Am I being a terrible snob?

[GirlOnATrainToShite]

SMIL and FIL coming to stay for week soon which is an annual event. They are in all lovely and no trouble apart from the fact they watch every single soap going .

I admit I am not great with guests and I struggle having people in my space for long periods. We are also a large blended family so the house will be full (not relevant).

SMIL is a lovely northern lady who lives in an area where everyone is in and out of each other's houses, everyone knows that each other and it's a small area we live down south in a big area and very much keep to ourselves - we know most of our neighbours and are friendly but that's about it. I hate people turning up "unannounced".

We have no front garden (Victorian semi) just a very narrow path at the front of the house and a low wall dividing it from the pavement.

We do however have a (small) back garden which gets plenty of sun.

SMIL insists on taking a dining room chair and sitting on the front "path" and resting her legs on the wall with the front door wide open saying hello to anyone who walks past.

I know there are bigger things going on right now but AIBU to really hate her doing this as it's seems a bit "common" and prefer her to use the back which is private? I know she's not hurting anyone but I hate having my front door wide open (I will be at work some of the time). I need to chill out don't I?

[divorcedandpissedoff]

We always use our front garden as we don't have a back garden, there is just a bit of yard big enough for the wheelie bins. I don't see a problem with it.

[Shockers]

Don't know where the ? Came from...

[belmontian]

On a dining room chair, you say? OP for the common look you need to get SMIL a lime green boob tube, leopard print hot pants and seated on a ripped sofa. She can use a rusty washing machine drum as a table to steady her 2 litre bottle of White Lightning

[Cocolepew]

I always sit out my front, its sunnier and more sheltered than my back.
I sit out on an inside chair too .
I live in a cul de sac with no houses facing me but I'd still do it if I did.

[Deux]

I think it's fantastic and if I passed your MIL then I'd stop for a chat. I always chat to any friendly face in their front garden. Ditto if anyone's walking past our house when I'm taking the bin in/going to the car and so on.

I find it life affirming curiously and it always lifts my spirits. We're all on this planet together. No harm done. Of course the rule is that your MIL must pass on any gossip.

And I'm in Surrey

[GirlOnATrainToShite]

Fair enough to sit outside your own house on your own dining room chair - but to take someone else's dining room furniture outside is a bit

[user1497888420]

Oh and purple dressing gown woman has a front garden full of meerkats on springs. And a fake crow.

I have no idea why the meerkats are on springs.

However she also has a tiny, tiny pond at the front which is full of frogs and tadpoles and she lets me look in the pond and see how far along the tadpoles are. She has a little plastic sieve by the pond to scoop them out and inspect them for a second.

When they grow the beginnings of legs she's going to release them into a lake. And she chats to me about her cats.

So she's alright by me

[abilockhart]

Your SMIL has just brought a smile to my face. I love her.

[Ilovelearning]

Kaitlinktm, I remember relatives having these curtains on their front doors. I think it may have started when doors were varnished and they were trying to prevent the sun from cracking the varnish with the heat.

[GerdaLovesLili]

Pretty much every house along here has succumbed to the heat. No back gardens, but every day another little indoor table and a couple of indoor chairs have appeared in another garden. It's scandalous . (But only because I've got the biggest garden along here and already had outdoor seating installed) Last night, after all the children in the crescent had finally finished their water fight and gone to bed, I looked out of the window to discover that most of the adults were having running races along the road. I think the heat has got to everyone.

[2017SoFarSoGood]

this brings back such lovely memories of my visiting DM and DF (and DGF too now that I think of it) walking in my neighborhood daily and talking to everyone. I'd lived there years and knew not a soul. They not only knew everyone, but learned what they did, kids ages and stages etc. but also got to know the bus drivers and got dropped off/picked up especially close to my house. I remember being a wee bit at the time, and now would give anything to be able to take one walk with them!

[paxillin]

I prefer a plastic chair, swigging from a can of Stella with a fag dangling from my mouth. Just bring her a bowl of cold water for her feet in this heat.

[AddToBasket]

You sound so bougeois, OP.

If you were proper posh you wouldn't give a fuck.

[Highalert]

Not the washing up bowl though...

[nina2b]

OP:
You said earlier you had "nice" garden furniture in your rear garden. Am I right in guessing it is white plastic which was bought in B&Q?

[GirlOnATrainToShite]

No.

[Doobigetta]

There's Northern, and there's Northern, OP. YABVVVVVU to lump us all in together. Maybe a bit try-hard LMC?

[nina2b]

Do describe it then! This is a riveting thread.

[dogfish1]

Your SMIL sounds great. Not so sure about you. Loosen up!

[38cody]

Tell her it's a high crime area and if she sits there with the door open you'll get robbed.
or just tell her its not the done thing in the south and you don't like it.

[nina2b]

Or do you have the green plastic variety? That is much more ecologically aware, I always think...

[GirlOnATrainToShite]

38cody

That's not far from the truth actually.

We live a few miles from a very very posh area but the bit we are in is not somewhere you would leave stuff out in the front garden (if you had one!) and you need to lock your shed.

[nina2b]

I wonder if Essex people sit out in their front gardens in their faux leopard skin bikinis?
(Essex is in the south, you know!)

[Deux]

I think you should buy in advance a comfy chair for your MIL to sit on. Better still get a second one so you can join her.

[Highalert]

You best make she brings your dining chair in then.