4am Every morning - what are neighbours doing?

[KnobZombie7]

New neighbours moved in before the summer in the flat next door. The water pipes in our building are shocking and make such a lot of noise and we're occasionally woken up at 4am with the sound through the wall of them turning their taps on for 2 seconds then turning them off again. This can go on for up to ten minutes sometimes. On/off, on/off...They don't work night shifts. I usually drift off back to sleep straight away. Didn't think much of it until...

Early this morning at 3.45, I was awake and decided to stand outside their door to see if I could get some clues as to what they do at 4am. Because I was bored. And nosey. I was as silent as a mouse. Sure enough, the taps were turned on/of, on/off for a while then I heard a noise like water being sloshed around in a big bowl right behind their front door. This went on for about 2 minutes then all was quiet again.

What do you think they are doing? I assume there are bowls by their front door that they fill up with fresh water at 4. But why? AIBU to think this strange?

DP says it's a burglar deterrent but why refill the water and why refill it at the same time each day and at an antisocial time? And why not just let the tap run and fill the bowl in one go?

Any ideas? Please help otherwise my nights will be spent loitering around the communal area and trying to figure it out myself.

ETA especially if you are close to the National Ice Centre in Nottingham or somewhere like Sheffield, Dundee or Guildford!

OCD??

Yes! Just looked this up - the noise I heard was the water filling and being poured into seven Buddhist water offering bowls! Must be it. Thank you for solving the problem, yoghurtmaker, Simon Bridges and everyone else.

Now, SimonBridges this thread has brought up a much more exciting state of affairs...!!

Aah I love it when they mystery is solved!!

No chance of them doing sport etc.
No one in the family works or seems to leave the house, or at least front garden, at any other time except for the youngest to go to school.

@KnobZombie7 Glad the mystery seems to be solved for you OP

SimonBridges You must follow them and report back!

My neighbours have been doing this for the last 5 years, even when the youngest was about 9.
They are very odd.

The plot thickens.. any other 'odd' things you can think of @SimonBridges ?

They do random DIY in the early hours.
They generally don’t speak but when they do it’s as if we are mid conversation.
Their lights are never off.
The adults never go out, except at 3am.

Simonbridges I bet they go to a car boot sale

I'm glad you've solved the mystery that would have bugged me until I found out.

Washing machine or dishwasher.

Ours are both set to come on at 03:00, between them & their assorted rinse cycles I reckon you'd get something similar to what you're describing. That's certainly the sort of thing I hear coming from our kitchen if I get up in the middle of the night.

Ah - missed that you'd found out, yours sounds much more exciting....

@Monkeypuzzle32 do many car boots finish by 5am though? 3-5am seems early even for a car boot.

If they go to a car boot would they come back at 5am?
And this is midweek.

Obviously everyone can live their lives as they see fit but all these middle of the night activities make me feel thankful for a detached house.

@SimonBridges Food shopping at a 24hr supermarket?

Oh exactly. They can do what they choose.
The thing is that I only hear them when they are getting out of the car and going in. So even if I was in a detached it would still be the same.

How strange, I'm going to guess medical or religious reasons

As it’s the entire family, you would think they were visiting someone or something. Relative? But why are they also nocturnal... Hospital treatment? Not at night surely... Worship?

I think sometimes it is 24 hr food shopping but why take the youngest? Why would the whole family go?
However sometimes it is on a Sunday night and in England even the 24 hour shops are shut, I think.

Simon unfortunately a detached house will not help you - maybe in the middle of a field .

Other people's noise is the pits, it's nobody else's problem if you have tablets to take and I certainly wouldn't want my household waking up for you to do it .

@SimonBridges could they be picking up drugs?!

there are car boot sales mid week and dealers go early, leave early

I feel that is the most likely Hidden, but again, why take the whole family?
To be fair they aren’t noisy the rest of the time. If they ever are DH goes round and says something, when they are banging nails in the wall at 1am for example, and they stop.