Things that mumsnet thinks are v.middle class or just geographic?

[Lovelysummerdays]

Every once in a while I come across something that I did or had in my very working class childhood on a rough council estate that is apparently middle class but is just bog standard or was to me. Easy examples

Skiing, you learn on a council run dry slope in primary school.

Porridge, you have it with salt and it’s a quid or so for a bag that lasts ages.

Oatcakes, they are cheap default snack better than crisps easier than a sandwich with a mini cheese.

It did make me wonder if there are there things that people in other parts of the UK grew up with that are really average (to them) which I’d of thought of quite posh as a child.

That's because no one actually know what class does/has what so it's all now jumbled up BS

I think you’re confusing your own individual childhood with a wider sample of people, though. Or are you saying that every child in your geographical area learned to ski in their primary school years at a council-run dry slope? That sounds very unusual to me.

The only thing I can think of in relation to your actual question is the perception, often from urban-based people, that owning horses and growing up riding is a fundamentally UMC or UC thing. But if you’re in the country and have grazing and shelter at your disposal, it’s not necessarily any kind of mark of privilege.

Everyone did. My own kids still do. That’s sort of my point. I didn’t think it was atall unusual and it made me wonder if actually there’s loads of things out there that are easy / cheap / accessible because they are local but have a wider reputation as being a bit posh.

Lived on a council estate that backed onto a very fancy housing estate, so our 'local' supermarkets were Waitrose/M&S (and DM didn't drive so we did all our shopping there!)

Around here its very common for children to do sports like kayaking as they are very cheap as we have lots of suitable ponds and rivers (when does a pond become a lake?).

Growing your own vegetables... my dad was very amused to find out its now "middle class"... it was how you fed your family in his mining village (and became rather essential at one point!)

Haha, yes we did our shopping in Waitrose growing up in the 80s - there weren't very many of them then, and it didn't feel particularly posh. Mum went there because it was smaller and she hated big supermarkets.

In no way shape or form can I ever imagine anyone on the council estate I grew up on going skiing, dry slope or not.

But I think ‘knowing how to ski’ is a different thing from ‘skiing regularly’ — most people think of them as the same thing because for most people they are, as you generally learn to ski on skiing holidays, which indicates an ability to afford a holiday, equipment hire, lessons etc. Obviously for those who live in skiing areas, it’s a normal skill like swimming. I don’t know how close you are to any of the Scottish skiing, but do many of the kids that learn to ski on the local dry slopes regularly ski on snow?

I think skiing is more to do with skiing holidays rather than dry slopes at home.

I’ve never heard of porridge or oatcakes being middle class?!!

But it’s not learning to ski on a dry ski slope that’s middle class (allegedly) it’s using that skill on real snow in France or wherever every Christmas holidays. Did you do that?

I think it’s the back to basics thing isn’t it , if you’ve grown up poorer and only been able to afford those things ie porridge being cheaper than coco pops then you hanker after coco pops. If you are “middle class” you are choosing the cheaper things not having to. Like the make do and mend thing , or growing veg or using something til it falls apart. One generations well of course that’s how you do it is another’s ooh look at me being frugal as a choice.

I have also though never thought of porridge and oat cakes as middle class, they are just food you eat or you don’t.

Middle class ski-ing is ski-ing in europe every new year and feb half term.

Nothing to do with a dry ski slope.

After you all learnt to ski on the dry ski slope, where did you go ski-ing?

I haven't thought of porridge /oat cakes as resembling any class.

Skiing I agree you don't have to be hugely wealthy to ski. Certainly not for the odd trip to a dry ski slope , and even ski holidays don't have to be crazy expensive.

Where I live it's golf.

"even ski holidays don't have to be crazy expensive."

I have friends who go to Bulgaria rather than France, but it's never going to be cheap just because of all the equipment you need and the ski pass.

Oh yes, membership of golf club near a small town is not expensive at all.
I think the clubs can be if you have a full set, but it's definitely not a posh thing everywhere.

I didn't know Waitrose existed until about 15 years ago. I don't think there are any where I come from.
We went to Sommerfield, Iceland and Kwik Save :)

Or was Summerfield actually called Gateways?

Glenshee and Aviemore in my case but not till I was an adult but I guess a bit like swimming/ cycling it was easy to pick up again.

Good time this year?

I'd consider Porridge very ordinary, but it's true that it's now very popular with health influencers, which I suppose makes it a middle class choice, particularly plain oats as opposed to the packs of sugary porridge.

We had a dry ski slope at our local leisure centre where we used to go to the swimming baths. I literally never saw a single person using it, ever. I was probably in my 30s before I met someone who’d been skiing.

Buying fresh fish a lot- when I was a girl in a midlands mining town the fishman and his van used to come round on our street twice a week- and it was deemed a very ordinary thing to eat a lot of

When I was a child growing up in Glasgow, we had two different dry ski slopes to chose from. My state school had a mix of wealthy to very deprived kids who got the chance to go on skiing trips abroad. I didn’t think it was that strange and it was the 80s early 90s.