Neighbour annoyed at me for asking her not to collect our washing in.

[Firefliesdancing]

I arrived home today to find the washing had disappeared off the line that I’d put out this morning before work. It had rained heavy but I wasn’t too worried as I knew the weather was going to be scorching hot so they would be dry regardless. No note had been left, so looked on our cctv to find the neighbour over the back garden had got her husband to climb over on some ladders and take them in after peering in our back patio doors after realising we wern’t in.

We’ve only spoke to these neighbours a handful of times. It has made us feel slightly uncomfortable as I hate the thought of someone else handling my underwear/clothes/bedding. We went round with a small box of chocolates to say thanks and retrieve them. We asked them not to do it again politely and just leave them out as we have a drier if they can’t get dry naturally, thanked them again and left.

Unfortunately they are smokers (we are not) so our clothes had a whiff of stale smoke on them so rinsed them back through and put them back on the line as it was still boiling hot outside all dried within the hour. Knock on the door 20 minutes later after I’d taken them in. I assumed something was left so wasn’t expecting her to start having a go on the doorstep saying we’re not dirty you know, we did you a favour, not everyone is as nice as us we like to do things for people.

I was a bit taken aback so just said I’m sorry we’re trying to put the kids to bed, again thank you for your kindness and closed the door.

Does anyone else find this behaviour bizarre…maybe it’s the heat, I’m tired and I’ve missed something…is it the norm for people you don’t really know to collect your washing in when it rains?

So you don't take clothes to the cleaners? Because strangers will touch your clothes?

We like doing things for people = we’re nosy bastards.

Very weird behaviour. We get on with our neighbours well, take in parcels, lend our parking space if we’re away etc but we leave each others washing if it rains, we both know we have dryers and it’s only a load of washing. Anything else is intrusive.

This was a perfectly normal thing to do when I was a kid. How old are they? I think it’s a bit sad that the majority seem to think it’s a weird thing to do. How society has changed. I’d be upset about the smoke smell though.

Tumble dryer tends to shrink things, washing out as much as possible

This is nearly as nuts as the moron next door to me who lights his BBQ using newspaper and kindling when I’ve got a full line of washing out! To make matters worse the BBQ was very close to his own shed and a very old, dry wooden fence……..😡

It honestly never ceases to amaze me how many people on here have such odd neighbours!

I have never experienced this in decades of hanging washing outside. Including hanging it last thing at night so it gets the best of the early morning sun.

@PurpleDisco hey, so I'm in the middle and we have a shared alleyway between three of us and it's terraced houses. Their back door is just beside their back gate so it's literally just reaching my arm up and knocking as I rush to get mine in. She opens the gate so takes a few steps to knock on mine. We're horribly close together, can hear all sorts when everyone's windows are open 😬😁
ETA in
@fashionqueen0123 as you asked the same question, I'm not going into anyone else's space, we're all an arms length and/or a few steps away from eachother 👀 I don't go into their spaces, they have right of way to come on to mine though. I wouldn't partake at all if it wasn't a quick tap as I go to get mine in 😅

How can washing "stink" when hung outside in the fresh air?

What a strange world we live in.

Stink of what?!

Any dry day my clothes/towels bedding are outside, my washing smells glorious!

That is very weird! I have taken in washing for a neighbour once but we were very good friends and we had a shared garden and had a key to her house so wasn't trespassing or anything, only did it as I knew her well and didnt think she would mind (which she didnt she was grateful!)

As PP have said, I presume you live next door to a pig farm or smoke heavily in your back garden which causes your laundry to smell so bad. Or, your washing machine is dirty and needs a clean which is why it's leaving your clothes smelling bad.

Properly washed laundry hung outside does not smell bad, it smells fresh and lovely but I think you know that....

Do people really still hang washing out?!

Why do people post stupid stuff like this?

Is it somehow superior not to hang washing out?

Mine is either out or in the utility room.

Where else would it be?

Don't have a tumble dryer so can't be there!

I can remember my mum doing this for our next door neighbours when I was little, and they would do the same for us. It did involve us having to climb over their (low) fence

I don't know if it used to just be seen as considerate or whether i grew up with weird parents and neighbours. This was in the 80s though and all the neighbours on our little street were pretty close I guess?

It isn't something I've carried on doing! But I wouldn't be freaked out if a neighbour took mine in. I'd be annoyed if it ended up smelling of smoke though

This thread is nuts.

Yes climbing over a fence is weird. Yes stale smoke smell is gross. WTF to line drying stinks.

But also insanity that people are so offended that a neighbour may have handled washing. I have both ignored (catsitting/feeding, it would get soaked but dry again before they return) and taken in ( was dropping something off and the heavens opened) neighbours washing. I wouldn't take it home but we all have somewhere it can be left undercover, and I wouldn't dash round to do it (I generally have no idea if someone has washing out) and i wouldn't present their pants folded into a Swan on the top, but i can't understand the horror.

We do all know and like each other though.

What's an ANOB ?

Well if they’re smokers their house definitely does smell, even they don’t notice it themselves. Even if you smoke outside it sticks to skin, clothing, hair, breath and would absolutely be noticeable on laundry to someone who doesn’t smoke (and I say this as an ex-smoker myself).

They don’t sound particularly ‘kind’ to me - they sound like a pair of curtain twitchers who lose no opportunity to involve themselves in other people’s business and love nothing more than taking needless offence at anything and everything.

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - think The Lake District or cotswolds.

Clothes definitely smell betterbbeing hung out side

I would take washing in for our neighbours and they would do the same for me. It’s neighbourly. Along with taking in parcels, watering plants when away and keeping an ear out if the offspring are home alone.

However no ladders involved, no smoking and we would each know what we’d done as we’d have messaged prior to taking the washing in.

Did you enjoy your chocolates? 😂
Presumably the OP wanted clean laundry or she wouldn’t have bothered washing it in the first place, why would she have suffered fag-ashy polluted clothes just on the off-chance the overstepping neighbours would be 1) monitoring what she’s doing in her garden and 2) choosing to get offended over it?!

The whites are whiter if you dry them outside. Bleached by the sun.

OP, if you bump into them, mention that someone’s allergic to cigarette smoke. Effectively we all are, as in it damages us! I fostered a baby whose parents smoked, and was instructed to wash the child and the clothes after their contact visits, as the toxins linger on skin and clothes even if they weren’t smoking in her presence.

Stale ciggy smell is horrible. We aren't used to it anymore and it never should have been ok. I grew up, when our teachers could smoke in the classroom. If you smoke, or have a dog (which I did) then you accept that other people don't like the smell. It would knock me sick to wear clothes smelling of ciggies and I say that as someone whose whole family smoked. They were thanked for their thought, that's enough.

This is what people did back in the day as hardly anyone had a tumble dryer and drying inside was a massive faff. It’s just a generational difference but meant well.