dismissing your neighbours complaints. I'm bloody thankful I don't have you as a neightbour.

Original poster
Mitmoo · 03/08/2011 11:31

April my son is autistic even with the light on it was a massive achievement for him. I don't really care about the waste of light for one single night.

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 03/08/2011 11:33

Did you also tell the police you left the light on purposely out of DEFIANCE?? No, bet you omitted that bit!

Original poster
Mitmoo · 03/08/2011 11:33

Acat He should not have threatened me and scared one of the children, meaning I had to bring them all inside waking two of them.

He won't do it again and that's all I wanted.

OP posts:
WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 03/08/2011 11:33

CupcakesandTwunting Eyebrows do you not agree that even if autism IS the reason, that the OP should have been a bit more diplomatic in her response than calling him ridiculous and telling him to shut his curtains?

Oh yes absolutely. I said earlier that maybe leaving on a downstairs house light would have been better.

Laquitar · 03/08/2011 11:34

YouDoTheMath there was a thread about music playing on New Years Eve!Grin

Gissabreak · 03/08/2011 11:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 03/08/2011 11:36

ILoveTIFFANY Eyebrows.......come on then, explain away why op left light on still when she brought boys in?? Autism is NO excuse for that!!

Why would I explain that?! I never said I thought that was the right thing to do. I was just pissed off that people were dismissing the childrens autism as a reason for needing a light (any light).

SnapesMistress · 03/08/2011 11:36

I'm going to go against the grain here and say YANBU, this man is clearly bonkers and needs to learn that he can't just threaten you whenever he wants.

Also to those saying a light is disturbing FFS, its not like they were making noise, its a bit of light, shut the damn curtains, your eyes or turn away from the window. Are people really so feeble that they must have absolute darkness to sleep, have none of you ever lived in a city?

Avantia · 03/08/2011 11:36

What a total waste of police time and resources !

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 03/08/2011 11:37

Another thread where OP is OF COURSE right despite being completely wrong.

I'm already looking forward to next week's instalment "My neighbour bought a cat just so it could shit in my garden."

Kladdkaka · 03/08/2011 11:38

How did he manage to scare the children if they were asleep? Confused

CupcakesandTwunting · 03/08/2011 11:39

Why the fuckity fuck should someone need to close their curtains on one of the hottest, stickiest nights of the year so that they aren't kept awake by the floodlight-glare of someone else's security light?!

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 03/08/2011 11:42

And I'd bet my Blue Peter Badge that the police have been nowhere near your house, or your neighbour's.

aprilbear · 03/08/2011 11:42

The ASD issue isn't particularly relevant - many children whether ASD or not would be anxious about camping for the first time without adults. As I said, my dd at 12 couldn't manage a whole night and was back indoors by midnight, and now at 13 she isn't keen to try again. You kit children out properly if you're going to do this sort of thing- you don't stick on a polluting security light on all night and just say 'to hell with everyone else who might get disturbed'

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 03/08/2011 11:42

Maybe they WOKE UP Kladdkaka

Spuddybean · 03/08/2011 11:43

snapes noise doesn't bother me (i am from London so am used to the hum of traffic) at all so i can sleep with noise not light tho - so what is acceptable to some is different to others. You mention noise as that probably bothers you but light doesn't.

The point about shutting the curtains is that last night was unbearably hot, so shutting the curtains would have stopped the flow of air from the open window.

ShirleyKnot · 03/08/2011 11:44

Oh no, don't ask that question cupcakes.