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.

Hope you don’t have a bath tub still, like most people in the UK seem to have. LED lights won’t be the reason Earth dies.

Yes I live in a village and years ago there was a creepy man standing at the fence staring at me through the window in the dark. Would never have known if the dog hadn't started going crazy. Caught sight of him duck and crawl along the ground away from the house. Blinds down after dark now 😐

No they don't look at you in disbelief. What an exaggeration.

@nextlocation you do understand that a bath only uses water if you put water in it, right?

I found a couple of examples of Swedish windows. They are so pretty.

I was thinking this too 🤣 where I live, it’s very commonplace to say hello to a passing stranger!

To be honest I do kind of agree with OP and I’m British. I generally live in darkness lol

I think for me, it comes down to electricity costs. I have a light in my bedroom that automatically turns on/off at set times every day and I’m not fussed if that is on when I’m not home nor in the room. The energy cost is negligible.

The rest of my home lights though, if I’ll make sure to switch off if I’m not in or not in the room.

However I am also a techy person and I have a bunch of motion activated lights, so if I were to go into other rooms I don’t have to flick the switches. This means if no one is in those rooms, the lights will automatically turn off.

Also most of my home lighting is smart lighting. I guess I don’t want to waste the bulbs on a RGB light show when I’m not physically there to enjoy it. I couldn’t care less about lighting the street for passers by.

I close my curtains at night because I find the "black hole" effect of the windows makes me sad after a while. I grew up in the north of England without central heating and the small heat gain from the curtains mattered!

Ooo OP I love the idea of this

Sweden is a darker country than the UK in the winter: most of Sweden has fewer hours of daylight than most of the UK. Therefore it makes sense they'll feel a greater need for lights to brighten up the outside. We only really need it for the shortest days of the year i.e. around Christmas which is when we have it.

Because Brits like a nice overhead light - on or off, thems your choices.
We don't do Gemütlich or Hygge.

Have you not heard of climate change? We’re all supposed to try not to waste energy or resources. Maybe in your home country, they don’t care!

Oh really? No, that I did not understand. Thank you so much for educating me.

Curtains open with lights on?! Er no thanks, nosy neighbour!

What in the shit is going on in this thread? I'll wager half the ppl here have been on other threads recently declaring everyone MUST shower at least once a day whilst now bickering over some rechargeable LED lamps destroying the environment 😂.

OP - your streets sound lovely, honestly. I don't imagine anyone has much thought about it here before. Curtains are closed for privacy & thicker curtains are better for insulation. Many councils are now turning off streetlights after a certain time so where I am the darkness is now absolute.

Personally I find it a little unsettling but would prefer lit windows to street lights.

Actually.. there's a very large house in the next village down from me which has all the lights on all the time (it's on the main street) they also have a Swedish flag so makes sense now 😅 it looks really pretty actually, and I assume they're rich considering the size of the property

But if you are for real, thank you. I honestly think I’ve heard it all now. 😂

I haven’t got a bath tub, just a water saver shower.

Hah! I always said I should move to Sweden! I love lamps, have them on all evening, and yes one in the living room at the front is on in the window at night, and no I don’t close the curtains. There’s a hedge for privacy. If it’s super cold I may shut the curtains, but they’ve been open since some time in February! I also leave upstairs windows open a little unless it’s actually below zero, as I like fresh air. And make visitors take their shoes off at the door. Clearly my neighbours and the local
wildlife must hate me..

@Swedegirl48

Sorry mumsnet can be quite harsh, can see you have a few strong answers. 😂
Honestly my first thought would be privacy, my window overlooks a football field and the street so I wouldn't want a light showcasing my living room.. That's just me.. But us brits are also very private people.
My second thought would be the cost of running the light.. Cost of living crisis is going on might be seen as an unnecessary expense..for me this isn't an issue but if you were conscious of every penny it might be.
I think most brits don't do it for mainly practical reasons.. And laziness.

I’ve never understood why Swedes don’t close their curtains! Swanning about in your houses, lit up like a Christmas tree, so anyone lurking in the dark can watch your every move. Do you not read your own books? Watch your own tv shows?

Maybe the design of the houses means that people can't see into the living rooms?
Ours is on the ground floor and not elevated, so anyone walking past can see straight in.

Or maybe they don't have rapists and mass murderers in Sweden (except in their brilliant crime dramas).

They do! And there are so many of them lurking in the dark that I’m surprised they don’t keep bumping into each other.

The big light? Surely no one actually trims the big light on 😁

Personally I don’t like people looking into my property. For privacy and security.

We clearly have different cultural values. I’m sure we could move to Sweden and find things we’re not comfortable with.

Is the whole point of your post to highlight cultural and societal differences? Are lamps as good as it gets?

I also turn as much electricity off as positive to avoid waste.