Not sure what to make of neighbour’s comment

[Wellyess]

NC as obviously outing if she’s on here!

Went for a walk with her yesterday (she’s 60). We were chatting about things and we bumped into an old friend of hers who started chatting. This friend says ‘oh is this your daughter’... my neighbour bursts out laughing and says oh thanks no she’s not!

Anyway...her two daughters are only two years younger than me and her son is 6 years older!

The chat ended and we continued walking. She then asked how old I was (34) and said she was surprised.. she paused and then said you’ve done well to live on this street on your own

I don’t know what to make of the comment really and feel like I must look ancient! As I live alone I’m been mulling it over all the time (yes I know that’s silly). But it’s given me a big complex about how I look...I thought I looked pretty average for my age before this.

Am I just reading into this too much?

Some people aren't good judges of age. If the friend thought you looked about the age as her children would be, then she just thought you were older because you own a nice house and had aged you that way in her mind.

It sounds like she thought you must be older to afford to live on the street. Clearly the friend thought you liked the right age!

I wouldn't worry about it.

Unless I've misunderstood and you live on an ultra rough street where you'd only expect to be still alive with the protection of a very burly man, I would assume her "you’ve done well to live on this street on your own" comment would suggest house prices where you live are quite high and that she has made some age/salary assumptions.

I presume she thought you were older than 34 - either because the house prices on your road are £££, or you look like you had a very hard paper round

I asked our neighbours if they needed any more shopping done, they said the neighbour over the road had done it, which shocked me as I thought she should have been shielding as well but turns out she's only a year older than my DH. It's difficult to tell sometimes

@ShetlandWife

It sounds like she thought you must be older to afford to live on the street. Clearly the friend thought you liked the right age!

I wouldn't worry about it.

That’s true hadn’t thought of that!

Those saying about the house prices, I live in a smaller one of the street (as does she). It’s not millionaires row or anything! Mine and hers are similar and worth around 300, maybe not even that at the moment.

I agree with @ShetlandWife, I think she probably assumed you're older as you perhaps live in a nice home on a nice street which requires more dosh than the average 30 something could stretch to. If she has daughters of a similar age she may be used to hearing them complain about work, money etc due to being their mum (just an assumption) so probably doesn't correlate that with you. The fact her friend immediately assumed you were one of them shows you can't look too wizened

Bear in mind it is less about what your house is worth, and more about her perception of what someone your age can achieve, presumably based on how her children are doing.

@ShetlandWife another good point!! I should put this one to bed