to ask my neighbour why in the hell they are constantly drying black bin bags

[KeiraKnightleyActsWithHerTeeth]

My next door neighbours constantly have black bin bags on their washing line. Not in their main garden but in the side return, right next to our house. Our kitchens look into the other but we have a fence up which just about blocks us from seeing each other. However day and night for the past 2-3 months they have had black bin bags on their washing line. I wouldn't give a crap about what people have on their washing line ordinarily but it makes a right din, especially in the wind we have had recently. DS13's bedroom is at that end of the house and says he can hear them rustling really loudly all night long (which I know sounds ridiculous but they must have 4-5 bin bags rustling away at any one time).
These bin bags keep blowing up in the air too and our dogs are losing the plot about it, they don't usually bark much but 15ft glossy black apparitions springing up is sending them mad.

Every morning, when I'm in the office (we have an office annex in the garden so can see directly up their garden without effort) I can see her taking bags off the line and replacing them with new bags.

Come on, what am I missing here? Have a missed a bizarre trend? They are bizarre people as it is but I can't figure out wtf is going on here.

My Nan does this

She's 86 and used to use plastic bags from supermarkets as bin liners. Then they started charging 5p for bags, so plastic carrier bags became "for best only" (she uses them to carry thing to her clubs and collect veg from the grocer because she thinks the blue ones they give her there look common! ). When the carrier bag charge came in she bought a roll of 50 black bin bags. She washes and re-uses the bin bags 10 times before she chucks them because they're "good and strong" and "it's a waste to throw them away"

SHe has 1 bigger bin bag open in her bin outside and tips the contents of the kitchen bin bag into the outside bin bin bag. Then the inside binbag gets washed and reused. She can make the outside bin bag last 2 weeks before she ties it off on bin day.

And yes, she dries the binbags off by washing them and pegging them out

I luffs my Nan

I do regret not mentioning the noise actually because now I feel like I have no recourse to mention it because it comes across as though I have just noticed the bags. This is what happens when you post on MN and need to report back

I think she takes in other people's laundry and recycles the binbags it came in by giving them a quick rinse and drying them on the line.
Nice little earner she doesn't want the neighbours to know about.

OR
She's collecting "dark" to sprinkle over people's clothes so they'll use her services.

No, it's not incontinence. I can't imagine why anyone would bother to was the bin bags instead of chucking them out or buying a plastic sheet. You can order them in boots for goodness sake. Plus the wearing of gloves when pegging out.

Bin bags are cheaper. Especially when you're reusing them. Wearing rubber gloves to deal with the washing & pegging out process makes perfect sense to me - wouldn't you wear gloves to deal with soiled plastic?

I worked as a Community Carer for several years and can think of two separate people who used to put a bin bag on their armchair to protect the fabric. One would throw it away as soon as it became damp, but the other would just wipe and reuse.

Ask the neighbour when they get back. It would be fair to complain to them about the noise. Horrible to be kept awake listening to that

They are very dodgy sounding

Plastic plants on the trellis and sticky things on window ..they don't want you seeing in.

I'd say either:
Cannabis factory in the loft , (binbags to aid germination of seeds) or she's doing one of those webcam sex things that folk pay to watch you cover yourself in custard, cream etc and roll about the place. Bin bags to line the room.
I have no idea how I know about that last one !

Yeah you're right Santa'slittlemonkeybutler maybe some people would re-use bags. I didn't think that maybe she was pegging them out unwashed. I reread what I wrote and it didn't sound the way I meant it. I had a terrible time after ds3 with incontinence and until I finally had surgery I wet the bed several times. I used washable plastic sheets. I would hate to think someone had to re-use bags. Also, my comment about mental health was because when one of my loved ones were ill they did some very odd things they could completely rationalize.

Could it just be lining pet beds?

'folk pay to watch you cover yourself in custard, cream etc and roll about the place.'

Sounds alright actually. Better than anal.

Where do I sign up?

Yvetteballs "Could it just be lining pet beds?"

Surely the neighbour wouldn't have been so nasty to the OP if that was all it is.

'folk pay to watch you cover yourself in custard, cream etc and roll about the place.'

Just like an adult cake smash then.

Today 14:26 Justmadeperfectflapjacks

"Maybe her dh is very well endowed and condoms don't come in his size??"

Holy shit she must have a Bucket Fanjo

I would be bloody horrified if someone said to me "fuck off you nosey bitch". She sounds dodgy, bit like that mad Mum Fratelli in The Goonies.

Be afraid.

Now more than ever I think that they have something to do with either growing or distributing large quantities of cannabis.

I think it's fair to say your discussion with her escalated quickly.

OP I'm so proud of you for asking & laughed very loud at your update of her being aggressive when you asked!

It's bizarre. I feel very naive that this could be drugs or kinky sex as per other suggestions....

Would you mind letting her know that half the Internet is heavily invested in this mystery and that she really needs to spill the beans if she doesn't want to be responsible for the GDP dropping dramatically on account of all the sleepless nights spent by otherwise productive people, OP?

Also, I vote for ecologically minded serial killers.

Her reaction suggests it's either to do with something embarrassing or criminal, there's a reason she doesn't want to tell you.
I agree she's very rude.
Makes me wonder if she will still peg them out now?
have a tee shirt printed that says "mums net thinks my neighbour is a twat" and peg it out!

I reckon it's something embarrassing rather than criminal. If criminal she wouldn't have reacted like she did - she would have had a cover story and wouldn't have wanted to draw attention. So I reckon there's some sort of incontinence issue going on.

Mind you, how many bin bags could there be and why would you reuse them??

I'm not asking any more questions of any of them.
The husband is an aggressive lout so I wasn't surprised I got sworn at (their relatives live across and they swear like I have never heard before in my entire life if someone even parks outside their house) and I have decided to leave it there. We are hoping to move (unrelated to them) in a few months so I'd rather no have to declare a dispute over some carrier bags. DS is going to sleep in an attic room for the mean time which I think he is quite excited about.

At least next time you see the daughter you can say "hope I didn't offend your mum... she was hanging out bin bags and I just asked...."

Snorted at this

Just the way it comes across as if its normal...

Its very odd she was so snappy about it. I doubt its bedwetting as...surely you would just dispose of urine soaked binbags? Not wipe them down, hang them on the line then reuse?! Mind I actually cannot think of any reason to wash/dry binbags anyway. Especially if its been going on months rather than it being a rare thing :S

that sounds sensible keira

she's doing one of those webcam sex things that folk pay to watch you cover yourself in custard, cream etc and roll about the place. Bin bags to line the room.

But even with this, binbags are like 20 for 2 quid (or 20 for a quid for the proper shitty ones)

10p per show...would you really wash and then dry on the line...when you must really know that doing so will attract questions or at the very least looks everytime you leave the house.

If it is peeing the bed, You can get those plastic bedsheets for a few quid. Surely someone wouldn't keep using binbags when they can move around when you are asleep and could end up with mattress damage if this happened where the fitted sheets this is unlikely to happen with.

I actually took the scenic route to school this afternoon with the kids and was looking about for bin bags on peoples lines, just to check

I think the MN Mafia needs to pay a visit now more than ever, to protect OP from the batshit neighbour! They're definitely dodgy.

for you OP, I'm glad you asked, but please double lock everything and hire a bodyguard until moving day.

Her: "what? Why don't you fuck off you nosy bitch"
Haha, fucking brilliant! Could be a new MN staple - "'No' is full sentence" "'Why don't you fuck off you nosy bitch?' is even fuller"!
Well done OP.