Middle class tribe - ever get on your nerves - light hearted rant 😄

[ginorwine]

I live in a middle class area which is dominated by lecturers , gp s , social workers etc -my Dh fits into that catagory and I am an x that catagory .
It's a really pretty area and the kids roam between houses etc
Recently - I seem to be a little irritated by its predictability and 'niceness '- tho am aware it's a good area I really am .
I'm
Grumpy menopausal creature at present !
The paint work is mainly Farrell and ball, same kitchen appliances , similar dress code .etc . Whilst I too have Farrell n ball in one room and may therefore fit into the cliche myself (!) I'm becoming quite amused by it all in a way but don't know why .Part of me loves it part of me wants to say rude words and act up and be a Harridan !
Why do we follow these 'tribal 'things ? .the estate agent once reffered to the area as all lentil s and lintels . 😃

[Ffitz]

I don't think you have a lot to complain about really. Living in grotty areas has real down sides. Where I live it's a bit more mixed than you describe with quite a few arty people meaning some of the interior decor is quite surprising. They do art trails and things like that so you get a good chance to have a nose. only reason I go

[Jacksy15]

Its Farrow and Ball, just in case you slip up in front of the snobs and call it Farrell and Ball!

...I totally get what you mean though. All organic cafes and gluten free cakes. Maybe I'm an inverted snob but these people do make me laugh!

[StrawberryQuik]

What's a lintel?

[gandalf456]

The dress code and appliances wouldn't bother me. I have working class roots but my parents became middle class but we lived in a lower class area. I then met my DH and moved to a middle class area. He is a cross breed, with a working class (though not poor) dad and a middle class mum. We have both become working class through our employment. We are not hard up but not as rich as the people round here.

Waffle above aside, the thing that mostly impacts on me are attitudes - different political beliefs (e.g. private vs state education), parenting styles (a bit knit your own organic), money and status (overly worrying about it - my view is that, so long as you pay your bills and are happy, it's OK) and general middle class angst over the above that I don't get.

[ShotsFired]

All organic cafes...

God the word "organic" alone gives me the rage. There seems to be no way to say it without sounding terribly naice with undertones of "I'm so much better than you". Especially those parents who gush on about only giving darling little ellie-mae organic everything...

I actively avoid buying organic now. Bring on the GM frankenfruit and veg, I say!!

[StrawberryQuik]

I feel sort of the same way about quinoa...my DM is a bit of a hippy so we ate quinoa as kids a fair bit and I know a lot of yummy comfort food dishes with quinoa as a base but I never recommend them when chatting about cooking because I'd just feel like too much of a twit talking about my favourite quinoa dishes.

[Mov1ngOn]

I'd swap in a heartbeat. Ex council estate here and noone from my "tribe".

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

I live an area of South East London that has become horribly over-poncified and I am beginning to hate it.

You are no one if you haven't had a loft conversion or kitchen extension. Black and white "Victorian" tiled front pathways are making a massive comeback, everyone has plantation shutters and pale green Farrow & Ball front doors with a Volvo or Audi on the paved over front garden.

The High Street has an organic butchers, a "farm" shop, countless gifts and interiors shops, a White Stuff, and Oliver Bonas, A Franco Manca pizza place and countless pubs that have "Pub and Kitchen" or "Pub and Dining Room" somewhere on the facade. The Iceland food shop has had to close down and no doubt the Co-Op will go the same way.

It is just a bit bloody bland and awful!

[gandalf456]

I think quinoa is overrated. It's like couscous but with a slimy texture. I much prefer the former

[WorraLiberty]

Strawberry, it's similar to a joist.

[ginorwine]

I know I have nothing to complain about 😄 Am being tounge in cheek .
It's just why I find it funny at the mo ?and esp as I called the paint the wrong name !
Y y to organic - tho I do like organic food .
Am finding all the white stuff a little boring esp the cardigans tho - a love / hate dynamic .
I deliberately took a cheap bottle of wine rather than prosecco to a party just to see the polite reaction / hurried cover up of distain 😜
Any other funny mc words . ???

