Strange neighbours

[Whenthingsgobumpinthenight]

Ok, please tell me if you think the house next to us sounds weird or am I just being ridiculous.

We’ve lived in our house for almost 5 months now but never seen our neighbours, not properly. They are very rarely home during the day but home late at night. So far I’ve seen a van half a dozen times pull up at the house with a man in it. He’s never in the house very long 5 -30 mins. DH thought he might be doing work on the house but he’s not there long enough. I have seen a few different cars pulling in and out with a woman driving but I’ve never got a good look at her, once I think there was someone in the passenger side. Again the cars don’t stay long. There seem to be the same 2 cars that tend to park overnight. I only know this because my bedroom over looks their driveway so when I’m closing my blinds at night I can see them, but only ever one at a time. Otherwise I never see them pulling up. The car is always gone before we get up in the mornings. Who ever turns up to the house dosnt until usually 10-11 o’clock at night. There is lots of moving around and banging which goes on quite late sometimes.

Today we saw a different car pull up, for the first time we were stood outside our front door, I was so bloody curious that a walked into the car door my DCs had left open🤦‍♀️ But it’s like they are magic as you never seen anyone going in or out of the actual house.

The other day the windows were open for the first time during the day. Not thrown open like ours and everyone else’s in the street, just slightly open and the curtains were pulled almost closed. At the front of the house I’d get as we have to close ours to block sunlight sometimes but the back of the house was the same. My DH was stood outside talking to our DC the same day and glanced up to see a woman watching them but she shot behind the curtains when she saw him look up. He didn’t get a good look at her.

Last week I was woken up by what appeared to be shouting or screaming coming from the house. At the time I dismissed it as the other side of us, not adjoining, is a student house. They aren’t usually loud but do occasionally like to have a few. When I got up I saw a couple of the students in the front garden and the music from their house was travelling through our open upstairs windows so I put it down to that but now I’m not certain it was the students as they were laughing and loudly chatting, what woke me sounded different.

For some reason my DH seemed to think older kids, high school age lived in the house, he dosnt know why he thought this and can’t remember seeing any, he viewed the house with the landlord and agent so he thinks he may have been told this.

We’ve got quite a good view of a lot of houses all around us from the upstairs of our house and with the nice weather there are lots of people out spending time in gardens, open windows chatting over hedges etc but not with the house right next door. There has been no one in their garden, front or back.

I don’t think I’m a nosy neighbour but I am observant of my surroundings and I like to know faces, I think it’s just natural to recognise movements of people where you live.

So Do you think this is weird, maybe vampires or wizards live there???? Or am I being ridiculous and stop being nosy.

*@W*henthingsgobumpinthenight
I don't think you're nosy. You're probably just observant.
It nay be nothing.
It nay be a grow farm.
It may be more sinister.
How often have we seen sad headlines in the news and neighbours have later commented that
".... they kept to themselves.."
".... they were a bit odd....."
".......we never saw anyone going in or out..."
"..... thought we saw someone but weren't sure..."
after a tragedy or an escape by someone held against their will.
I'd let the police know of your concerns.

Too often bad or sad things happen because good people do nothing.

My next door neighbours are a bit like this, reclusive, they never open their curtains or blinds, there is a teenage son that you rarely see in daylight. I think they are vampires

Well my blinds are drawn in the back of my house because it adjoins a public pathway and I dont want people looking in! I also have CCTV and am mostly active at night because I run an international online business. I have as little to do with neighbours as possible because I cant be bothered with them. If I pass them in the street I might smile and say "morning/afternoon" but thats the extent of my involvement.

That does not mean I am potentially running a cannabis farm, brothel or slave ring.

Glad I dont have a neighbour like you OP or they would be hearing from my solicitor.

memberofthewedding

Glad I dont have a neighbour like you OP or they would be hearing from my solicitor.

For looking out of her window? I'm sure the solicitor would be thrilled to take your money for that!

@Nat6999

Check your electric bill, it's not unusual for cannabis farmers to piggyback the electric from other properties. I would definitely put money on it being a cannabis farm, like someone said they are now moving to properties in middle class areas to avoid detection, there have been two found in the area my mum lives in, nice middle class low crime area, the last place you would expect.

I'm pretty sure that given the OP is of an observant nature she might have noticed someone rigging up a cable to her power supply

I agree about the possibility of a farm though, quite a few near me and all in quite respectable houses.

