Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to love looking in people’s windows!

239 replies

LittleRa · 14/06/2021 09:42

I’m on maternity leave and my baby loves the pram (was a surprise as older DD hated it!) and naps well it, but wakes up when I stop walking. I also do the school run twice a day for older DD. So I find myself wandering around the streets, exploring parts of the neighbourhood I haven’t been to before. I love looking into people’s front windows! It feels so nosy Blush What they have on their walls; art work, photos etc, how their furniture is arranged, where their TV is positioned (and how big it is!) have all become a source of fascination to me. Has my baby brain turned to mush and I need to get out (of the nearby streets) more? Is is terribly bad manners? Anyone else like a good nose into front windows?
Disclaimer- from the street! Not entering gardens/yards and pressing my nose up against the glass! And also not stopping and gawping- always moving along (aforementioned sleeping baby!)

OP posts:
fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 12:14

Obviously people are going to have privicy glass etc for any bathrooms and gardens are an outdoor space.

But no, it's not on someone to have to cover up their windows to prevent obviously nosy cunts having a good stare through your front window.

ahem... if it's "normal" to you to have privacy on your bathroom windows, it's entirely your choice if you have similar on your other windows Confused

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 12:15

No, no I'm not. These people have operating necks. They are making an active choice to be pricks. Just don't fucking look. It's not hard.

why should I not look?

If my kid is looking for cats, or for pictures of a rainbow or whatever, I won't stop him either.

If you are not bothered and people can see inside, it's fair game.

EnfieldRes · 14/06/2021 12:17

I do it too but also find it annoying when others do it. Grin

Our old house was on quite a busy road, small cottages type houses. Small front garden so v close to the pavements. My-oh-my did people like to peer through! Almost every person would have a look as they went past.
Most neighbours had nets (yuck) we had wooden blind things that we had to keep partially shut, making our main room very dark. It was actually really frustrating. Continuous prying eyes VS darkness.

I've seen some residents have not put reflective film on their front window, a good idea I guess. It hadn't occurred to me.

We moved, sadly. It was a lovely wee house.

Myxisaprat · 14/06/2021 12:17

But what if someone is bothered and people can see inside when you and your kid are rubbernecking? (Unless you mean or?)

Honeyroar · 14/06/2021 12:17

If I had a window on a street with no blinds I wouldn’t walk around naked, for example, because I wouldn’t want someone to see me and even my limited intelligence can work out it’s quite likely someone will look in when walking past... So I’d either put some clothes on or shut the curtains. There used to be a bloke near here that deliberately stood naked in his front room to shock people. HE got a visit from the police.

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 12:20

As the OP can I just reiterate that the thread has derailed slightly and the original idea was not about looking at people through windows!

OP posts:
Hallyup6 · 14/06/2021 12:25

@bigbaggyeyes

I love it when the nights start to draw I , about dusk when people have their lights on and haven't drawn the curtains
That's the time you'll find my husband wandering around butt naked so it'd probably be better for you to avert your eyes from my house!
grapewine · 14/06/2021 12:32

@UrAWizHarry

It's rude as fuck. Why should people have to draw curtains etc during the day because some nosey fucker is having a good gawp?
It's so rude. No one should have to have curtains drawn or blinds closed in the day, just because people are fucking nosy. Mind your own business.
grapewine · 14/06/2021 12:33

Didn't mean to quote.

DulseSeaweed · 14/06/2021 12:38

People used to peer in all the time when I was in a Victorian semi next to the street. I didn't mind really, I have a quick glance in houses too especially in quirky areas or ones with interesting architecture. We're now slap bang in the middle of a 5 acre plot so no peepers but I'm due with another baby and will probably like you end up wandering the streets with a tiny bit of peeping!

sbhydrogen · 14/06/2021 12:39

Oh I love a quick glance through people's windows. I also love looking at lovely front gardens, and I will happily stop to sniff lovely plants.

KnottedFern · 14/06/2021 12:48

I like to look at people's front gardens because I like flowers.
I don't look in windows (maybe a glance as can't be helped) because it is rude & fucking weird, it's not a quick look from far away if you can tell what artwork they have on the walls! I live in a little terrace and have had people tap on my windows, at my cats before, while I've been sat on the sofa, so know full well how disturbing it is having some random stranger gawping in getting a good look. Usually before they realised there is actually a woman sat in her pyjamas there!

