I am a cliché

[ablutiions]

Standing on the service station forecourt doing a few yogic stretches on our drive to holiday, I realised that I'm a cliché:

Middle aged Londoner, heading for a West Country holiday in my small eco friendly(ish) car, wearing a Boden cardi, and 'trendy' mum trainers with a flowery real cotton face mask dangled from my wrist. having eaten sourdough toast for breakfast. Oh, and carrying a chilly water bottle, natch.

And usually I'd be in France, but you know, Covid and all that.

Anyone else a walking cliché?

Subbaxeo"I love good food-but am still surprised how a love of good food is such a class thing in the UK. In other European countries, poor, working class people enjoy good produce and would consider it strange to be thought snobby."

This is so true - In Spain, France and Italy - good fresh food is classless - herbs and homemade pasta are, if anything, more to to do with grassroots - although the privileged classes have always boasted about knowing where to get hold of good ingredients - all classes know what good food/good coffee/good wine/good oil are.
Joking apart these boden/primark cliches are both equally planet destroying
My very working class grandparents and parents also knew good food although limited to what grows in this sunless country. We are all victims of what the transnationals are selling us - either cheap plastic food and everything else that will kill us and and the planet or wankerish avocados that will also kill the planet (and us - or do you neither know nor care where your wankerish avocados and coffee come from?)
Happy to be a vegan sandal wearing cliche (aspiring)

@LimoncelloSpritz

It's the lovely BitofFuns birthday today. She didn't have the privileges that many have boasted about but still managed to be a better person for all that. And cancer took her far too soon. PeaceAnddove, the fact you are using BC as a excuse to get past the criticism of the overt bragging you did on this thread makes me sick. Your's is cured.

@LimoncelloSpritz Revolting comment. Your ignorance is astounding. Breast cancer has a 20 year recurrence risk. One third of women with an early stage diagnosis who have "successful" initial treatment will later suffer a recurrence and die.

@MoreCraicPlease

To the Irish posters saying that this is excruciating and wouldn't happen in Ireland, I give you the Dublin 4/Greystones/Howth vibe - kids at private schools or Gaelscoil, wet suits for wild swimming 6 months of the year, Cartier love bracelets for Christmas, racing at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day, rugby and definitely not soccar (GAA increasingly cool), Avoca deliveries etc etc.

Different but the exact same basically.

Ah yes the West Brits.

Is it MC to try and rile up Irish people?

@ScreamingMeMe

Is this where humble brags come to die?

Hopefully someone will put them out of their misery very soon.

Along with the overperformative use of the word Wanky

@LimoncelloSpritz

It's the lovely BitofFuns birthday today. She didn't have the privileges that many have boasted about but still managed to be a better person for all that. And cancer took her far too soon. PeaceAnddove, the fact you are using BC as a excuse to get past the criticism of the overt bragging you did on this thread makes me sick. Your's is cured.

Fucking hell. What actual place could anyone possibly be coming from to hit 'send' on that?

This is hands down the most gratuitous piece of deeply personal, hurtful spite I've ever seen posted on this site. And there is stiff competition.

@LimoncelloSpritz hideous, disgusting and aggressive behaviour. How dare you? I’ve been there with breast cancer and let me tell you it never leaves you. How dare you. Fuming with your disgusting attitude.

@JaneJeffer - I AM Irish, hence why would I want to rile up Irish people? I was responding to previous (Irish) posters counting their lucky stars that there is no equivalent tribe in Ireland.
(I do find the term West Brits rather offensive though).

Tough

Did someone mention a fried egg sandwich ? Ooh nice. But only on hovis (or similar) white bread with butter and lots of red slapper.

Sorry I've been away a while as was arriving at holiday destination, unpacking and getting mildly pissed.

Blimey, this thread has been a rollercoaster. I'm still working my way through it all.

And I repeat one of my earlier posts - cliches are universal and cut across all 'classes' (if you recognise the label), and types of people, however much (or little) money they have. Some cracking ones on here that have really made me laugh (Tesco's hairy-chinned women and identikit at centre parcs especially).

If anyone cares - or even if its relevant- the (rather lovely colour and very flattering shape) Boden cardi I was wearing came from a charity shop. Bargainous

I find the subject of class absolutely fascinating and some of these posts have been fun. From a working class perspective I can recommend two books; Estates: An Intimate History by Linsey Hanley and The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes by Jonathan Rose.

I think I'm a cliche of 'working class done good' but the result of that is that I don't quite belong in either camp and that can be a lonely place - I have unnecessary imposter syndrome when I am around middle class people (who are lovely and good friends). The book above (Estates) refers to this as the 'Wall in the mind'.

I grew up in a council house, alcoholic home/DV, no university and NC/LC with family. I'm a heavy metal music obsessive. Decent job in public transport. I wear a polo shirt and boots to work, can't drive due to phobia/anxiety but DH has a personalised numberplate on his car!

