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.

Maybe they get up at 4 to pray and wash beforehand

As someone who has lived in many blocks of flats, the thought of the OP getting out of bed in the middle of the night and creeping up to a neighbour's front door to stand there silently listening has properly made my skin crawl.

Please OP, don't do shit like this. You're actually a bit scary.

Not the same issue but my neighbours probably hear us at weird times during the night. My partner has a stoma and if his bag leaks it involves running water, sloshing around, changing bed sheets and putting a wash on. Sometimes it happens once a week, other times it can happen everynight.

Imagine if they opened the door or looked throggh the peep hole and saw you standing there 😂😂

I’d properly shit myself if I looked out the front door and some weirdo neighbour was stood there listening! :D

My neighbours leave the house at about 6.30 every Sunday morning. They are of a religion which does not see Sunday as the Sabbath. Every other morning, they don’t move til much later. I’m gonna ask them where they go!

The adults never go out, except at 3am.

24 hour super market, I reckon they never leave the house because they hate people so to avoid having to deal with people they do all their shopping at 3am.

SimonBridges

Badger watching?
Stargazing? (not if they do it on cloudy nights)

Can someone please tell me what a penis beaker is?? Asking for a friend

My next door neighbour gets up at 2/3/4/5 am to cough up his lungs. Very thin walls here. We've all lost sleep over the last few weeks.

Penis beaker thread! @BadWifey your "friend" must be the only person in the world who doesn't know what a penis beaker is :o

SimonBridges is guesd they’ve all been having a smile, got the munchies, and gone out to McDonalds / 24 garage / both.

A smoke not a smile

Peritoneal dialysis?

Going to the mosque? The first prayer time is around 3 or 4am I think

”sunshine I did try that given the pipes wake everyone but my teeth are too sensitive for water that cold.”

Put some water in a bottle but don’t put it in the fridge then! Don’t wake the neighbours because of your sensitive teeth!

Becca can you not use a water bottle? Get a permanent one if you prefer. It must be so awful for your neighbours. Please consider this - sleep deprivation is awful and you are waking people at their lightest sleep when it’s hardest to get back to sleep. And you wouldn’t have go get out of bed to take your tablets!

Dishwasher on a timer, or penis beaker washing as per previous suggestion

Simonbridges

I’m afraid we are going to need a LOT more detail than this.

Op are they Muslim?

If they are they might be all up for the night prayer as it is precisely at that time. Which requires ablution which is the use of water to cleanse the body before each prayer.

The opening and closing of tap could be because :

Wash their hands and face , close water while sorting out norstils

Wash their arms and wipe their hair. Close water while they sort through hair and ears. Take off socks and wash feet. And dry themselves up. Then the next person does the same .

So sounds to me like us during that time of the day

@simonbutler look up Friday Apostles. We had a group come by ours a few years ago - but they were worshipping at gone midnight, not 3am, but some of them do worship at dawn.

At ours, it all started around Halloween so we were a bit spooked at people in robes arriving at midnight, disappearing into the park then chanting/ullulating for an hour or so! We called the police eventually who went into the park to talk to them and that is when we found out they were a religious group.

Just RTFT and realized they’re budhist and that’s their Buddhists ritual. So cool I thought only us Muslims do this 😀.

becca, what on earth is the matter with water that’s been sitting in a glass for a few hours?? What do you think will have happened to it? 😳

Can someone please tell me what a penis beaker is?? Asking for a friend

@Badwifey google is your friend, there is a Mumsnet thread about it that went down in history as one of the funniest threads, well worth a read

Just RTFT and realized they’re budhist and that’s their Buddhists ritual. So cool I thought only us Muslims do this

Some Jews and some Christians do too. I don't think the rules are quite as strict on how you wash and how many times but it's common.

In the RC mass the priest washes his hands during the service and there is a 'washing of the feet' done once a year where a priest will wash the feet of others.

Just spent about 40 minutes sitting at my desk re-reading 'penis beaker' silently laughing with tears in my eyes, it's literally the best thread ever!

Still no idea what your neighbours are up to OP!