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.

It’s not British it’s a general European thing.
I used to live in Sweden and it for sure is lovely. But light pollution is so so so bad for the environment and nature. Truly it’s really bad. It’s also wasteful.

It makes no sense I love Sweden very much but this is ludicrous. I now live in Germany and we also avoid destroying the local nature with lights. The blinds mentioned by a pP are fantastic.

Sorry, that was for @Ponoka7

UK has some more daylight hours than Sweden in winter, doesn't it?

I'm in Sweden and can confirm every house here has no blinds or curtains closed and a light on in every windows...what's even stranger is that if you walk past the houses you never seen any one! Not that I'm peering in at every window 😂but it's always odd that there are just never ever any people!

I’m in Sweden, just drove home from my parenrs and all the houses and streets look absolutely beautiful. So cosy. And nice warm houses. We only have LED lights which cost nothing. It’s not good for your brain to sit in the dark with only the TV on. It can cause depression.
One thing I noticed in England was that people often have their ceiling lights on. We haven’t had ours on in years I think.

Privacy, I don't want random people watching me while eating or watching tv or judging my home decor.

Thanks Op as you've reminded me of one of my favourite memories of living in Norway in winter.

We have a Gladys Goose lamp in the window upstairs, it doesn't use much electricity, about 6w

People are saying it's a waste of energy, but you can get extremely low-energy lightbulbs these days.

I think putting lamps in windows and not drawing the curtains sounds lovely!

Haven’t seen a single closed curtain or blinds either!

I draw the curtains to keep the heat in for privacy. I hate when people can see in because the light is on. And I wait for as long as possible to put the light on, including in December. Energy bills are expensive.

I'd hate to live across from someone with a lamp in every window.

I hate lamps. I find them prissy and irritating. The only ones I own are bedside ones so I can turn the light out without getting out of bed. If I could reach the main light switch from my bed I wouldn't have those ones either.

So I'm not going to buy one especially for the outside. And I close the curtains as soon as it starts to get dark because I like it being cosier. One of the many reasons I don't like summer is that it's light for too long and I feel like I have to leave the curtains open till really late.

I never knew this about Sweden. Where does the tradition come from? Is it a hangover from days before street lighting?

It’s not good for your brain to sit in the dark with only the TV on. It can cause depression.

Who’s doing that? We’re just not lighting rooms that have no one in so that the outside looks cosy. That’s a bizarre thing to do!

Light pollution is terrible for nocturnal mammals, migratory birds, and even insects. I devoutly wish people would stop with the outdoor lighting at night, or casting light into their gardens from overly lit windows.

It's just so self-absorbed and environmentally unfriendly.

We’ve had very low energy lightbulbs for 15 years or so, everyone has. You can’t really buy any other ones here anymore.

We have windowsills but they're not wide enough for a lamp. Most of the houses I've lived in were similar, as far as I can remember.

Maybe Swedish homes have wide ones? My windows have sills but they are narrow, and it wouldn't be that easy to balance a lamp on them.

I think light pollution is caused more by big cities and their businesses - such as large tower blocks being lit up at night - than efficient, low energy dim lamps in windows.

Swedish houses are much better insulated and less drafty than British ones. We shut our insulated curtains when it gets dark because otherwise we spend a lot of money on heating that leaks out of the windows.

Ten years ago I moved into a flat where I didn't need curtains. It looked out over a big garden. My bed was near the window and I could see the stars. My favourite constellation was Orion. At dusk I could see bats and I knew there were hedgehogs out there benefitting from the darkness. Sometimes poplar hawk moths would come in through open windows in the corridors: I always took them back outside.

Over the years there was more and more light. Why people think a garden should be lit up at night I don't know. Now I live in another block of flats which is floodlit at night. I think it is something to do with burglars and vandals, it is a rough area.

The Swedes ought to think about the benefits of darkness, they could see the stars better and more of a chance of seeing aurora.

3 Things

British people have a strong need for privacy

Conscious of intruding on other people by inflicting annoying things like light that can prevent sleep

1970s strong messaging about turning off electricity at home to keep the national grid going. In recent decades this has been rehashed into an environmental message too.

Our goose is on a table in the bay window upstairs, it's not very bright though, hardly a light polluter, it's like a table lamp

There’s a house near me that has lamps in the windows and it looks lovely, so cosy! But it makes me wonder who they’re for - if you close the blinds for privacy then you don’t get any of the light. I also think it would be difficult in many houses with the damp climate as it’s common to get condensation on the windows in winter and I can imagine the lampshades getting damp (unless you have lots of money to heat your house 24/7 which I guess you might if you’re buying additional lamps and keeping them on for passers by)

Our lights indoors hasn’t seemed to stop deer, pheasants, squirrels, the now sleeping hedgehog under our patio, always countless of birds (and two tame crows) in our garden. They are all fed and get water too.