To wonder what class I am and why it should matter

[ForMashGetSmash]

I might come over as a fool here....but be gentle...because I really want to get decent input.

I grew up on a council estate in a very poor area...the local steelworks closed when I was about 8 and the majority of Dads were out of work...we were lucky in that my Dad got another job.

I had a wonderful childhood...big family, very close community...traditional type upbringing with chapel, school and corner shop all within a stones throw...you called the neighbours Auntie or Uncle whatever and could trust anyone in the street.

In the Summer the older kids would take the little ones off on excursions on the bus with a picnic...they just did it, they weren't told to...it was all very homely and close.

Now the area is a midden...a cesspit of drugs and teenage Mums with no support for them at all, there are a lot of offenders living there in halfway houses and it has had a big effect as it is a tiny community...

I now live in a nearby city in what I would have called a "posh" area...people don't speak...other parents are wary of one another and the kids aren't allowed out to play at all.

I feel sad and mourn the fact that my children won't experience the things I did...walking to school alone...playing out all day in the Summer...having a great big gang of kids who were sort of extended family...all we have is a nice house and polite neighbours. ..my older DC goes to a private school nearby and has lots of friends but it's all arranged playdates...she is happy...but why then do I keep thinking back on the past? Is it a case of rose tinted an all that?

I miss the seventies and being working class. I Still am working class...I'm just pretending to be something else...and that's why I feel trapped and miserable.

I know what you mean smash- I grew up in a rough area but it was awesome, I went out as soon as I got in from school, spent my days in field chasing cows, climbing mountains, going on wanders for miles and miles. I would consider my parents strict as well.

When i first moved to my city it was to an affluent area and I hated it, we've now moved into a poor area and it's brilliant most of the time but petrifying for the rest.
I'm terrified for the people here when these cuts take effect.

I'm worried for when my dc are older - that they will miss out on all the terrifying amazing experiences I had. I grew up very streetsmart and don't let anyone intimidate me, I'm so worried that they will be wimpy kids tat get bullied and are afraid to leave the house.

Have no idea what to do about it though :(

When I was back home in Glasgow I always thought I was one of the posh ones (our house was EX-council, very fancy) but then I moved to the SE and it turns out I'm scummy. One of my co-workers actually asked if I had ever been in a gang.

I don't think there is a working class any more, not in the sense that there used to be.

I grew up in a very middle class family.

Now I'm on benefits and buy wet ham.
[hgrin]
I love Greggs too, at least their cupcakes aren't overpriced and you don't come across brayers at Greggs.
I can't be doing with brayers.
Besides, I bet the Greggs cakes taste nicer than the organic brown flour ones that stick in your teeth and make you shit for Britain.

Do you want to see my new Shoezone boots?
They are fabulous[hgrin]

I second holding out the branch to your neighbours. You may be v surprised. I felt just like you and had not said a word to anyone in my culd de sac for years. When i had my DC i was conscious that i had no friends or family living nearby and was aware some of neighboiurs had kids. So, i braved it and put a card through my neighbours doors who had children just saying hi and if they ever needed anything or fancied popping round for a coffee it would be nice and i left my number.

Well....fast forward 7 months. We are all getting along famously! Not just me and the neighbours i contacted but when other neighbours found out we were all meeting for coffee they did the same. They all have said they cannot believe how long they have all lived in the cul de sac and barely said a word to each other and now all lunching together and kids playing together. I also feel safe knowing that if anything happened to me or DC i have plenty of neighbours that would help me out.

It often just takes that one person to start the ball rolling. Do it, what have you got to loose? Who is really going to turn their nose up at a neighbour who is trying to be friendly.

Good luck!

I have absolutely no idea what class I am, I don't care either. I think I'm just Class.

I grew up on a council cul-de-sac where all the kids played together out front. These days I live in a slightly posher, foreign cul-de-sac where all the kids play together out front. I count my blessings to live in such a lovely place. We are renting too - though I bet the rent is more than 10 times the other place and I am sure the posh neighbours see us as the chavs.

MuGGGhoulWump Wet Ham! We don't even have a decent greggs...some poncey Boulangerie where a loaf costs a fiver!

I sometimes get the train home...(it's still home) and walk about there. Maybe I should just move back!

I worry too Hedgeblunder that my DD will be a complete wimp...she's like Alice in bloody wonderland...so cushioned...maybe I need to just shove her out first thing on a Saturday...jam butty in hand and tell her to "Go out and play" She wouldn't know how ffs!

Mylittlemonkey...I tried though! I offered coffee! was looked at as though alien in some way! Maybe they're all in a cult.

I'd really hope that no one on here would care.
I'd hope that they'd take me on what I post, and not what I have, or what I earn, or where I come from.

Boulangerie for a fiver?

Fuck me, what's wrong with an Asda tiger loaf with some jam on for less than a quid?

You must try out the cream chocolate choux buns.
Essential to any person, but must be eaten one after the other.
I love them.

Well I should hope so too! It's more an internal struggle for me MuGGhoulWump...and even if people DO judge me for what I have or have not....I don't give a monkeys! I DO care though that I have some ...issues with it all. Trying to make sense.

Class is really a load of bollox...you treat people with respect and love...how you would want to be treated..

Oh not really a fiver Mugghoulwhump ...you know..but a loaf there is too expensive for most people myself included.

I get mine from the supermarket!

See, I think I'm just an inbetweener, I'm posh where I live now ( the kid at the shop said I must be because I had a coat with a belt round it)
but in my old place me and dh were called chavs, because I dared get my milk in my ugg boots...

Lol mash- my mum used to give me 10p and say 'comeback when it's dark'- this was in the eighties so it only bought a freddo/phonecall even then!

I'm posh because I cook apparently.
Normal people do frozen food in the oven, and spend all day cleaning, said my neighbour.

I nodded along, laughed and then do my own thing, which includes cooking, and cream cakes.

My next door neighbour said I was weird for barbecuing cheese!
It was halloumi, not some dairylea triangles and I posted a thread about it at the time.

A coat with a belt round it! Lol!

Middle class foods: halloumi, couscous, feta cheese, houmous, polenta, chicory, artichoke.

I didn't know what most of those were until I was in my twenties, and now I eat them all (except chicory and artichoke EEWWWW). Upwardly mobile, me. Shop in Waitrose etc.

Now MuGGGhoulWump...you KNOW it's posh to put halloumi on the barbequeue! A bit of fish or whatever...not too odd...but cheese which is not readily available in the corner shop? Posh.

Oh my god I love halloumi, I would CERTAINLY NOT put it on a BBQ, but there is no chance in hell I would share it. You are well posh.

xpost Hedgeblunder but you are sooo missing out

Not the sharing but the BBQing

I know, I'm achingly posh.

Well, I might be if I could spell achingly.
But I can't, so I'm not.
I'll stick with my Asda chocolate choux cream buns.