AIBU to keep our lights up despite neighbour complaining?

[AutumnLighting]

We moved into our house just before Christmas last year. We are one of 6 houses on a lane in an u shape and our house is directly opposite one of the other houses. All of the houses are set back so we are not close to the houses opposite.

When we moved in last year, we put up lights on our house and in two of our trees at the front of our house as well as 2 nutcrackers and a Christmas wreath on the door. Nothing garish, just white lights. Every time we saw the neighbours opposite they would comment on the lights and decorations. They said things like that’s is a lot of lights, did you leave any in the shop for anyone else, we certainly can’t miss you etc. We took the lights down in January.

This is now our first autumn in the house and my husband has put up some lights along the front of the house, a garland around the front door and a wreath on the door. We went out for the evening and have come home to a note from the neighbour opposite which said she doesn’t like the lights, none of the past neighbours have ever put them up and that the lights will give her migraines like the ones we put up at Christmas did. She would like us to remove the lights.

How do we respond to this? My husband thinks we just ignore it but I said she will talk to us when we see her if we don’t go over and talk to her about it. He said he’ll tell her not to look at the lights. What would you say? We obviously plan to put the lights up for Christmas again this year so that isn’t going to go down well either.

We know she has moaned about other things to some of the other neighbours like their grandchildren playing outside on their bikes so she seems to be a moaner.

You have lights up for half the year so you can see them for 30 seconds a day when you come home?

Electricity isn't expensive enough?

Why have you put lights up now?

I agree with letting your husband deal with her. I’d love to see the look on her face when he tells her not to look. 😂

Outdoor lights cheer me up. Keep them and ignore the neighbour. She doesn’t own the road.

Of course she does. How else is she going to see shit to complain about?

Jeez Louise, are autumn house decorations a thing now? Have you ever thought you may be a bit susceptible to marketing?

Perhaps just keep them for the Xmas season and non flashing, even slow flash? maybe too not so many, put some out the back instead. Personally one tree decorated out front can be nice over Xmas (which is nearly 4 months away so you are way too early), 2 trees, nutcrackers etc etc is Santa's grotto territory.

I like lights and do have quite a few in my garden but I also live (for the moment) in a very busy, built up area. When we move, more countryside we've already decided not to have it well lit because of nature, loads of wildlife and insects there. I think white lights are a big no when it comes to nature too, need low power, yellow lights.

Just turn them off and stop play acting, fgs!
Outside lights aren’t even for the benefit of the house’s occupants, it’s the unfortunate neighbours that actually have to look at them, not you.

Wtf are autumn lights?

Another fad, up there with reindeer food etc. Eek.

A waste of electricity and completely unnecessary light pollution.

Just take them down, OP. Don't be a dick.

They sound lovely OP. Some people moan at everything. We had a neighbour years ago that moaned about Christmas lights, children playing, cats, dogs, people going out to work early, a street party for the jubilee etc. More people than ever started putting Christmas lights up to piss the miserable cow off.

People must be really thick to not be able to work out what autumn light are.

don’t take them down. If you do, what will her next request be? Don’t do it.

I think it's wasteful of energy that is scarce and expensive enough, bad for nature, bad for your own health and groundedness in the real natural environment. It causes loads of plastic shite to be manufactured, and it is anti social to have lights outside your house all the time and into the evening.

And it just shows you've swallowed a load of marketing bollocks about buying new stuff all the time to decorate with, which is a transparently obvious manoeuvre of late capitalism and makes you look a bit of a dumbass for falling for it, tbh. I would judge you heavily.

We have one culturally accepted shared winter festival in December already, when lights are OK. Go for your life then!

It's like as if you are letting off fireworks randomly every night and expecting people and wildlife to deal with bangs and pops. Or if you're playing audible music all the time and just saying oh well we like the sound of it to come home to.

There's a social contract about not making yourself obtrusive and annoying to neighbours. Just have stuff INSIDE your house. You don't have the right to impose your thoughtless crap on everyone else.

It’s really difficult to say whether you’re being unreasonable without actually being able to see the lights and the layout of the street. That said, if a neighbour asked me not to do something because it was making them ill, I’d give it serious consideration unless it was patently unreasonable.

Lights of any kind would trigger seizures in DD because of her epilepsy, also give her migraines. It's only just turned September, too early imo.

See, when us oldies say people today waste their money on unnecessary nonsense THIS IS WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT.

We have also put up some lights today OP. We only have 2 elderly neighbours and both have sent me a text to say they’ve really cheered them up with the darker nights already starting.

I would keep them up and please yourself. Your houses aren’t close and she can’t see much of them anyway. Miserable sod. Shes probably on here. 😅

Well, I am glad you are not my neighbour, OP.

This. Why are people so selfish these days. Put lights on the back of your house so you can enjoy them without upsetting your neighbour

That’s ridiculous.

I agree with this. You didn’t take the hints from them last year so she has upped the ante. If you do this, it’ll be something else next. I’m surprised she could bear to come to your house, what with her migraines. Being that close to your lights must have really set them off. As a pp said, she doesn’t own the road. Most of us have met this type. Grey rock.

Are you her actual neighbour 😂

You sound kind