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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To marvel at the curtain twitching and spite

186 replies

viques · 03/04/2020 15:02

You know when they had witch burnings, public hangings, or if you are French , public executions by guillotine? Well I now realise that they weren't exaggerating the crowds that turned up to enjoy the spectacle judging by the number of nasty , spiteful posts today frothing at the mouth about how their neighbours are using schools, getting deliveries, standing too close, etc etc etc . I think the posters who are hoiking their judgey pants so dangerously close to their tonsils are the same ones who would be denouncing their neighbours to the witch finder, the revolutionary committees and magistrates before packing a picnic and their knitting and taking themselves off for a day trip to the village pond or the local prison.

I know MN can be a playground for mean girls, I know everyone is stressed and anxious, but omg this virus is bringing out the worst in some people.

Chill out guys, eat Cake if you have it and cuddle a Bear to get your blood pressure down.

OP posts:
Topseyt · 03/04/2020 17:14

Others about people not walking their dogs properly, one about a family splitting dog walks - both single so taking their labs out together so they get 2 decent walks a day iyswim

If that is the case then I definitely won't be looking on our local social media pages. Any curtain twitchers around here will be having a field day with us.

Our cocker spaniel is often getting a couple of walks a day, once when DD2 goes out and then again later when I do (and I will be going out in the next few minutes). I know a lot of the dog owning families who are working it similarly.

AwrightDoreenTakeAFuckinDayOff · 03/04/2020 17:16

@mencken

trouble with this virus is that it does not just infect the stupid

Indeed. And while I would not report my neighbour, it pisses me right off that they are flouting the recommendations by having people over, partying, coughing their lungs up in their back garden and being downright inconsiderate in the process.

They give zero fucks that I work shifts. They give zero hoots that I am doing my best to keep healthy so I can keep on working through this.

Yet I will have to care when they are struck down.

HarrySnotter · 03/04/2020 17:24

I had a note through my door today to tell me that, yesterday, DS had been out for 1hr 10 mins on his daily bike ride, rather than 1 hour as recommended (he was, he had a puncture).

I know who it's from, it's from the chap across the road who was on facebook a couple of weeks ago encouraging everyone to go to the village pub on the last evening before they closed because of the 'ridiculous' closure of pubs and restaurants 'for a bit of flu'. We live in a tiny village so it's easy to spot those who love to stir the pot.

Orangeblossom78 · 03/04/2020 17:26

That is crazy Harry, not on... we have some people staying in the holiday let below us who keep glaring at us whenever we go out with the children for some reason and curtain twitching, they are here on holiday, not sure why they are doing this! Confused horrible for the children also.

HarrySnotter · 03/04/2020 17:30

@Orangeblossom78 I haven't let DS see the note, he's such a sensible lad and he'd be inclined not to take his exercise if he saw it.

You should glare back at them - you live there for a start! I thought people weren't meant to be going on holiday even in this country in case they became ill and put extra pressure on the NHS in that area. So really, you should be the one doing the glaring. Grin

Permanantlypuzzled · 03/04/2020 17:31

Two nurses have died .
Please ,please ,please listen to the advice you are being given.
This is not about how much you can get away with.
You are not just gambling with your own life. Good people are putting their own lives at risk treating patients with this virus.

LilacTree1 · 03/04/2020 17:35

Orange “ another woman shouting at DH because he was walking with our DC in the park! ”

Terrible. And why was she shouting?!

MigginsMrs · 03/04/2020 17:37

Yes there are lot of complete cunts on here.

FaFoutis · 03/04/2020 17:38

Read the thread Permanently.

GoldenOmber · 03/04/2020 17:38

Who is it you're pleading with and what is it you think they're doing that they shouldn't be doing, Permanantlypuzzled?

MigginsMrs · 03/04/2020 17:40

The thing is despite all the posts on here most people are doing their best I think. Obviously things like having parties is awful and should not be going on and I would report it. But the berating people for things like buying non essentials with their food shop, getting amazon deliveries, ie things that are not forbidden by the lockdown, is completely ridiculous.

Willow2017 · 03/04/2020 17:42

Two nurses have died.
Please ,please ,please listen to the advice you are being given.
This is not about how much you can get away with.
You are not just gambling with your own life. Good people are putting their own lives at risk treating patients with this virus.*

What has that got to do with anything on this thread?

Orangeblossom78 · 03/04/2020 17:43

Lilac I think she was shouting because we have two sons so they were walking together? Confused not sure. Yes, agree about the holiday makers, maybe they got stuck here or something...

LilacTree1 · 03/04/2020 17:44

Orange, if people don’t get that families are allowed in the park together, I despair!

Willow2017 · 03/04/2020 17:46

I had a note through my door today to tell me that, yesterday, DS had been out for 1hr 10 mins on his daily bike ride, rather than 1 hour as recommended (he was, he had a puncture).

