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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be appalled at the length of time my neighbour leaves her washing on the line

328 replies

Perriwinkle · 14/10/2011 17:47

A whole lineful will appear and then it'll be out for up to two weeks at a time. It can dry, get wet and dry again several times over and be slapped against a concrete wall in the wind. Items only seems to get picked in as and when they're needed and by the end of it's time out there it'll be hanging on by one peg, with longer items dragging on the grass or hitched up against the fence/wall.

There's no real reason I should care - it's not my family's washing after all - but I just can't bear to see washing (something which by definition is supposed to be clean!) being treated like that.

What are some people like?

OP posts:
TethHearseEnd · 14/10/2011 18:16

My now-dead grandma used to say "Eeeh, she's the kind of woman who leaves her pegs on the line" with a look of revulsion, disdain and disgust which cannot be accurately described in print.

Are you her, OP?

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 14/10/2011 18:16

"why would it not be clean? what exactly do you think that air and a bit of rain will do to it???"

thisisyesterday, err, bird crap, slapping against filthy wall/fence and dragging on grass. Not to mention rain - not sure which part of the world you live in but since when has that been lovely and pure and clean?

OP posts:
mustdache · 14/10/2011 18:17

please can i say this...

LEAVE THE BASTARD Grin

Original poster
Perriwinkle · 14/10/2011 18:17

I would never leave my pegs on the line Shock

OP posts:
QueenofJacksDreams · 14/10/2011 18:18

Honestly for a minute there I thought you were talking about me Blush Mines usually out til about 10pm when I remeber Blush

Andrewofgg · 14/10/2011 18:19

This is obviously a standing invitation to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to do their worst :o

DreamsOfScream · 14/10/2011 18:20

This has got to be a wind up surely.

Who actually cares?Confused

TethHearseEnd · 14/10/2011 18:20

Grandma....?

Is it nice where you are?

Do you know where you left that necklace you promised me?

minimisschief · 14/10/2011 18:21

how do you not know she doesnt bring it in wear it and wash it again and hang it out in the exact same placement

unless you sit there watching her washing all day lol

AnotherJaffaCake · 14/10/2011 18:21

Oooh, must go and get my washing in.

NettoSpookerstar · 14/10/2011 18:23

I have no garden where I live now, but in my last house, I'd leave the washing on the line for days.
I used it as a drying faciility/extra storage.

I quite liked it when it was rained on and then dried again, it smelled like outside, I like that smell.

Now it all smells of tumble drier.
Mind you, I shouldn't complaiin since my friend does all my washing now.

aldiwhore · 14/10/2011 18:24

I leave the pegs on the line... its not my choice, it became a running arguement with DH until he pointed out that he hangs the washing out on our whirly gig in the garden so he has washing line rights, I hang the washing out in the yard on the retractable line, because its nearer the kitchen and I'm a lazy twat.

BUT have to say OP sun bleached clothes have a certain charm. I am guilty of making many a clothing item look weathered, by actually weathering it.

2BoysTooLoud · 14/10/2011 18:26

I leave my pegs on the line and washing does on occasion [often] stay out over night... I am a bit slovenly mind Blush.

UnearthlyGhoulBeastie · 14/10/2011 18:41

My washing goes out when it's wet. When it is dry it comes back in. Because I live in the Lake District this can be anything between 2 hours and 1 week.

I refuse to run around doing the hokey cokey with damp piles of clothes on the offchance some neighbour thinks I'm skanky. Besides, I'm out all day. (If it helps, my nearest neighbour drapes her washing over her pear and apple trees.).

And they do not get 'dirty' hanging in the clean, fresh country air. They smell wonderful. As do I. So ner.

thisisyesterday · 14/10/2011 18:45

ooooook.... methinks someone needs to get a leeeeetle bit of a grip. you seem um, really a bit too angry about this.
Confused

IamMummyhearmeROAR · 14/10/2011 18:52

Years ago my neighbour hung her washing out on Christmas Eve in the morning and took it in in February. I would see it hanging there every time I did my washing up- a bright yellow blanket, amongst other items, sodden with rain or billowing in the breeze or frozen stiff with ice- it was my weather barometer and I missed it when she took it in ( I also missed the tenner I bet my dh that it would be out till spring)

ThePumpkinKing · 14/10/2011 18:57

IamMummyhearmeROAR there are not enough Grins to show how much I am laughing at:

'Years ago my neighbour hung her washing out on Christmas Eve in the morning and took it in in February.'

My record is about a week, but we were away for three days of that!

hiddenhome · 14/10/2011 19:02

Call Social Services.

She might be having difficulties managing her life Hmm

AmazingBouncingFerret · 14/10/2011 19:02

I had a pair of DS's pants on the line for about 2 months. Right now there is one of my vest tops on the line that's been there about a week. There's always one thing I miss. Always.

CaptainMartinCrieff · 14/10/2011 19:03

Think of the SPIDERS and the cobwebs and all the little SPIDERY EGGS!!!

tooearlymustdache · 14/10/2011 19:03

hidden - you've made me think in a sad way now Sad

hiddenhome · 14/10/2011 19:06

I hung my ds1's socks out the other day and a wasp crawled inside. When ds1 put the sock on he got one heck of a shock as said wasp stung him Shock

We retrieved it and fed it to the pitcher plant that lives on the kitchen windowsill.

Hanging washing out is fraught with danger and this woman is dicing with death by leaving it out so long. Just think of the stuff that'll be living in it.

MayDayChild · 14/10/2011 19:08

You must live next door to my sister (who is nothing like me).
My line gets tucked up inside a cover at night and the pegs sleep in the cupboard under the stairs!

ditziness · 14/10/2011 19:13

It's a game, it's called washing roulette and once you've played it for a couple of nights it gets addictive. Once you've lost seven rounds, you just have to keep playing, you can't give up! The rules are that if it's not dry by the end of the day, you leave it out in the hope of a light dew and a sunny morning to finish it off. Sometimes it'll totally work. But sadly in this country not often. But that's the thrill of it! Washing's so deathly dull you need to do something interesting g with it. I won't tell you about the sex games as you seem a little judgemental.

practicallyimperfect · 14/10/2011 19:13

If I am in house and it starts to rain heavily, I assume washing will be very wet by the time I get shoes on and get out there. So it stays until dry.

If I didn't live with my ever so tidy and organised husband I can imagine it being out there for a few weeks.