Bloody outdoor Christmas lights!!!

[ThornAmongstRoses]

One of the houses opposite mine has put Christmas lights up all over the front of the house - which admittedly looks really pretty.

However, they leave them on all through the night, on one of the flashing settings, and my bedroom is like Blackpool Illuminations

I’ve got continuous bright blue, red, green and white flashes of light coming through my curtains, under my curtains and around the sides of my curtains.

It’s so hard to sleep

This is the 3rd night in a row now, I’m shattered, I’ve already had enough and the thought of this going on for another 4 weeks is killing me.

I know it’s their house to do with as they please....but it’s 22.45pm and surely it’s just considerate towards all the neighbours (I won’t be the only one affected by this) to at least turn your lights off overnight?

Am I being a humbug?

I’m going to have to buy some black out blinds aren’t I...

[Notjustanymum]

Are you my neighbour OP? I didn’t realise my OH set the timer on ours to go off at MIDNIGHT! I’ve told him to reset it to 21:30 instead now after waking and realising they were still on at 11:30 last night...

[AwaAnBileYerHeid]

This year more than any we need a bit of joy in our lives, it’s sad that some people want to suck the joy out of everything

How is someone simply wanting a bit of sleep "sucking the boy out of everything"? If you lived in a flat and your downstairs neighbours regularly liked to party and blast loud music till 2am most nights, preventing you from getting to sleep when you have to get up at work for 6am...would you just lie there and enjoy listening to the thumping music or would you "suck the joy out of their fun" and ask them to keep it down? Same thing.

[mathanxiety]

It's not that hard to both sleep and let others use their Christmas lights.

This isn't a noise nuisance with the bass shaking the floors until 2am most nights. It's something that has a very easy fix that doesn't involve wire clippers or a rifle or any of the other wild-eyed, knee-jerk, foaming at the mouth reactionary responses posted here.

It's flashing Christmas lights and you can get to sleep if you buy and use a cheap sleep mask, or even a tube sock draped over your eyes.

[ThornAmongstRoses]

I’m going to have to ask because it keeps being mentioned, but what is a tube sock?? I have never heard of this at all!

[MargotLovedTom1]

Bloody Nora, so now the OP should fart about with a DIY sock come sleep mask in order to pacify nobhead neighbours?! How about the neighbours consider that they 'live near other people and deal with it sensibly'? They live in a cul-de-sac - who is possibly going to derive Christmas cheer from lights flashing on and off outside a house at 2am?

[Doublethesarcasm]

Urgh I had this in a previous house.
Kept awake for a month by gaudy coloured flashing lights.
There was no reasoning with the guy, he took a dislike to us when we moved in as he could no longer use OUR drive.
He also used to be out daily at 6:30am with his very loud leaf blower.
I used to lay there envisioning cutting the wires, shooting the bulbs etc.
I was seriously glad to move from there.

[Besom]

@ThornAmongstRoses

I’m going to have to ask because it keeps being mentioned, but what is a tube sock?? I have never heard of this at all!

I have been wondering this too! Is it one of those things you put on when you sprain your ankle?

There is no earthly need to have flashing lights on overnight and OP should not have to put up with sleep deprivation. I would be mortified if I thought I was keeping my neighbours awake at night.

[MummytoCSJH]

Given you've already spoken to him and he was grumpy, and assuming it's a couple/family, I'd catch her and tell her about your epilepsy. I don't know if it could be a trigger for a fit for you but it would be for the person I know who has epilepsy, and he really struggles at Christmas.

[NataliaOsipova]

I'd definitely take that as a direct invitation to cut the wires

I thought this too - glad I’m not the only one....😆

[Springersrock]

It's not that hard to both sleep and let others use their Christmas lights

It’s also not that hard to not be a knob and turn the bloody things off over night.

Mine are on a timer (and they’re are on the static setting all the time anyway as flashing lights do my head in), absolutely no effort on my behalf and my neighbours can sleep peacefully without the effort and expense of buying new curtains, sleep masks or tube socks

[mathanxiety]

A tube sock is a sport sock, usually but not always lacking a defined heel, hence the name. It would lie nicely over your eyes. Or you could buy a sleep mask.
www.amazon.co.uk/Tube-Socks/s?k=Tube%20Socks&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21


Bloody Nora, so now the OP should fart about with a DIY sock come sleep mask in order to pacify nobhead neighbours?! How about the neighbours consider that they 'live near other people and deal with it sensibly'? They live in a cul-de-sac - who is possibly going to derive Christmas cheer from lights flashing on and off outside a house at 2am?

Well yes, 'farting about', as you put it, with easy fixes to the problem would be the practical way of getting the result you want after all. It would require acknowledging that you live in a built up area among other people who want to celebrate a seasonal holiday in a way that really is quite innocuous.

Depends though - do you want to get off to sleep or do you want to spit nails all night? The choice is entirely yours.

My suggestion is to stop being so furious, stop stubbornly refusing to do what you can to get the sleep you claim to need so desperately, unclench, and do whatever is in your power to do to achieve your aim.

Standing on dubious principle here and insisting on the other guy doing what you demand isn't going to get you a decent night's sleep, is it?

[piefacedClique]

Someone at the end of our street has red and blue flashing until midnight.... It’s like a bloody RTC

[ThornAmongstRoses]

It’s like a bloody RTC



(I’m laughing at the time of your post, not laughing about RCTs, just before anyone accuses me off such!)

They’ve got some lovely lights on their hedge outside now too, which stay on all night but they’re static.

I had a word with one of my other neighbours the other day, who lives next door to the rude neighbour and knows him well, and for the last two nights the flashing lights have been turned off by 10pm at the latest.

So whatever was said obviously worked

[Babdoc]

Leaving outdoor lights flashing all night, when you can’t even see them yourself, is incredibly selfish and inconsiderate to your neighbours.
It is also damaging to wildlife - roosting birds cannot “buy blackout blinds”, and their sleep and circadian rhythms are disturbed, stressing them.
The environmental implication of all that extra demand for electricity is also a factor. It is not “just a few lights” - it is millions of them, all across the UK and many other countries worldwide.
There is absolutely no defence to leaving lights on all night. Those who do should be bloody ashamed of themselves. Act responsibly and turn your hideous abominations off at bedtime! The rest of us have had quite enough of your crap flashing in our windows for hours.

[mathanxiety]

Roosting birds in a built up area are going to have to contend with lots more lights, including incredibly bright security lights that so many people have.

And the people who have the lights can of course see them.

The claim that Christmas lights in their millions are a danger to the environment is ironic considering it is typed on a phone, laptop or PC. The amount of natural resources and the environmental impact of their extraction and the electricity use that facilitate the technology on which this site alone depends is not defensible.