I have fake eyelashes and go on sunbeds (infrequently but it helps my psoriasis). Tattoos on my arms covering the old self harm scars, some of the tattoos are good and some are quite shit. Married with two kids and some stepkids (one of mine on the ASD pathway). I'm a cockney - you'll hear me complain about the wet wevva

On the other hand I have a PT, a cleaner, a therapist, continual building work to squeeze every last bit of space out of our modest but £££ zone 6 house, Gousto/M&S, a wardrobe full of Boden scoop necks in all colours, a financial adviser (I'm planning early retirement), fave recent holiday was a Hollywood/Manhattan Beach road trip. I'm pretty uneducated but do a lot of reading and self development. We've smart teenage kids who are top of their classes but partial to a counterfeit trainer or two!

Because of where we live our teenage children tend to identify with the offspring of editors and computer programmers, very different to my early life growing up with a drug dealer next door. I'm interested to see if they will identify as middle class or working class.

To the people commenting on it being different in Ireland - that's not my experience. My family are from county Cork. My mum is in her 70s and ok we're not talking about markers like people wearing boden and eating avocados but there were and still are very clear markers as to who are the ones that have and the ones that do not. The ones who have are not backwards in making it obvious. It's the very same in the Irish community in London, there are particularly "types" of Irish and they don't speak too highly of each other. In fact my own mother spent a good half an hour giving out about the mass-going trad music listening gang this week who love to let you know they are on personal speaking terms with the priests and how much they donated in the dinner and dances. They in turn would not be choosing to hang around with my family's type of Irish. It's everywhere.

I am a fairly typical Asian girl, i think. I have dyed brown hair, see- through bangs, wear full makeup to go to the corner shop, carry a Senreve backpack (independent brand founded by 2 Chinese- American women). Wears pink uggs outside. I never ever tan and wear spf 50 daily, use asian skincare/makeup like suqqu foundation, bb cream, hado labo lotion, biore sunscreen. Obsessive about bubble tea, eats dim sum on weekends. total foodie but not embarrassed about liking Mcdonalds. White (Jewish) husband. Works in the financial sector, went to law school,parents had MBAs, mum works in finance and parents both have lots of property investments. I own an apartment in London furnished with Muji furniture (but it is a 1930s build, not a new build favored by most Chinese people). Raised in a mult-generational household and on stories of poverty i.e. mum shared a bed with 6 siblings as a child, dad sold christmas cards to fund university studies. Parents have really high expectations.

But I also wear Joules (which is apparently associated with Home Counties Mums) because I like the floral prints. I pair my Joules dresses with a pink Juicy Couture hoodie that my DH calls 'chavvy'. I am amazed that the Chinese market has yet to discover Joules given their love of Cath Kidston!

@onlychildhamster - did you grow up in the USA?. Your children will have an interesting heritage, like mine, very mixed!
I'm not sure what you mean by "see through bangs" though.

*Danceswithfelines.’
My upbringing was similar to yours but now we’re pretty rich and sent our D.C. to private school etc
They’re grown up now and choose not to define themselves by class.
I’ve one at Cambridge and one who’s a professional footballer and another training to be a film director - right old mix!!!!

@Maireas nope in Singapore. :) I find that I do have a lot in common with north American Chinese girls though! In university, I bonded naturally with them!

My bangs just look like this : www.google.com/amp/s/www.beautyundercover.sg/See-Through-Korean-Bangs-not-suitable/amp

The thing is, as long as we do these things because we genuinely enjoy them, does it matter?
I am proud of being middle class, DH and I work hard for what we have, why shouldn’t we enjoy life? ( 2 ensuites, 2 children, 2 cars, 2 holidays? )

@onlychildhamster - ah, those are see through bangs! That's what my hair is like! (I have some Chinese heritage). Singapore is such an interesting place, I enjoyed my time there.
In the UK "Asian" is usually taken to mean the Indian subcontinent, although obviously you're right to use the term.
Joules would suit if you like the flowery look. I don't know why Laura Ashley closed down,
the clothes and accessories seemed really popular.

I used to be a cliche home schooled child - unusual clothes, massive vocabulary I didn't pronounce properly (because I'd acquired it by reading), sightly too familiar with adults, and a (relatively small) smug sense of superiority. I think I've now grown out of that, but currently trying so hard not to be a PFB mum that I'm probably falling into some other cliche accidentally.

What's a PFB mum?

Oh, I've probably used the abbreviation wrong now! PFB means (I think) Precious First Born, so a mum who thinks the whole universe revolves around their child and gets annoyed/ upset by others who don't think that. At least that's what I meant!

[quote sar302]@Livinghereinallentown You are more than welcome, but I warn you now, we still have no oregano 😭 so the chimmichurri is likely to be subpar[/quote]
I have some growing in my herb garden you’re welcome to. If the bastarding mint hasn’t swallowed it.

Oh right. I've not seen that abbreviation or expression before. But then I often get confused by the initials on Mumsnet!

@PattyPan

It cracks me up to see Irish people come on these threads and say how they don’t recognise all this middle class smuggery, so smugly themselves like Irish people are better than English for not having Waitrose and as if every country doesn’t have a class system

I mean yes, there are class divides in Ireland. But nothing like the U.K.

It's just not comparable.

(It doesn't mean that there isn't wankery & smuggery aplenty tho!)

But I do read 'lighthearted' threads like this & feel really really glad not to be a part of it.

what the actual does being Irish have to do with anything?

Just that the typified cliches here don't make any sense to us.

There are wealthy, wanky people here. Lots!

But that idea that your clothes, holiday & food choices can group you in some way makes no sense.