@memberofthewedding

Well my blinds are drawn in the back of my house because it adjoins a public pathway and I dont want people looking in! I also have CCTV and am mostly active at night because I run an international online business. I have as little to do with neighbours as possible because I cant be bothered with them. If I pass them in the street I might smile and say "morning/afternoon" but thats the extent of my involvement.

That does not mean I am potentially running a cannabis farm, brothel or slave ring.

Glad I dont have a neighbour like you OP or they would be hearing from my solicitor.

Oh FFS that has got to be contender for stupid post of the day

What exactly would your solicitor be writing? Don't look out of the window, don't walk past the house, don't have any thoughts about you?

Get over yourself

@Mamanyt

Well, I thought perhaps you were just very observant, until the remark about the windows at the back of the house being just like those at the front of the house. Evidently, you're "nosey" enough to walk around the house to look.

I know a lot about what my neighbors are up to in the middle of the night, but only because I am a day sleeper, and spend a lot of time during decent weather sitting on my front porch. But I'd never dream of going out back to see what was going on in the rear windows!

I can’t walk around the house to look, but I can see very clearly from my back garden, when my children play and where I hang my washing, sit outside, mow my lawns...

@CornishPastyDownUnder

Id hate to have you next door-the epitome of a nosey neighbour -Somehow convinced you have the right to know everyones comings and goings..We had a couple like this next to us once who went to absurd lengths to find out how i was financing my apparently affluent lifestyle and why my number plates were from another state etc.. Insanely resentful I had neither time nor inclination to indulge their whispered fantasies. Mind your own business-I can only imagine you're bored and need a distraction. Maybe set up a neighbourhood watch-that the usual aspiration for your type of personality.

Haha not at all, I don’t care what my neighbours are doing, but I do find it a bit strange that after 5 months I couldn’t tell you what my neighbours look like. If I had “ that type of personality” I’d have a problem with living next door to students who like to get drunk and loud occasionally and play football in the garden at 3am as well as smoke weed which I can smell in my house. But it’s none of my business what they do which is why I’ve never reported them, but do know they are doing it.

I’d also track down the guy who thinks it’s ok to bounce a basket ball continuously down the street at 1am. I know it’s a guy because the first time I heard it I looked out my window, saw it was. I figured he can’t be scoping out houses because he was too bloody loud. I didn’t watch to see what house he went in, I went back to sleep. But I can tell you he usually walks home between 12 & 1am every night because I hear him bouncing the ball every night. Again, if I had “that type of personality” I’d find out where he lived and say something.

@Gothichouse40

Blimey, I must be a cannabis farmer. I like to watch telly or read late into the night. I also suffer occasional insomnia. My neighbours who keep strange hours both day and night are nurses(one being a midwife). They do work odd hours. I often have my blinds shut during the day as when the sun is out it shines on the TV and I then cannot see it. Nothing nefarious going on at all. Jumping to conclusions when you do not know your neighbours circumstances is dangerous. You should also hope your neighbours do not jump to conclusions about you. Some people are very private, myself included. Im wary of neighbours, too many are total gossips or want to be in all your business. If that makes me weird, Im happy to stay weird. Ive seen too many neighbours get overly friendly with each other and it all ends badly. Good fences make good neighbours.

But you KNOW exactly why your neighbours are keeping strange hours! How do you know this? How is you knowing your neighbours jobs any different from me observing my neighbours?

This thread is interesting. I may move at some stage and am wondering if it would be worth my while letting my three bed semi as a a furnished HMO. Would I make money, what would I have to do, should I let through an agency? I would prefer to do the latter as wouldn't want the hassle of managing it.

Any advice welcome.

Of course this is hypothetical, I may stay put.

@lolaharry

A lot of private properties are owned either by private child residential care companies or organisations involved with post 16 care leavers. Generally a lot of these properties spend a long time unused or with unusual time keeping as they are used for 'crisis' to either temporarily remove a struggling young person from a children's home to not upset the other young people, or as a stop gap with agency staff when no placements are available. They are also used for post 16 young adults to live semi independent to prepare them for the outside world. I may be wrong but with the unusual time keeping, screaming and you dh mentioning teens it sounds plausible.

I’ve actually thought of this as my mum worked in residential children’s homes for my years. I also thought possibly a safe house for women, which would tie in with the woman watching him and quickly hiding.

@Whenthingsgobumpinthenight You're not nosy, yet you've written 9 paragraphs, detailing every movement in & out of their house recently

@RubyWooRed

Sounds like the Burbs to me too

And that makes you sound like a horrendous snob

I am finding this quite interesting seeing different views from people especially people condemning me saying they have no interest in their neighbours.

