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?

If it was not so hot at the front of ours I would rather sit out there than at the back with the shrill screaming and screeching of the child at the back of us. As it is I stay inside and can still hear the screaming and screeching with the windows shut, normal playing is pleasing to hear but this is painful.

Ooh our neighbours over the road always stand outside their front door to have a ciggie even though they have a perfectly good back garden. Our front doors open directly into the pavement so they stand on the pavement in their pyjamas smoking in the mornings and evenings. Just weird to me!

Do you live opposite my SIL, they sit in front of their garage door, on folding chairs and just inside the garage when it rains. They even got a patio heater for the cold and the bbq gets pulled onto the drive for cooking. The kids they used to watch are now adults and no grandkids. Weird. She also has a beautiful back garden with a patio and a hot tub.
I never could figure it out.

People are so very judgemental on here. I think it's nice to chat to the neighbours.

I'm not really being judgmental about it, I just think it's weird. And in our road, it kind of is - no-one else does it.

But then when I'm with my mates, it usually involves wine, smutty talk and swearing. I wouldn't dream of inflicting that on the general public. NDN is very straitlaced and may well mind the swearing, but I put up with her windchimes, so that's fair. The other NDN is even more sweary, and shouts during horseracing, so they have no claim to the moral high ground.

YANBU, it's really annoying when people do this - an acquaintance does it and blatantly admits its so she can be nosey and sitting at the back of her house is 'too boring'. To be fair though she doesn't sit on the pavement, that's even more annoying.

Do they move out of the way if someone comes along with a pram or in a wheelchair?!