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 . 😃

I saved a gorgeous teak sideboard from chalk paint a few months ago by showing the owner a few eBay links to similar pieces.

Mid century teak and atomic stuff is pretty much the new painted neutrals, though.

"I wouldn't have thought of social work as being a middle class profession though." agree with this. If you are not your own boss, are or could be in a trade union then you are working class. (does not matter where you shop)

Brown
To be a s w you need a degree and a professional qualification
I Wd disagree personally but horses for courses

You don't live in West Croydon do you mini?

I find it entertaining that White Stuff, Joules, etc are considered middle class. I think they ordinary knocking about clothes. I would call Jaeger, LK Bennett, Jigsaw, Reiss, Basler, Rodier, etc, middle class.

V happy on my white stuff leggings and tunic today because I haven't been anywhere but local shops, bit of gardening, etc. But really, looks at ageing Ford, I couldn't give a flying fuck.

If your jewellery is worth less than your outfit you probably aren't that flush. Dunno about class!

What a strange, depressing thread. Doesn't anyone live and let live?

Jasper I have several mid century originals . Love em .
Round here it's more lovely modern oak from made etc
But I do love a bit of mid century !!

LPickers:

You lived in a cul-de-sac? Sounds very pleasant.

That's because we have Turkish supermarkets and Asian Cash and Carry on our doorstep where you can buy bunches of bristlingly fresh herbs as big as your head for 69p, creamy Turkish feta in rounds from a stainless steel vat, lovely flatbreads two feet long and a foot wide for £1, huge raw prawns for £12 a kilo, red snapper, flat doughnut peaches for £1 a box, tiny, syrupy little Muscat grapes, fresh yellow dates still on the branch....

Stop, mini - we moved out of our grimy bit of London that was stuffed with gorgeous Turkish grocers, and now we're in the sticks, we have to go to the nearest Waitrose and pay a stupid premium for less good stuff because the nearest Trurkish grocer is probably 100 miles.

What I really hate is snobiness - when others look DOWN on you if you don't conform. We moved to a posh little village with a good school. We were really pleased with the area. However, we live on a small cauldisac of smaller houses in the village, and because these properties cost less than 300,000 (this is midlands area, not London) we are considered the poor relation. You should see the shock on other mums' faces when they see where I live as they toddle on back to their mansions. There us a real sense of looking down noses if you dont drink expensive wine, or if you drive a ford or an old car. If you dont have a gardener and your hedges are a mess then they've got something to say about it.

That's more or less our village (which was a really poor snap decision made for work reasons - in fact I'd never actually been here before we arrived in the removal van with a small baby), and I agree with you it's conformist and small-minded and highly irritating, but I wouldn't call it 'posh'. I'd call it 'aspirational lower middle class' - terribly anxious about status and keeping up with the Jones. And obsessed with respectability. The residents' association is outraged by the fact that an elderly couple are looking after their son's hippie van while he's abroad - having something painted with dragons, even on your private driveway, lowers the tone.

And apparently our road was a bit worried when two WC Irish people arrived (us), in case we'd 'bring the area down'. Especially as we were renting, rather than buying...

Why do my responses show in a purple box?

Because you're special, *ailith^ .

No, just because they're yours, so you can see what you said. You set it up like that. Mine also show in a purple box to me, but no one else can see yourpurple box.

Lol!
Thank you. Thought there must be some sort of moderation policy on the site.

I don't think it's insecure wanting to belong to something, call it a tribe or whatever, it used to be called Friends I guess.
I've been poor, rich, middle, back down again and about to go back up, but above all I've been happy because of who I am.

I live in a middle class part of a central London borough. I moved from the shit part to the MC part.

It's all food places that don't take bookings / artisan bakeries / independent toy shops / high end shops (Whistles, Reiss etc...) It's so pouncy!!!

Thankfully it's London so I don't know all my neighbours and have no idea what furniture they have or what paint they use.

I'm stuck in between two classes I think.

We live in a very nice village, very mc and all the mums here wear Boden and naice sandals. Down the road is the council/ha estate and my youngest used to go to school there. None of the other mums talked to me. I was seemingly too posh and not from there. I don't fit in with either group but I am slowly making friends.

I don't care where anyone is from or what 'class' they are but I do find it hard to fit in to either the 'organic quinoa and lentils' crew or the 'bottles of coke and big macs for babies' gang. I'm somewhere in the middle.

MissHooliesCardigan sounds amazing. I'm white but have the World's Dryest Skin/Scalp so Afro beauty shops are heaven! So much cheap cocoa butter/shea butter, full Palmers range (their coconut hair milk is amazing as a leave in conditioner) and Queen Helene masks.

minifingerz Where do you live? My friend used to live in Finchley and I was so jealous of the amazing Turkish and Iranian shops and kosher bakeries.

I am sure.none.if this has changed for.centuries, the places maybe different and the so called desirable items different but.its still the same old game.

I grew up in an idyllic cottage in an idyllic village.full of doctors and lawyers except we were very wc in a tied cottage. Now in a mc job with extended detached cottage but smoke and am overweight. No intention of going to the gym. I will admit to plenty of farrow and ball because they do not ever change their colours so I can re- paint one wall at a time. I shop in waitress and aldi and lid. Buy whatever clothes fit but am a bit snobby about the kids clothes (god knows why) do get plenty on ebay though !
I am going to work harder at not fitting into one box or another. And I have sworn at my kids ! But can also play the look how good my vocabulary is game too.

Not sure what this says about my class (or lack of it!), but I get my local trade paint shop to mix F&B pigment into scrubbable contract emulsion (or "Borstal paint" as DH calls it). It's not that much cheaper, but once on, it lasts for ever, and, as a pp said, they always have the same colours available.

We briefly moved to a rather posh area (a lot posher than me) for a couple of years with DH work.
It was the end of the pub lunch me and DH would treat ourselves too when his shifts meant he was home when dc at school. I just wanted Lasagne and chips or Scampi or gammon but no all the pubs served organic Guinea Fowl and organic goats cheese something with some kind of jus!

I just wanted bloody Lasagne and Chips in the pub with half a lager fgs!!

squizita Sadly even the best 'brown' furniture is considered worthless nowadays, unless it''s been transformed into 'shabby chic' greyish painted furniture. I don't think class has much to do with it though.

Though IMO the scandinavians do it rather well.

I've got a 1960's teak bedroom suite: Wardrobe, chest of drawers and dressing table from my grandparents. Almost didn't accept it 15 years ago but it's solid wood and well made. My mother painted the one she chose the better one this stuff was mega naff 25/30 years ago, at exactly the time,my grandparents were scoffing at the popularity of dipped pine - it got painted evidently because it was so cheap and nasty.

What goes round comes round.

I've,got some exquisite brown furniture. It will have its time again - just like the teak. Good quality solid wood furniture will always endure and if the lines are good it works together too.

Yes that's true OhTheRoses I'm old enough to remember when we were painting walls and furniture orange or white, in the 60s and 70s.

Wots Farrell n ball?

I havent read the whole thread but this reminds me of the program Suburbia on C4 I think,,,I got bored and never watched all the series but the principal is the same..American working class down to earth girl moves to a suburb full of Middle/upper class away with the fairys types - its a comedy.

The girls doesnt fit in and generally walks around with a WTF face.

When the feature wall was tongue and groove and wallpaper concentric hexagons, and bathroom suites were pink, blue or primrose before avocado came in. Those were the days ppeatfruit. I've got my grandma's crystal cockerell and some silver