For reference I live in a very quiet suburb, almost a village, well it was a very small village but grown slightly over the years and now is more of an outer suburb to a small town. So it’s very easy to spot something out of place. It’s one of the reasons we choose the area with having young children I want to feel safe letting them play outside, our last house we couldn’t do this.

I’ve never once though my neighbours are being nosy for knowing my routines. One of my neighbours knocked on my door last year, after 5 years of living there the extent of our communication was hi, but I knew who he was, that he was always pottering in his front garden. He noticed I hadn’t put my bins out when it was a bank holiday and the bin collection had changed. He wanted to remind me. Was he being nosy, no, I just thought he was a nice neighbour.

I absolutely hate nosy neighbours. I’ve been living in my house for almost 10 years, it’s in a little cul de sac with 9 other houses and I couldn’t tell you the routines of any of the others around here. There are some of the neighbours who I’ve never even seen, not to mind spoken to. Some I probably wouldn’t recognize out of context. 4 of them called over after I moved in to introduce themselves and I would wave at them if they were in their gardens as I passed, we exchange Christmas cards, but otherwise I don’t see them or chat to them, and I gave zero idea what those daily routines are, nor do I care.

One woman who lives across from me is dreadfully nosy. She actually once said to me “we can’t figure you out at all”, and said it in a very indignant tone, as if to say how dare I have a pattern of comings and goings that she couldn’t get her head round! The same woman also made comments after I had a gentleman come to stay and she hadn’t seen me open the windows in my spare room (at the front of the house) so she presumed he hadn’t slept in there... said with a judgemental raised eyebrow and finished with pursed lips!
I’m a very private person and do not respond well to intrusion into my life.
The op seems to know a lot about her neighbours and their visitors considering she only sees them when pulling her blinds! Oh, apart from the time she gawped so blatantly she walked into an open car door

something out of place

And there you go again - judgemental.

It's "out of place" to you - it's other people's lives to them.

Basically it sounds like a weed farm. Keep your nose out of it! People are broke it may not be a bad person doing it.

For your own good stay out of it and stop taking bloody notes!

Regardless of it being a drug den or not you are really certain twitching to know how long the cars are there or not! Mind your own business

Could it be a safe house?
Have I been watching too much crime TV?

I'm nosey, I can't help it, and I would have invented a whole narrative to explain the comings and goings and lack of daytime sightings. My money's on cannabis farm, too.

Cannabis farms smell, OP, I suggest that you go and have a good sniff through their letterbox and see if you can smell it. Under cover of darkness of course, you wouldn't want to be spotted by a nosey neighbour.

@FOJN

I’m so glad that my nearest neighbours are a few miles away! I couldn’t cope with people judging how often I go out, what car is on my drive etc.

It's not as bad as you think. I live alone and I'm always grateful my neighbours notice if they haven't seen me for a few days. Sending a text to check I'm OK always feels like it comes from a good place, it never feels intrusive.

My neighbour and I are both in our late 60s, live alone and have no close family. We have spare keys to one another's houses in case of emergency, and an arrangement that if the front curtains are still closed beyond 9am, we'll ring or text the other one, and if we don't get a response, we'll come in and check on them.

I find it reassuring. If ever my dodgy knee totally gives up on me and I'm unable to move, she would notice.

Any update @Whenthingsgobumpinthenight ?

I have lived in my house for over 20 years. My neighbours moved in 15 years ago.

The only thing I could tell you about them is their name (parcels getting mis delivered) and have spoken to them once when I redelivered one of the parcels and the woman apologised about the number of cars and if they were being noisy as all her adult children had moved back home with their wives and gfs to save up a deposit for a house and it was driving her and
her husband up the wall

I couldn’t tell you their routine or anything more about them.

Why are you interested in what other people do.
If they aren’t making any noise and keeping themselves to themselves think yourself lucky and concentrate on your own life.

@LadyEloise No updates. There was lots of banging a few days after my original post but the house seems to have been empty ever since. No day or night movement or cars. There was a gardener in last week doing the lawns so I’m guessing not cannabis farm as I’d doubt they’d pay someone to do that for them 😂

Perhaps they are moving ?

My guess based on your first post.

The wife either doesn't work or works from home and the husband works the 2 till 10 shift on a permanent basis. Not all shift work is rotating shift work, some pick a shift and stick to it because it suits their lifestyle.

Not hard to work out. Not weird, just a little different.

It's my life, I recognise the signs. It time shifts all elements of your day and makes you seem weird to 9-5ers.