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AIBU?

to want some uncomplicated friends.

33 replies

AgroomOfOnesOwn · 11/05/2013 17:48

Approaching a 'milestone' birthday and taking stock of my life. We moved to a small rural town, had children and made friends mostly through havng kids the same age.

Now both my DCs are at school and I'm rubbish at ringing people up I see very few people outside of work. The school run is a nightmare of who is / is not talking to each other, who's cousin shagged who and who lives on the 'posh' side of town. As incomers this means nothing to us and I'm just not interested in keeping up with local gossip dating back 25+ years.

IABU to want some friends who have:
not previously slept with each others current DHs
do not divide the world into blue and pink jobs.
just want to meet up once a month for a dog walk and coffee without it turning into a huge I can't make Tuesday so noone should go/not going if she's going/ don't ask the newcomer, etc.

Small town living is doing my head in at the moment....

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concernedmate · 11/05/2013 17:51

yanbu I new to an area and find a lot of the goings on weird.

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raisah · 12/05/2013 08:29

My area is a bit like this, with a particular community group being quite dominantly insular.Luckily my ds is going to a different school so no doubt replacing one set of playground politics with another.
It is a bit weird and creepy to have shared partners with half if the women at the school gates! Yuk.

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BigBlockSingsong · 12/05/2013 08:40

I noticed women small town women briefly become adults for about ten seconds then regress to playground cliques as soon as they have kids.

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Pobblewhohasnotoes · 12/05/2013 08:50

This is what small towns are like. People that have never been anywhere else, they have nothing to talk about so talk about the same thing over and over.

Yes I'm from a small town, but moved away. If I'd have stayed I would have probably got pregnant aged 16 and had many many children by now.

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LindyHemming · 12/05/2013 08:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

digerd · 12/05/2013 08:53

Sounds awful. " If I can't go, nobody else should". Who does she think she is ? The Queen< bee>. Can't stand people like that, and don't understand why others pander to them. Confused.

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cozietoesie · 12/05/2013 09:01

What on earth are 'blue and pink jobs' ?

Confused

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cozietoesie · 12/05/2013 09:06

Ah - I had a look see so thanks for expanding my horizons this morning. The whole concept is still completely alien to me though.

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mrsjay · 12/05/2013 09:14

I live in a small town and I wouldn't go within a mile of some of the women who live here I do say hi and wave etc but get involved in the goings on is exhausting,
I have always lived here so everybody knows everybody and their dog, so I guess it is easy to fall into all of it,
I don't do any school runs or anything now so it is a relief not to listen to the gossip and bitching of some of the locals I know it sounds like i hate it here I don't I love it
, I just cba to chat to the 'girl' i went to school with and her drama , alot of the women around here are still friends with old school friends and some of them act like they still are in high school, when dds were at primary I was friends with the 'outsiders' suited me fine, but i am antisocial

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bakingaddict · 12/05/2013 09:14

I was wondering the same cozietoesie.......can you enlighten me please

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mrsjay · 12/05/2013 09:16

blue and pink jobs means what do the men do and what do the women do, so women do the ironing and men do the manly hammering ( i think)

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DottyboutDots · 12/05/2013 09:20

That suits me, i neither hammer nor iron.

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MummytoKatie · 12/05/2013 09:43

I really want some complicated friends!

The nearest my friends have got to sleeping with each other's husbands is sitting next to each other on a ski lift.

A good scandal would be very exciting!

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HolidayArmadillo · 12/05/2013 09:46

Oh I live somewhere like this. I love it Grin

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Lj8893 · 12/05/2013 09:50

This sound just like my hometown, I love it!!! Not a small town in dorset perhaps.......???

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AgroomOfOnesOwn · 12/05/2013 19:16

It has it plus points: friendly, support in an emergency, small local businesses but the politics....

The expectations for girls & boys are so different - men surf, women watch, know your place.

It's leaking through to the kids friends, particularly noticeable when there is a Boy & a girl in one family. The boy will do lots of sport, extra training, no competition too far to go to. The girl will have to be content with a choice between school violin or ballet but not both.

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Peevish · 12/05/2013 20:25

I moved out of London to a village a few months ago, and am deeply freaked out by how much everyone knows about one another, stuff going back generations. I learned very quickly never to say anything without thinking very carefully first...

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JohnSnowsTie · 12/05/2013 20:37

I lost contact with all my school friends for the first ten years after I left.

Then, through Facebook, I was reunited with a group of them.

I love them all to bits, but none of them have moved out of the village and they all still know everyone else from school and all their business. We only meet up once a year so it's bearable listening to the gossip (about people I don't even remeber Blush) but I'm so glad I've moved around since school and got away from it.

The minute details of other peoples lives are thoroughly exhausting!

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Gossipmonster · 12/05/2013 23:23

Girls jobs and boys jobs Blush

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HoneyDragon · 12/05/2013 23:27

I live in a small town. It took a while but now I am part of s merry band of misfits. It creates town harmony. We give the gossips something to talk about. Grin

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AgroomOfOnesOwn · 13/05/2013 10:49

I shall take to the woods and like Honeydragon gather a band of merry misfits. The only rule will be there are no rules.

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harryhausen · 13/05/2013 11:17

I live on the edge of a large city and feel like this. My area has a small village mentality. Everyone's kids go to the same primary school they went to. They live on the same street as their mum, gran, cousin, sister etc. They everyones business going back decades.
I grew up in a totally different part of the country. My parents live hours away. My dsis lives on the other side of the world. My old friends are scattered throughout the country.

It does get me down sometimes. I have to remind them I have no clue who they are talking about. If it wasn't for my other 'incomer' friends who live a bit further into the city (where i can discuss current events, books, film and culture) I would go mad.

I asked a bunch of schools mums once if they'd seen a certain documentary the night before and they looked at me blankly and said "what's that?" went back to their gossip and discussions on bargains in Primark.

Yes, I do sound like a total snob.

They people near me are generous, kind and will help you out in a crisis, but I need another outlet for non-local gossip time.

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BuggerLumpsAnnoyed · 13/05/2013 11:29

Do any of you live on bridgnorth? Its just like this and as a relative new comer its baffeling

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AgroomOfOnesOwn · 13/05/2013 12:01

The gossip is n't exciting or informative, it's like hearing the summary of a bad soap opera where you know none of the characters or filling in the gaps using lots of 'clues' from 20 plus years ago. No one speaks of the thrill of the affair or the dizzy excitement of falling in love it's just the tawdry reality of second guessed emotional fallout.

Very unsatisfying, I prefer to get my emotional rollercoaster through the HBO scripwriters but it is a solitary pleasure because everyone else is glued to hours and hours of 'reality' programming.

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Pobblewhohasnotoes · 15/05/2013 20:48

Trouble is in the small town I'm from they talk about stuff that happened 10 years ago. No-one has anything new to talk about, it's so dull.

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