Why do we..........

*Louise*

We open them so we don't look like lazy so-and-so's who are still in bed :rotfl:

Bronnie

Newly_retired wrote: »

Does any one still have the tradition of closing curtains during the day when there is going to be a funeral from a neighbouring house? I came across this once years ago in a Yorkshire town. I didn't know about in time to fit in with the local custom. Was it just local?
Does anyone still do this?

Yes, as a child in Liverpool in the sixties and seventies, I remember my mum and neighbours always did this as a mark of respect. Don't think anyone does it now though.

I sleep with my bedroom curtains wide open now, to take advantage of the max daylight and help me wake up in the mornings a bit earlier!

flippin36

jackieb wrote: »

I thought drawing the curtains meant to close them, not open them.

Yes I think you are right

Mupette

lostinrates wrote: »

I open the curtains for my dogs. PArtly so they can see things to stimulate them, partly so they get some healthy natural light, for there eye health and mental health.

O'm at home most days but when I wasn't I opened and closed things as appropriate for us. Curtains closed against a hot july sun is no bad idea, opened in the winter for some free daytime heat for the same. Closed keeps the heat in at night.

In other countries there are different customs..e.g. on the continent with shutters its common to close them in city apartments, unlikely to be useful for thieves, when you go out. In the very hot island I used to live in you had shutters you could adjust for a little light but not too much in the heat of the day....and fly screens.

oh don't panic, i am home all day every day with him, we have a garden he is freely able to go in and out of, back door is closed today as it is raining, but he still has his dog flap, usually the back door is wide open for him to run in and out of

Mupette

Bronnie wrote: »

Yes, as a child in Liverpool in the sixties and seventies, I remember my mum and neighbours always did this as a mark of respect. Don't think anyone does it now though.

I sleep with my bedroom curtains wide open now, to take advantage of the max daylight and help me wake up in the mornings a bit earlier!

i still do it as a mark of respect..

jackieb

None of my neighbours have ever died, but I would close my blinds if they did. I remember my grandma doing it, and I have seen other houses doing it.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

My mother was buried as a toddler in the rubble of her parents' house for 8 hours in 1942. She never, ever closes upstairs curtains, only the living room ones. So I grew up thinking that curtains were more for show than anything else.

I do close the blinds downstairs each night and there is a curtain on the front door - I vary what is open and what is closed, just so there is no definitive way of telling whether anyone is in or not.

But I have to be able to get sight of the sky and have windows open to function properly, even in midwinter and rain. I need light changes and birdsong to wake up (but sleep through foxes and the like) and will sleep for hours if the bedroom curtains (blurgh - boyfriend insisted on them when I wanted wooden venetian blinds upstairs as well)

Coming downstairs to find the boyfriend had closed everything during the time when the sunlight should be streaming through the entire downstairs, warming it and freshening it up, is horrible, and would usually drive me to making grumbling noises about it not being a flippin' Victorian Opium den and opening everything up again.

kate1976

At the moment my living room curtains are constantly closed due to my dog going through a 'there's somebody walking past, let's bark constantly' phase!! My bedroom curtains are also closed constantly but that's due to the fact of nosy neighbours directly opposite!

Queen_Of_The_Jungle

You open them so naughty robbers think someone is in, it may draw their attention if they are closed in the day.
Or you may increase the number of peeing toms trying to peer through any crack in the curtains to see if you are enjoying some afternoon delight!

anguk

I close the curtains when I need to put the lights on in the evening, otherwise everyone walking past can see inside, and they're opened on a morning when I get up. I couldn't stand having them closed all the time, I need daylight!