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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Danielle Kate Wroe

'My neighbour wants to throw party for whole village on my doorstep - I said no'

We can’t lie, we've been seriously excited for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

There’s going to be street parties galore, reasons to meet up with old friends and toast the Queen and if there’s a slice of Corgi cake going spare - you can bet we’ll be fighting over it.

But it seems like some people are really struggling to get into the Jubilee spirit - so much so that they’re refusing to get involved with Jubilee parties.

Which is fair enough, but when they’re stopping their neighbours from having fun at such a momentous occasion, is it really the most neighbourly way to act?

An anonymous woman took to Mumsnet to ask whether people thought she was being unreasonable, citing her safety as a reason for not wanting to get involved.

She wrote: “I freely admit, I’m not into all this Jubilee-palooza. (I’ve no objection, just not feeling the excitement for anything much at the moment). Three of my neighbours have already attached flags to my house, which I think are cheap and tacky, but I said yes because I don’t want to spoil it for them. It’s no big deal.

The woman really did not want random people partying on her doorstep when she didn't want to get involved (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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“My NDN wants to have a street party. Other immediate neighbours are up for a celebration of some sort, but lukewarm about a street party as such. She keeps trying to pin us to a time and going on about what we are doing and doing leaflet drops and so on.

“I’ve said I’m happy with casual drinks, not a public event. This morning she asked if she could put a gazebo outside my house. (Because of the bend, I have a wider bit, which isn’t exactly public and isn’t exactly mine). I said ok, and they already know I ‘might’ be away anyway.

“Then she was talking about putting it on the local Facebook pages. I asked her not to, saying I didn’t want the whole village turning up outside my front door. She said ok. Then she said she was thinking of printing off jubilee invitations this afternoon and leaflet dropping an unspecified number of people.

The woman really did not want random people appearing outside her house when she's not interested in the Jubilee anyway (Getty Images/Westend61)

“I’m really uncomfortable with it. I don’t want a party anyway. I definitely don’t want a load of people I don’t know partying on my doorstep, whether I attend or not!!

“I asked her not to. I said being just me and my daughter meant I had to take personal safety more seriously than a family and that’s why I wasn’t comfortable with just anyone turning up right outside my house.

“I feel like I’ve completely spoiled her fun and made myself look like a drama llama. (She’s lovely, and we get on well, but she’s more sociable than me!). She’s said she’ll move it to her driveway, but I feel awkward about it.

“I don’t mind my neighbours hanging out there, but not the whole street, and it seems to her there’s no real difference.

“Was that unreasonable? I accept it’s my issue but I think it’s reasonable in my circumstances. Just trying to get perspectives on whether I should woman up and get over my tighter-than-average privacy boundaries.”

Some people thought the original poster was being unreasonable, as the event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get together and celebrate the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.

One wrote: “I think you have to just suck it up. This is a one-off event and some people are very excited about it.”

Another said: “I think you are being unreasonable to ask her not to invite people via leaflets etc (otherwise what's the point of having one if no one comes).

“But you are not being unreasonable to feel uncomfortable about it being in a gazebo right outside your house. It seems she has solved that issue though by offering to have it on hers. I would say, the issue is solved and you should have been more upfront about that being the issue from the beginning. Ah well, hindsight.

“As a side, it all seems rather late to be organising a party? Drinks round someone's back garden rather than a public party might be easier.”

"You do sound a bit of a drama llama to be honest”, one disgruntled user wrote.

Another defended the original poster and wrote: “Urgh I feel your pain op. Xmas 2020 the care home along from me had carols belted from speakers - placed outside our front door!! One woman sat on the bonnet of my brand new car!!

“Make their own plans on their own property... No need to drag everyone into things!!”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

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