Bluntness100 · 14/06/2021 12:49

That's the time you'll find my husband wandering around butt naked so it'd probably be better for you to avert your eyes from my house!

How odd.

1forAll74 · 14/06/2021 12:49

I only look over at people's houses,if they have a really beautiful garden set up.I am not interested in the inside of their homes.

tigger1001 · 14/06/2021 12:52

Our house is set back from the pavement, with a front garden so you need to actively be looking to see in, but this thread does remind me of the last time I decorated and a neighbour came over with a painting that would just look great and would match the new colour of my wall. She can't see in my house from her house, so must have been having a good old nose every time she went past.

Must admit that made me feel very uncomfortable

Bluntness100 · 14/06/2021 12:53

To be fair op, a quick glance is human nature, but you’re clearly gawping to notice all the things you do, and it’s a bit off.yes people need to accept there is people like you roaming the streets looking into their homes,doesn’t mean it’s right though.

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 12:53

I like to look at people's front gardens because I like flowers.
I don't look in windows (maybe a glance as can't be helped) because it is rude & fucking weird,

but that's the point. For anyone IN the house, it looks like you are looking inside anyway.

UrAWizHarry · 14/06/2021 13:01

@fashionablefennel

No, no I'm not. These people have operating necks. They are making an active choice to be pricks. Just don't fucking look. It's not hard.

why should I not look?

If my kid is looking for cats, or for pictures of a rainbow or whatever, I won't stop him either.

If you are not bothered and people can see inside, it's fair game.

...because staring straight into people's houses is fucking rude....?

This is not a difficult concept. Privacy glass/coverings reduce the amount of light that get into a room. Why should people have to do that just because arseholes want to have a nosey about what someone is watching on the tv.

Here is a handy guide on how your neck operates, in case this is still too difficult:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck

krustykittens · 14/06/2021 13:02

If people think the OP is bad they should try living somewhere like Bath, where a lot of tourists genuinly seem to think your home is all part of their experience. I had to put privacy film up because people were leaning over our railings with zoom lenses trying to take a picture of my rooms! I had people knocking on the door asking me if I was 'open'. I like seeing cosy rooms as well, OP. One of the nicest things about walking down our street in Bath at night was seeing all the different houses lit up. One neighbour taught ballroom dancing and it was magical to watch a couple twirling way gracefully in front of a window three stories up while the traffic trundled past below.

PassTheVinoTinto · 14/06/2021 13:02

I have twisted my ankle more than once falling down a curb whilst I've been busy looking at someone's garden or home decor.

I don't stop to gawp, which is why I usually fall over! You'd think I'd learn Hmm

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 13:03

UrAWizHarry

I don't care if you call it rude. It's on show for the world to see! It's up to you , if it was bothering you, you would ensure your privacy. I have.

fashionablefennel · 14/06/2021 13:04

PassTheVinoTinto

😂

might it has something to do with your username?

BramStoker · 14/06/2021 13:10

The OP has made it very clear that when she initially glances through a window that she would immediately look away again if there was a person or people in the room

If the room is empty she doesn't immediately avert her eyes but will continue to look in the room for the few seconds it takes to walk past

For something to be 'rude', surely there needs to be someone to witness it or a victim? The owner of the house will not suffer any damage or embarrassment as a result of the OP looking through the window for a few seconds

I suppose there is a small chance someone inside the house (perhaps through a different window) has observed the OP looking but as long as she doesn't slow her pace or stop while looking then I honestly can't understand why anyone would be upset or offended by this!?

Yes, if it was repeated behaviour, looking in the same houses on a regular basis it would be a bit creepy/ stalkerish but as a 'one off' I can't see that the OP is doing any harm

Myxisaprat · 14/06/2021 13:12

But it is repeated behaviour. She walks the same route multiple times a day so she must be looking in the same houses

Original poster
LittleRa · 14/06/2021 13:14

@Myxisaprat

But it is repeated behaviour. She walks the same route multiple times a day so she must be looking in the same houses
I said in one of my posts that I don’t walk the same route more than once per day, and that on two legs of the school run, when I have DD with me, I wouldn’t be doing it as I’d be chatting to her, watching her scoot ahead etc.
OP posts: