Not sure if I'm BU - I'd appreciate some wider opinions.
I was doing some work in my front garden (not a euphemism!) yesterday with my ddad and dh. I was clearing weeds and raking earth etc, and my ddad and dh were doing some prep for concrete mixing for our partly completed porch extension, so were also working out there. I was wearing old jeans as I was doing garden work, and yes they are a bit saggy and may have fallen down a bit and displayed more 'builders bum' than I'd like, and I was bending over to do the weeding and raking so may not have presented the most flattering side that I would normally take slightly more care to present, but I was trying to get on with work that needed to be done on a rather hot and busy day with many other things on my to-do list.
So, AIBU to be a bit non-plussed at my ~ 70 y.o male neighbour deliberately coming out of his house to tell me, in front of my ddad and dh, that he was closing his blind to 'save me embarrassment' - which he then promptly closed?!
If he's scandalised or horrified then he's entirely within his rights to close his blind if he's offended by the view, but I thought it was a bit odd / a bit much to come out first and tell me his reasoning?
There's not the most beautiful view from our row of houses front windows as there's a small patch of garden just about big enough for a single car-sized driveway which some neighbours have, with a road going along in front of it and more houses with the same opposite. I know the neighbours have a breakfast bar looking out to the front, and not that i'm the most observant but I've never noticed them sit there much in the 5 or more years we've been in our house. This was around lunch time at 11.30 or 12, so not exactly first thing when you may expect to have breakfast. Also we are to one side of them, so unless he was sitting right next to the window with his face plastered against it and craning his head around towards me to look at what my dh, my ddad and I were doing, I'm surprised that he could see that much.
At the least he could always just look the other way or close the blind if he really wanted to sit exactly in that spot and not be heinously offended, and at worst go and drink his cup of tea in his living room where I know they have ample cosy armchairs as I once walked through there when trying to fix our shared fence.
I was absolutely non-plussed and felt like I should be embarrassed and shamed by him going to the effort of pointing it out in front of my dh and ddad than if he'd just closed the blind or walked away and kept his views to himself. Then I got slightly angry as I thought yes, its not the nicest view, but should I really be made to feel ashamed by it due to someone else's opinion?
I am English, but more 'European' in my viewpoint than 'stiff upper lip British', so while I was vaguely aware my old jeans were not hoicked as high as MN judgy pants (tm) can sometimes be, I didn't much care as they weren't exactly falling around my ankles and I just wanted to get on with things.
If others flash some flesh as people are wont to do when it gets hot, then I couldn't give two hoots as long as they aren't breaking any decency laws, and even then if they were I would most likely do nothing more than just have a giggle to myself at how silly they looked. We are all human beings at the end of the day, and all have the same bits under our clothes.
Once it later occurred to me, which then annoyed me most, was that I bet he wouldn't have cared, or if he did, have dared to do the same, if I was a man? I like to try and think that women are treated equally wherever possible, but in this case i really felt I wasn't, and it got to me a bit.
Its 'that time of the month' - so I may be being entirely ridiculous and need to give my head a wobble and be told I shouldn't be flashing my builders bum for all to see, but there was just something a bit too ridiculous, enraging and shameful about it that I feel I shouldn't really have to embrace, and wouldn't have done so if this neighbour hadn't gone so deliberately out of his way to point it out.
All opinions, pearl clutching or otherwise, are gratefully received!
As this could technically be construed as a bit racy and inflammatory, I'll more likely bet than not it'll end up being printed in the daily mail.......in which case I will claim my £25000 article fee up front, thanks very much.