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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Neighbour and my washing

227 replies

insan1tyscartching · 14/09/2016 13:10

Don't have much to do with neighbour generally, say hello if we meet and pop a Christmas card through her door so it was strange for her to shout to me over the back garden fence when I was pegging out the second line of washing today.
She says that my constantly having washing out spoils the enjoyment of her garden as there is constant movement and noise from flapping clothes and so she wanted to know if I could have a day or two every week where I didn't peg out.
I was gobsmacked tbh and trying not to laugh but explained that with seven in the family there is a lot of washing and drying to be done and I like to take advantage of the drying days so planning days not to peg out wasn't really possible but come October I rarely peg out anyway as garden is mostly shade then so not much longer for her to be bothered now anyway. But of course come October she won't want to sit in the garden then anyway.
So AIBU to peg lines of washing out when neighbour wants to sit in her garden? For clarity there are no small children here so no noise in the garden otherwise and other than cutting the grass and me pegging out our garden isn't used so it's not that we do anything that might disturb her if she's in the garden anyway.

OP posts:
Julia001 · 15/09/2016 17:49

I agree with all of the above, if she doesn't want to look at your washing then she can stay indoors ! FFS How dare anyone even think that it is ok to do this, I bet she is as mad as a box of frogs !

I would still be interested to know where exactly she dries hers ! Fukcing Cnut !

Charlotte4242 · 15/09/2016 17:49

Be careful, that's how it starts and then the demands get more and more unreasonable.

PSG1968 · 15/09/2016 17:50

Jeez wow that's unbelievable

TippyT · 15/09/2016 17:57

I had a mad neighbour who would run out side with net curtains and try and take up all the washing lines ( communal garden / flats ) if I ventured outside with my washing 😋
Never just washed just trying to claim space incase her and the other old ladies wanted to way stuff!! I brought at portable rotary line and that blew her mind !!

2kids2dogsnosense · 15/09/2016 18:00

She wants to think herself lucky she doesn't have anyone playing heavy metal at full volume in their garden as they barbecue entire herds of cattle and swine day in day out as we have had here lately.

MumTryingHerBest · 15/09/2016 18:01

Peg your washing on her line to dry, problem solved ;-)

Ketchuponpizza · 15/09/2016 18:14

In Switzerland, we are not allowed to hang our washing out on a Sunday, as it is the day of rest and noone must be disturbed. (But the Swiss are mad. Flushing your toilet after 10 pm is also banned!)

AlexRose5 · 15/09/2016 18:15

Sounds to me like she's looking for any reason to complain, can't find one so made something up. Tell her if it's bothering her that much to feel free to report the noise nuisance to the local council. Watch as they send the men in white coats for her lol

HTD2013 · 15/09/2016 18:21

Do you live next door to my mother?? It's the kind of thing she would complain about.....

Just ignore and resolutely continue doing what you are doing. In fact.... Go out buy another line and take in washing from friends for a week and make the point.

GDarling · 15/09/2016 18:23

Where I live no one hangs washing out! So I've bought a large rotary line and have hidden it behind a bush in the sunshine, no one has said anything as yet, we have 5 people in the house and I love the fresh smell of outside drying.
I do understand up to a point, that if yr washing is in view, it's like having a flag constantly flapping and moving in yr eye line.( we have planes which are much more annoying)
Maybe a large rotary would be more considerate on some days, eg, non bed sheet days.
The other thing you could do is plant large trees that shade her garden but hide yr washing..(depending which direction yr garden faces?).Hee! Hee!

Karma2u · 15/09/2016 18:27

I live next to an old couple and OMG I hate them. They had to call someone out as the drainage was blocked so afterwards the old man came round and told us he wanted £50 to cover the costs as it was a 'nappy' causing the blockage. My youngest was 7 at the time!! New neighbours then moved in next to them and guess what, they had to call the drainage guy out twice more, so God knows whats been causing it. They've had roofers in sorting their garage roof and I caught one stood on my garage roof n then come winter, we realised our garage roof had been damaged from that! Anytime we've had handymen, mechanics doing jobs for us, he rushes out and asks for a business card. I've witnessed him lifting my fence panels so their bratty grandkids can get into my garden to retrieve balls. Anyway I now hang all underwear on the outer side of my rotary airer facing their conservatory. Of course I need to use 2 bright pegs per pair frilly knickers n my boyfriends big briefs. They are bottom side out to the old facts next door ala 'Royal Salute' teehee

