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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a garden fork suddenly appearing on my roof is pretty freaky.

37 replies

Rainatnight · 23/12/2017 00:49

I am freaked out. I live in a two storey terraced house, with a small one storey 'return', sticking out the back. The roof of the return is shared between us and NDN (who are lovely).

I looked out the back bedroom window tonight, which is directly above this one storey roof, and there on the roof, was our garden fork. Specifically, it was balancing on the apex of the roof, at the back, near our and NDN's back bedroom windows.

I'm really freaked out. Someone would have had to have climbed up to put it there. But why? It's so freaky, we thought it could have been some sort of sign or warning. But there's no reason for that.

Or it could have been the beginning of an attempted burglary, but there are easier ways into the house.

Any ideas?

OP posts:
kitnkaboodle · 23/12/2017 00:54

Where was the garden fork last seen before it appeared on the roof?

TinselTwat · 23/12/2017 01:02

I'd find this odd too.
Can the roof be reached by an adult standing on something?

Eatingwormswithwine · 23/12/2017 01:07

Any heart baubles turning up in the garden?

Gammeldragz · 23/12/2017 01:08

Someone trying to knock a ball down with it and got it stuck?

condepetie · 23/12/2017 01:09

Weird as heck!

LineyRunner · 23/12/2017 01:12

Crows.

Janetjanetjanet · 23/12/2017 01:14

Do you have a dog?

MiddleClassProblem · 23/12/2017 01:17

Is there anyone else in the house who could have done a bit of gardening? Is it definitely your one?

tinytoucan · 23/12/2017 01:19

A bird? What are the birds that collect shiny things?

tinytoucan · 23/12/2017 01:20

Sorry ignore me- I misread and thought it was an eating fork. No way could a bird pick up a garden fork!!

Shankarankalina · 23/12/2017 01:21

Could someone have been trying to break in, forcing a window?

Meowstro · 23/12/2017 01:29

Unfortunately I'd worry about what Shankarankalina said.

Weezol · 23/12/2017 01:34

It's Mad Friday - squiffy lads on the way home from the the pub often do daft stuff like swapping garden ornaments around or moving things. Is that a possibility?

Sinistrophobia · 23/12/2017 01:34

eatingworms Grin

LineyRunner · 23/12/2017 01:35

There a number of birds who could move and drop a garden fork. The larger corvinae, and gulls.

And obviously time-shifted pterodacyls.

ObscuredbyFog · 23/12/2017 01:42

Irrespective of what it's been put there for, have you moved it somewhere it's not accessible like indoors, or into a locked shed? It's getting windy here and something like that being blown off a roof could be dangerous for anyone walking near it.

WattdeEll · 23/12/2017 02:18

When I was 5, our dog disturbed burglars trying to break in our patio doors. They had started to use a garden fork they had taken out of next doors shed.

Original poster
Rainatnight · 23/12/2017 07:49

Definitely ours, was last seen stuck into the ground in the garden, definitely too big to be lifted by an animal. It's one of the big ones, not a hand fork.

It doesn't feel like a prank to me. Squiffy lads would have had to have been fairly determined, because you'd have to get through two other gardens to get to ours. And you don't see our garden in passing, so increasingly I'm realising it can't have been an impulse thing.

It was very carefully balanced sideways on the apex of the two rooves, not flung down, which I think made it look a bit more freaky.

DP managed to fish it inside so, no, not going to fall on anyone.

It does feel like an attempted burglary, doesn't it? Sad

OP posts:
JennyOnAPlate · 23/12/2017 07:58

Could someone inside the house have put it out there through a window? (Dc?)

Original poster
Rainatnight · 23/12/2017 08:01

No, I don't think so. It's hard to explain but it was just about close enough to fish inside with a long implement and a lot of risk to life and limb, but you couldn't have got it at that angle and distance from the inside.

And our DD is 18 months!

OP posts:
Indigo911 · 23/12/2017 08:01

How weird! Could a neighbour have done it? Don’t know why they would though. Definitely sounds like a break in attempt otherwise

WendyLikesSaltyTruffles · 23/12/2017 08:02

We had burglars rooting round in our shed looking for anything to use to break in. I was in the house with baby at the time. It's a horrid feeling.

CrestedTit · 23/12/2017 08:07

YANBU. Very freaky. Have you spoken to your neighbours about it? It would seem sensible to check with them in case there is some bizarre explanation. Otherwise please check your house security at the back. Are the windows which are accessible by climbing on the return secure?

Original poster
Rainatnight · 23/12/2017 08:15

Texted NDN, who knew nothing about it. They were quite freaked out cos their teenage daughters had been in the house last night on their own.

OP posts:
WinnerWinnerChickenDinner0 · 23/12/2017 08:35

Burglars for sure

We had a break in a few years ago. They went around a few windows trying to prize them open with our pitch forks. Have a look at the windows and see if there are any marks on them

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