Put it back through their door with Stop making up your own fecking rules you interfering idiot in big red letters!

Some people just need telling that they are not in charge of anyone else!

HarrySnotter · 03/04/2020 17:47

@Permanantlypuzzled I think you may have posted on the wrong thread? Unless you are talking to someone in particular on here who is not adhering to government advice?

Orangeblossom78 · 03/04/2020 17:48

Another thing I have seen, is people being shamed for taking their DC to the shops, when they are single parents and have no choice!

One person was on about this on local site, I did mention some people have no choice.

Some people do not seem to be able to understand or think about how others live. Same with parks- we don't all have gardens and children have the right to exercise like everyone else.

HarrySnotter · 03/04/2020 17:51

Put it back through their door with Stop making up your own fecking rules you interfering idiot in big red letters!

Grin
Orangeblossom78 · 03/04/2020 17:53

Write back that they had been on the toilet for X minutes and you have been checking it is not allowed, or some nonsense..to show them how daft they are being

Lynda07 · 03/04/2020 17:55

Yes it does amaze me but I only see it on here, it doesn't happen with me in real life. I am so pleased to live somewhere that is fairly private. One thing to be real for me about this crisis is that I do not want to move; prior to this I was considering it but I don't honestly believe I would find anywhere else that suits me so well. No nosey neighbours. My neighbours are nice and caring but nobody intrudes or gossips. That counts for so much.

BronwenFrideswide · 03/04/2020 18:15

I agree with you viques and the rest of the posters on this thread, it is extremely sinister the way what looks like a majority of posters on MN are behaving and reacting.

MN was once lauded as a site mainly populated by intelligent, educated, level-headed posters which the current behaviour of posters has completely blown out of the water. It is truly Stasi like on here at the moment and the few posters trying to hold back the tide are subject to the most ludicrous accusations and pile-ons.

I am in another country subject to a longer and more extreme lockdown than in the UK and no-one here either in real life day to day interactions or on line is behaving the way these posters on MN are.

sunfloweryy · 03/04/2020 18:16

It’s happening in real life too.

I went for a run yesterday and there were quite a few people out and about exercising. Everyone I met was being really careful about the 2m rule, hopping into a side road or off the pavement where it was safe when we crossed paths. Most people really good humoured too, saying thanks and smiling, as I did.

I jogged towards one woman and her very large husband who were walking. The pavement was wide so I went as far left as I could without being literally in the hedge. She and aggressively pointed at me to to move further. No cars were coming so she could have stepped off the pavement for a second but did that instead accompanied by a filthy smug look.

I gave her a ‘wtf’ look as I jogged past but it bothered me for the rest of the day. Yes, I know I need to keep my distance but that goes for you too you silly cow!

Defenbaker · 03/04/2020 18:17

midsomermurderess posted:

"It's bloody grim on here. The worst today was someone being the Big I Am having had the utter impertinence to challenge someone with a cough in the supermarket. Had he had a test? was it negative? He looked like a shifty liar. His wife looked ashamed to be with him. What a nightmare."

I started that thread but you have twisted what I did and said totally out of context. The man was repeatedly coughing all over the place in the supermarket, without bothering to cover his mouth in any way. I missed out aisles to avoid him but even so he then appeared right next to me at the checkout, so I spoke to him. I regret asking him whether he'd been tested or not, but feel I was right to challenge his thoughtless behaviour. As you were.

OP, I do agree with you. Some people are bullying people online for not joining in the NHS clapping sessions, and others are finding fault with families taking daily exercise together. It's all very unpleasant, life is tough enough right now without stirring up hatred against people who are just doing their best to get through this crisis.

That said, I'm all for following the guidelines, they are there to help slow the spread of this awful disease, but I wouldn't report someone for breaking the guidelines unless I felt they were seriously likely to cause the spread of the infection.

Deathraystare · 03/04/2020 18:21

I imagine all the curtain twitchers sitting on stockpiles of loo roll to get a better view!

BogRollBOGOF · 03/04/2020 19:39

Thinking about an evolutionary purpose to curtain twitchy, snitchy behaviour is that those people are more likely to survive purges such as the witch hunts of the 17th Century. So the poor woman delivering babies, curing warts and being a bit more free thinking is more likely to be ducked/ burned for witchcraft and less likely to pass her genes or influence on to the next generation.

Except, fortunately this is not a state where such behaviour has an immediate life/ death consequence such as purges like the Cultural Revolution. Yes, we're trying to manage a potentially fatal virus, but people in empty fields or taking a bit longer than a fictious rule on their daily exercise are not directly killing people.

Fortunately I live in a pleasant neighbourhood where people tend to get on with their own lives and most people sucessfully carry out social distancing with a smile.