[StrawberryQuik]

I just had to google what a joist was too! (Am blaming my foreignness!)

[IJustLostTheGame]

Shotsfired I see your organic and raise you a 'Gourmet'

[Notso]

Feel free to swap with me. A few nights of living surrounded by HMO's and bail hostels will have you running back to your Farrow and Balled, White Stuff wearing Prosecco drinking naice neighbourhood with open arms.

[HeadDreamer]

I eat quinoa but don't use farrow and ball. Nothing wrong with a tin of dulux if you ask me.

Maybe I'm too not middle class that I won't recognise a wall painted with farrow and ball from dulux or crown.

[beardedladydragon]

Is it tribal though or is it just that those people are just on a similar income bracket and therefore that is also the price bracket they can afford.

The High Street has an organic butchers, a "farm" shop, countless gifts and interiors shops, a White Stuff, and Oliver Bonas, A Franco Manca pizza place and countless pubs that have "Pub and Kitchen" or "Pub and Dining Room" somewhere on the facade. The Iceland food shop has had to close down and no doubt the Co-Op will go the same way

God yeah shame on them supporting local farmers and businesses. Come to our highstreet; Greggs, charity shops and betting shops are all we have.

[Pootles2010]

Doesn't a Lintel just stop the door/window collapsing? I'm sure our builder put some in for us, nowt posh about them! Unless we got the 'common' ones?

[HeadDreamer]

Doesn't a Lintel just stop the door/window collapsing?

I assume it's something posher than the piece of metal above a door or window!

[lljkk]

There is such a thing as tribal... we could have afforded several areas, including an area with many people with similar values & education to us. But we chose the cheaper area because it was, well, cheaper. We stick out like sore thumbs here. It took me a long time to realise how bad a fit this area is for us.

tbf to OP, it does sound suffocating. I would constantly stir up mild mischief if I lived there. Like the cheap wine, or when I say "my bad" on MN delighting in the fact I know it will rile some.

[StickTheDMWhereTheSunDontShine]

Everywhere has their tribes. It's all Greggs, Superdry and 10 year old Audis, around here.

[trevortrevorslatterfry]

I am middle class as fuck by my occupation and my parents'.

However I am not one of the tribe .

I guess everyone uses "stuff" to signal to the world what kind of person they want to be seen as are but the MC tribe I think you mean are pretty annoying.

Someone of my acquaintance complained that the worry of waiting at the doctors/hosp (not sure which) for an unpleasant medical procedure was far outweighed by the horror of looking at the Jack Vettriano pictures on the wall of the waiting room .
Obv the complaint was put on FB to make sure everyone would understand what a connoiseur of art the person was.

[LaConnerie]

A lintel isn't posh - every building in existence has them or all the window frames/door frames would collapse!

Irrelevant I know...

Anyway, I am technically 'middle class' but cringe at the idea of it - so I act working class and spend my life buying Greggs sausage rolls and shopping in Charity Shops

[StickTheDMWhereTheSunDontShine]

And, nope, a lintel can be built in metal or even wood, hidden by brick, or a stone one in place of the brickwork. Like these
www.mrparkerbuilders.co.uk/p7hg_img_1/fullsize/lintel_replacement_2_fs.jpg
A lot of Victorian houses have the stone ones.

[EdmundCleverClogs]

Poor you. Want to house swap? All we can currently afford is a terrace house with a leaky roof, neighbours who seem to hate each other, as they scream/swear so loud we can hear them word for word, neighbourhood children who think nothing of breaking into our back garden at their own discretion along with writing over people's walls with markers. People around here may eat quinoa, I'll go check the rubbish they fly-tip on the streets, if I can avoid all the dog shit.

[KickAssAngel]

Friends of mine recently sold their house and moved out to the country. Part of the push that made them go was an organic baby clothes shop that opened near them. They couldn't reconcile messy babies with organic clothing and decided that it was time for them to leave.

I live and work in an area like this. I delight in wearing black as much as possible.