Why do Brits live in darkness except for December?

[Swedegirl48]

I am Swedish and at home if you walk down a street, most houses will have lamps in some of the windows, outside lights and usually people don’t draw curtains so you can see the lights from within the houses. I was asking British DH today why Brits tend to light up their houses so enthusiastically in December, but the rest of the year people draw their curtains and no one seems to put lamps in the windows (at least not where we live which is London). I am the only person in my street who has a lamp in every window of my house and leave some on overnight too. I think I am trying to overcompensate for my very dark street.

Light pollution is foul. Why do you insist on stealing the right to experience darkness from other people?

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Also

robbing them of their darkness

HAHAHAHASHSHHSHSHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

OP, you've got it right. The Swedish way is gorgeous. Munsnetters are just fucking mental.

That just looks messy

Is it cheaper to heat homes in Scandinavia? We close our blinds and draw our curtains because our heating is so bloody expensive! A lot of heat is lost through glass even double glazed.

My front bedroom window sills are 5cm at best.

They are way better insulated so the houses don't get anywhere near as cold and the air is dryer so we don't get damp houses from that either.

I don't own any lamps, and never have, so yes I sit with the "Big Light" on in the evening, as do most people I know (not in the UK however).

I'm only in a Band A house but we have a broke council and a lot of social problems so very high council tax. It is another reason why it is too expensive to move, no way could I afford to pay a higher council tax band. To be fair, there are a lot of grim areas in this city, there is so much poverty and deprivation especially in the inner city. The council is rubbish and the police force are on special measures!

How over stimulated must all you big light people be!

We hang out in the kitchen rather than the front room, so the front room just sits there cold and empty most of the time TBH..

Energy isn't much of a reason though - one little LED lightbulb in the window to look pretty isn't wasting much energy compared to the 10 other things that are on in the house at any one time - and it's nothing compared to light pollution from the cars outside. I like looking out across the hillside I live on and seeing the house lights too - most of the houses in the countryside here have a light near their door somewhere that's always on (not me, the bulb's blown and I don't have a long enough ladder right now to replace it)

I also have no curtains in most of the rooms, only the ones I want to keep cosy, but that's because I have no overlooking neighbours. If I lived in London, I'd have curtains everywhere and they'd be closed most of the time!

I intentionally do not have fairy lights or solar lights etc in the garden because of wildlife.

I tried to do some star gazing a while ago and realised how incredibly annoying my neighbour's porch light is. It's motion controlled but next to a tree which triggers it in any breeze - it's on most of the night. Had to travel quite far to see any decent stars.

Team no lights!

All the 7 houses in the UK I have bought or lived in at some point - had windowsills. Unfortunately live in Italy now and not one has had a windowsill so far except in one bathroom and it is tiny..

I remember reading an article on this @Swedegirl48 , which said that this is a Swedish tradition. I'm sure it said something about either the lights 'lead the way' to church, or it stems from a time where the distance from one house to the next was great, and the lights showed travellers that people were in. Perhaps it's a bit of both? I'm off to do some Googling!

Either way, I'm pretty sure that the cost of running a small lamp isn't actually all that great?

Not at all. I actually relate to your desire for darkness and hate the summer when it's light far too late.

But I also like simple binaries. Lights on or off, not this gloomy halfway between of lamps that you have to faff about with. I like one nice bright light when I'm awake so I can see and I like total darkness at the flick of one switch.

No, you live alone have a king sized bed with one mattress one enormous goose or duck down quilt and sleep like a starfish - comfortably - alone lol. You only have company in said bed when you[d like a little "exercise"..nudge nudge..

Why on earth do people want hours of darkness??!!! I'm in the southern hemisphere and loving the long, light, evenings as do most people. Can't get enough of them and I'm dreading winter when it will be dark at around 5.15 pm.

As for all this nonsense about the electricity cost - of a few light bulbs?

I must say I've never heard of the "big light" before however, we just call it "the light" here.

Most houses with sash windows don't have window sills or only very narrow ones.

Everyone in the U.K. knows if you light up your whole house like Blackpool illuminations and don't draw your curtains, you are just making yourself an easy target for the murdering psychopath watching you make popcorn.

Not until 5.15? It’s dark here around 3.30 at the moment!

Already getting lighter in the evenings though, we're past the shortest day. Which always gives me a little bit of a sad jolt. I like it dark earlier.

I don’t mind it. I think my problem this Christmas has been that it’s been so dreary and over cast all week. It’s like the sun never comes up.

You what?!?! I've never come across this attitude in my life!

We have lamps if we're watching TV sometimes, but mostly the ceiling light is on, otherwise we couldn't read properly.

True. Almost all ours are LED.

Arent most Swedish houses/flats triple glazed, because of the cold? That may explain why they don’t feel the need to draw the curtains - as most of us do here, to keep the heat in - even if we’ve got double glazing.

I've loved this week! I've never seen fog and mist last so long. It's really different so quite exciting. The whole village looked like a weird film set this afternoon. It was cool.

If someone puts the big light on in our house it’s assumed there has been an accident of some sort. You’d never put it on otherwise - it’s like the red button in a hospital - emergencies only!

I remember going out into the garden during a power cut caused by one of the storms. The sky was absolutely amazing. I've never seen so many stars and we live in a small village on the edge of one of the National Parks so have pretty dark skies compared to most.

It was absolutely incredible and really made me realise how much we don't notice the incredible things that nature provides us with.