A nosy artist request!! Those pictures you posted are an artist’s dream. I would like to save the images so I can paint them. Can you tell me where they were taken. Promise I won’t follow you there!!!
Good Morning Thursday 14th May 2026
I would like to know your opinions to see if perhaps I am being unreasonable.
We have neighbours we get on very well with but I feel really uncomfortable with these behaviours.
This morning I called the wife for a chat, offering to put out their bins next week while they are on holiday. During our conversation I mentioned we were looking forward to a break in the same beautiful area, different hotel, next month. She asked who we had booked with.
30mins later she called back to ask if we had paid the extra £30 a night for a sea view room.
Now I am as nosy as the average person but if I had researched someone’s holiday I most certainly would not have announced the fact so overtly.
The husband is the same. We had an altercation with the council which only applied to our home. We were discussing it with our neighbours but happened to mention we couldn’t remember the exact date the driveway had been damaged. The husband said he would look up his diary for the previous year and let us know. ?
Am I being unreasonable in finding their interest in things that are in no way any of their business odd?
Clearly they think their interest is normal as they are so overt about it.
Am I weird or are they?
A nosy artist request!! Those pictures you posted are an artist’s dream. I would like to save the images so I can paint them. Can you tell me where they were taken. Promise I won’t follow you there!!!
My friend is like this - he is keen to know everyone's details! He worked in finance for many years, so I suppose that might account for it.
I mentioned that DD and SIL were looking to move house in the next year, and immediately he launched into:
What's their mortgage commitment?
What's their budget?
What's their credit rating?
Have they made an offer?
What Council Tax band will they be in?
My answer was:
Dunno
Dunno
Dunno
Dunno
And dont be so bl**dy nosy!
In fairness, he is very knowledgeable about such matters, and always willing to help, but I do find him very intrusive!
This is the reason we don't get over friendly with neighbours
Pass the time of day etc, and there for any emergencies of course ..but that's it, mind we only have two neighbours here and one a nice elderly lady, and the other couple both lawyers so they should know how to behave 
Aha I’ve just realised what activity I can take up in three years time when I retire... the neighbourhood sleuth!
I’ll have plenty of time on my hands then.
I can sit on my patio watching all the comings and goings, to-ings and fro-ings of everyone.
I won’t jot it down in a note book though I’ll do it the modern way and record everything on my phone.
Won’t they all be thrilled when I tell them about all the shenanigans everyone gets up to!
On second thoughts, that should only take up all of 10 minutes of my day as I live in a cul de sac of 7 houses with hardly any action let alone shenanigans after everyone has left for work.
Still I’ve got three years to think of something else ?
Oh my! I think this is weird. I would now be monitoring my conversation with neighbour.
We smile and say hello to our neighbours but rarely chat. During lockdown they did shopping for us, just a top up as we had deliveries, and we chatted a bit when they brought the shopping. Since we started popping out again we have not seen them. They told us they were going on holiday and I would love to know how it worked out but there is no opportunity now.
I would hate to have nosey neighbours but a bit of care and concern and friendliness is good.
Stop telling them stuff!
I have a neighbour who questions everything I say Oh that can’t be true is her standard response.If my OH says exactly the same as I do her response is Oh how interesting. Pleasantries about the weather are as far as we get theses days!
Ooh errr! How odd! I like to think we are observant in respect of security and safety i.e. milk on the doorstep all day, curtains closed etc etc but making notes of every single incident is a bit OTT.
sharon103
No, it wouldn't bother me. Just the opposite. I find these kind of people quite amusing. They can come in handy sometimes.
I'm with Sharon103 on this one. There'll come a time when they are the only ones who can supply information for a claim or a crime, and they come in handy then.
Perhaps their opinion of you is to wonder why on earth you take so little interest (as they see it) in their affairs.
We had an elderly lady here who, being housebound, habitually sat by her window and watched the street. Many neighbours commented on her 'nosiness'.
She called the police when she noticed a van backed onto a driveway opposite, with two young men taking quite some time to open the front door. A burglary was interrupted, they were arrested - and the comments changed with a true appreciation of her 'watchdog' service!
I always say hello to our neighbours and pass the time of day, take in parcels etc. But that's as far as it goes. I'm not over friendly as that way you keep your privacy which suits us.
I think I would have said to the comment of the £30 for the sea view. 'Oh gosh not at all - special price all included - really good deal - hubby booked it!' or something like that. As for the drive. They may have seen your driveway get damaged and made a note of it just incase you needed them as a witness or to back you up in some way. We were discussing trees coming down with our neighbours the other day and they made a comment about one of theirs. We could tell them the exact day as we had taken a picture of it as it landed on our chicken house!! And we are certainly not nosey ?
They have probably booked to go the same time as you!
Some neighbours are friends some aren’t I only share what may be sensitive with friends. So I keep on good terms with neighbours, it’s no different with work colleagues, some are friends some aren’t but that does not mean they are enemies.
We're not shopping at the moment so having a lot of home deliveries. Our neighbors asked 'just WHAT do you buy?'
If someone had booked a holiday in the same area as I was going but at a different hotel I would compare it to the one I booked. Chances are I had already looked at it before I booked. I would not make a call to ask if they had paid for a beach view though although may ask in conversation.
As for the matter with your driveway maybe it had somehow impacted on the neighbour - noise, not being able to access his driveway, extra vehicles parked in the street etc. which is what he noted not so much the issue from your point of view.
I remember being amazed when chatting with my sister and she mentioned that her neighbour buys her grocery on Thursdays, and the the same neighbour's mother came to visit every other weekend.
I don't even know what kind of cars my neighbours drive! In my sister's defense, I don't think she sits around peering through curtains, I just think she is very observant and notices what others do. She is also the type to remember everyone's birthday!
I’m Scottish Callistemon
£30 a night - certainly not, it's free when you go outside.
That looks beautiful, Esspee
My BF was Scottish and the most generous person I knew.
They're nosey and cheeky.
If it were me, I'd make up some (harmless to anyone) bit of gossip, to see what they do with it.
Well we have a couple next to us and they seem to know everything about us the husband retired last year and seems hell bent on saying good morning no matter what time I go out! He always uses my name and seems just a bit weird. I avoid him like the plague!
Well at least that was to your friend’s advantage BlueBelle ?
Only today my friend told me she had been out to lunch with a good friend and her daughter who she sees only occasionally because of the distance between them
When she went to get her purse out at the end of the meal the daughter said ‘oh no it’s our turn I looked it up in last years diary before we came !!!‘
I would learn from this, and not be half so chatty with my plans and everyday happenings.
I’m Scottish Callistemon.?
I was just going to leave that answer there but for those who won’t understand.....Scots people are careful with money. They are also very generous so please do not equate carefulness with meanness.
I wouldn’t mind a small supplement for a sea view room but £30 a night? No way.
We are not going away to stay in a hotel bedroom. Regardless of the weather we will be out walking on the white sand rather than viewing it from our bedroom.
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »Get our top conversations, latest advice, fantastic competitions, and more, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.