Katherine2626 · 15/09/2016 18:36

She might be having a really bad day and a line of washing has pushed her over the edge. Why not just let it pass, as you have explained to her why you 'peg out' every day and can't really add anything more helpful. It is your garden, you are doing nothing that any reasonable person cold possibly complain about, washing on a line is not a nasty sight, and if she continues to be unhappy perhaps she can put up some trellis and some fast growing shrubs.

user1472391113 · 15/09/2016 18:38

Neighbours can be a pain. Mine reported me to the council because I put out a dish of food each morning for a family of seagulls (I am somebody who likes seagulls) Council agreed with me I was causing no nuisance. Other neighbour on the other side insisted on painting a joint gatepost in the front garden half in his colour of his house although the majority in my road are white like mine. Best thing is to ignore.

hazebaze87 · 15/09/2016 18:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

38cody · 15/09/2016 18:43

Borrow some small children and peg them out - then tell her to fuck offWine

Julia001 · 15/09/2016 18:51

In fact, I should send around some Big Girls Pants to hang out ! that'll show her !

Tapandgo · 15/09/2016 19:12

She is clearly not all there - but best not even to explain when/ why you hang out your washing. The more you pander to such nonsense, the more you empower people to interfere in your daily life.
Just hang it out when you need to - as all normal people do. " I hang my washing out when I need to dry it" - end of.

MrsJoeyMaynard · 15/09/2016 19:22

Ketchup - OT but.... you're seriously banned from flushing your toilets after 10pm? Is that every night or just on Sundays?

Isn't that rather.... inconvenient? Especially if someone in the home has a stinky poo at, say, 10:05pm?

collyettey · 15/09/2016 19:27

I'd be washing all the bedsheets to peg out - even if they didn't need it!! Just to prove a point!!
Seriously I know your pain.
We have a neighbour 3 doors up - a proper curtain twitching know it all.
Our back looks out onto a field used for football, dog walkers etc, at the left of which is a line of bungalows. I once had a letter from said neighbour asking if I could take down my gazebo as it was blocking her view of the bungalows!!!
Needless to say it stayed up the whole summer that year, and has now been replaced by a lovely wooden one this year!!

AlexRose5 · 15/09/2016 19:43

What puzzles me is , on my street when I was young (1980s Ireland) we were one of the few houses trouble our way that had a tumble dryer, and it cost the earth to run it. So everyone had clothes hanging . I never even knew it was a "thing" to annoy your neighbours with washing Confused Seriously is it just a UK thing?? I've lived over here for 13 years and I've never heard the likes of it, but I know what my mum back home would tell a neighbour if they made a remark about her washing. It wouldn't be polite lol. Isn't it about time people stopped being so bloody uptight with each other?? Seriously, it SHOULDNT be a thing! Nightmare neighbours DO exist but in my world they really don't come in the form of flapping laundry on a washing line.... (SMH)

nattygk · 15/09/2016 19:45

Omfg is she serious I hang my washing out none of my neighbours complain even when I put my over the shoulder bolder holder's on the line sounds like she had her day of from the nut house I'd put crickets in bags and pin them on the line

Moomichi · 15/09/2016 19:49

Maybe I'm odd. I love seeing washing on the line! Mine or other people's, it just wouldn't bother me x

pipnchops · 15/09/2016 19:52

YANBU. My mum always moans about her next door neighbour who hangs washing out every day so reading this is making me feel less guilty about not having any sympathy for her! She also likes to moan about people parking their cars outside her house (she lives on a public road, has two parking spaces with her house but parks her car outside her living room window to stop other people parking there) and it drives me nuts!

paddlenorapaddle · 15/09/2016 20:02

That's batshit with bells on Confused I have no words

user1473609390 · 15/09/2016 20:19

Howdy
Folks have different tolerances. Noise, depending on the type and its severity, could be deemed to be a statutory nuisance. Perhaps a report could be made to your local council Environmental Health, noise team. What I mean is, you report your ABNORMAL neighbour for interference with your daily life and NORMAL routine!
PS I don't mind washing but it's the pegging out and collecting in I try to avoid - neighbours can be so nosey and annoying!!!

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