About my neighbour "entertaining" in the street

[LakieLady]

I think this is weird behaviour but am fully prepared to be told IABU.

The woman in the house diagonally opposite seems to prefer to sit out in front of her house rather than in her back garden. I can't fathom it out, her back garden faces the same way as our front, so is sunny until approx 2-3pm. It also has a nice view across the downs, instead of parked vans and houses.

She's not in her front garden, which is shady, or on her drive (her car is there), but she and 3 friends have folding chairs out on the pavement and are sitting out there chatting and drinking cuppas. It's not because of social distancing, either, the pavement's narrow and they're really close together. Anyone walking along that side of the road would have to walk in the road or cross over.

By some weird acoustic quirk, they sound as though they're in the same room as me, I can hear every word they say, at least when the 6 kids they have between them stop yelling. I'm bloody glad I'm not working today, I wouldn't be able to hear myself think. And (whisper it quietly) the children are chalking all over the pavement.

So, AIBU to think this is weird? And can anyone come up with a reason why someone would prefer to sit in the street rather than in the back garden?

@contrmary
How so?

I wonder if it's so the children can play communally without going into one person's house/garden and trashing it.
Sharing the load.

I think it gives a sense of inclusion however "common" it seems
A sense of the old type of community.
I say sit wherever you like around your house and not all of house have to be the same.
I chat to common people being probably one, we enjoy our common lives and probably smile too.
Op looked up the house online seriously!, go join them and talk about something more important.
Stop Being Such a Nasty Bitch!!

Hang on the OP may be nosey but she hasn't been nasty and it wasn't her who said common it was me (different context)

DH and I sit out the front of our house. Our back yard is overlooked and doesn't get the sun but the front is in permanent sunshine.

Admittedly we sit on our small front garden rather than the pavement, but occasionally our batty neighbour will bring up a chair and join us. People often stop and chat to us, I thought they were just being polite but now I understand they are judging us

Sounds like they're keeping an eye while having a chat, Tbh this day and age you can't trust your kids to be completely safe out playing like it was before! I was a kid in the 90's and was out in the street all day everyday from about the age of 7, I wouldn't dream of letting my dc do that now!
Also it's only chalk, it washes off it's nothing like graffiti. They're not tagging their nicknames I'm sure

Chalks not vandalism washes off in the rain. I always quite like seeing chalked pavements :)

@contrmary

It's bloody odd the way people congregate outside the front when they have a back garden available. Common too - you can tell a lot about people who do this.

You can tell a lot about people who write others off for being 'common' too...

Do you live nearish to the Welsh border. Sounds a familiar type of set up to where I live

You have my sympathy op.

Traditionally children would play out the front. Nowadays however, things are different. We have so much more cars on the road, we mostly live in built up areas where we are on top of each other so consideration for others is very important. This is why we have facilities such as parks and back gardens etc in order to provide somewhere for children to go.

Our neighbours kicked their kids out- up to about 10-15 of them at a time for approx 12 hours per day unsupervised. I was sat in the back garden one day (they like to congregate behind our garden fence) and they were having water fights the noise level was totally appalling.
I lost my patience at this point, the complete lack of concern for anyone but themselves really offended me.
I’ve got the community police team involved now and the silence over the last week has been so good for my mental health.
I wouldn’t mind so much but we have a 45 acre country park directly across the road

YADNBU

When I was a kid in the 70's my Nan used to properly 'hoik her bosom' over the locals who would pull their sofas out on to the front lawn in the sun. It was amusing actually, first sign of a decent day husband would have one end, wife another and a 70's special floral sofa would be out.

Sadly the advent of rattan furniture seems to have ended the tradition.

The only issue imo is sitting on the pavement do they move if someone is trying to pass ?

I don't know, @Mrsjayy, I didn't stand and watch them!

Thank you, @TheQueef. And I only looked on Zoopla because someone asked if you could get through to the back without going into the house.

I was curious to see if you still could, because the previous owners had some building work done, and found you couldn't, which probably explains why they've chosen to sit out on the pavement, in a street where absolutely no-one else does.

It all seems a bit ' local authority'

I wouldn't be able to hear myself think. And (whisper it quietly) the children are chalking all over the pavement. 

Chalking on the pavement you say?? 101 NOW!!!!

Down to social distancing rules we've done similar, in that we sit on our couch (it's a chaise style big chunky thing) and our mate sits on the pavement so we don't break rules. We'd go mad with boredom otherwise. Not so much now the local pub is open as we can meet there but when you could finally have bubbles we did.

I have to sit in my front garden I have a beautiful large back garden that we put alot of time and money into.

Our front garden is fairly basic and not somewhere you'd choose to relax. The reason is the neighbours, one side child minds, so from 7am they start trickling in, they are outdoorsy people so no matter what the weather they are out, the kids screeeeeech all day long, they climb over, they throw over things, they squirt us with water, they ask a million questions. Then in the evening from 7pm the kids are collected, all the parents have food from bbq and some drinks and then leave. The other side has 3 girls who bounce on the trampoline all day long blowing tin whistles, all you can see is their heads bobbing up and down, they like staring too. The mother sits listening to shite music at a volume that makes your ears bleed. So sometimes people have no choice but to sit out front.

It all seems a bit ' local authority'

Eh?
Is the sun at the front perhaps?

Good grief, @Lipz, that sounds horrendous. I think I'd move.

No, @Bluesheep8, quite the opposite - the back of her house gets the sun until early afternoon.

I wouldn't be seen dead doing this, but it's not to rare a sight near where I live. They usually sick in deck chairs and reapply tanning vegetable oil all day long. It takes all sorts!

Too*

And sit* not sick! Bloody hell, there's an image.

It's appalling! I've never seen it done and cannot begin to imagine it.
As for kids chalking on the street, it sounds like something out of 'Call the Midwife'.

Very wrong but not morally wrong so I don't know what you can do about it. I know I could not live somewhere where people had a social life on the street and kids played there - back gardens and the park are for that.

You have my sympathy.

Coloured chalk is one step away from vandalism 😕 is this a wind up?