Am I going mad or am I an inveterate snob or worse of all both??????

[arabella2]

Hello
I am six months pregnant and I don't know if this has something to do with all of this as I feel kind of on the edge and vulnerable to arguments with other people. I had an argument with a woman in a supermarket on Christmas Eve (wrote about it in another thread "very very upset"
) and now today another disagreement with somebody on the street. This is very unlike me.
Today I was with ds and dh on the highstreet in London where we live. They were a little way away from me and I was looking in a jewellery shop window. The oldish woman next to me said something about the men's rings which I didn't understand so I said what? Instead of repeating it she said "are you from Poland?" to which I must have said no, then "but you're not English..." can't remember what I said but I didn't answer that question, then "you don't sound English" to which I have to say I said "neither do you"... (I think she was Irish). I don't quite know why I took that approach, to my mind she was being nosy and intrusive and I couldn't think of anything else to say. I think she also said something about me not looking English (I am half English half Italian which would account for me not looking English but somehow I didn't see why I should go into this with a total stranger whose questions I was finding annoying). I do sound English, totally, I don't know why she said that to me, and I don't quite know why I got a bit offended. Might be a throw back to when we lived in Belgium as kids and I used to feel a foreigner here in the UK when we visited family, in Italy and also of course Belgium.
Anyway, I walked away and she followed me (!) a bit later and said there was nothing to be ashamed of. Probably other things which I can't remember. I must've been a bit aggressive because I couldn't deal with this person following me around telling me where I came from and what I should and shouldn't be ashamed of. She then told me I had a screw loose (or words to that effect) and put her finger to her head. I have to say that after that things degenerated a bit and I called her a stupid cow (infront of ds I am ashamed to say) and to get lost and I think she was probably saying rude things to me but it all got lost in the general flurry and aggressive atmosphere. We then walked away Bizarre. I just wanted to be left alone and she wouldn't basically. Dh reckons (though he was not there for the first part of the conversation) that she might have been a bit stupid in the way she was talking but that she was just being friendly. I'm sure she was but somehow I couldn't handle her nosiness (spelling) and didn't know how to deal with it. "Sorry, I am not in the mood for talking" might have been okay but somehow these responses never come to mind at the time.
I have always been quite reserved and maybe I am unfriendly. Maybe I am a snob in that I didn't like the over familiar way she was asking me these questions kind of in my personal mental space without me having given her permission to be there. If she had just stuck to a conversation about the men's rings I would have been perfectly happy to talk about them, but no...
Any thoughts???

No Jimjams, this kind of thing seriously does not often happen to me. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that I stood at the middle of the shop window without moving over as I normally do if somebody else is standing there in case they want to see the bit I am looking at!
There must be quite a few Polish people in Willesden as well (where I live) but nowhere near as many as in Acton and Ealing tanzie... Maybe it was the way I was dressed yesterday or maybe she knows a Polish person who looks like me... Anyway, she must have been even more confused when I joined dh (who is Indian) and ds (who is obviously half Indian)... that must really have done her head in !
Blu I wouldn't have called her a stupid cow (which I agree was a bit crap and not how I like to think of myself at all) if she hadn't very rudely tapped her finger against her head and told me I wasn't all there. Wasn't all there for not wanting to discuss anything she wanted to discuss apparently. In any case she was being very rude at that point...

She was being very rude arabella, that was awful. I would have gone ballistic at that, even when not pregnant.

Probably just a bit mad (which of us isn't?) and harmless. You are not a snob just very pregnant and feeling vulnerable.

DS and I were in a pastry shop in Greece once and an old man dropped the parcel he was carrying. He poked DS with his walking stick to attract his attention then pointed to the package (with his stick). DS dutifully bent down and handed the bag to him and was horrified when the man just grunted and walked off! I didn't think twice about it but DS (then 10) thought he was "frightfully rude". I told DS he was being frightfully" English and to loosen up. Horses for courses!

Bloody 'ell ghengis - I wish I was as mellow as you. I probably would have disgraced myself in this situation!

oh ghenigis that's hilarious.
gosh arabella I need to do whatever you do. Honestly nutters home in on me.

I think either you are a nut-attractor or you're not. A bit like people who always get bitten by midges. DH always gets stopped in the street by every seller/charity worker/nut going - it must be his kind face. I usually look as if I'm not going to stop, so only get asked if I've made eye contact.

We could have fun working out what signals or chemical messages are given off by nut-attractors (sp). Then again, I could get on with some actual work .......

My Mum told me the other day that she had read some scientific research that said that as people get older something happens in their brain and they end up saying just what they are thinking, which is why older people seem to be more prejudiced than younger people ( who may think the same thoughts but wouldn't dream of saying them). This may explain the ( stupid, stupid) old woman who told me that my 5 yr old ds twins should be riding their scooters on the main road and not on the pavement, despite the fact that they are extremely mindful of pedestrians and were nowhere near her at the time, or even the (really ignorant) oldish woman who told me that I must be a good foster mother, and on querying why she thought I was a foster mother replied that it was because my children had brown skin and I did not! Or then there was the old woman who told my toddler to shut up when he was crying in his buggy.

It is hard ( especially when you are pg and hormones at work) but you have to try and just laugh at these rude people ( mind you when I laughed at the stupid scooter woman she threatened to call the police, so maybe you shouldn't take my advice )

Oh god I get stopped by charity collectors all the time. I also get bitten by midges (although not Japanese mountain midges- that was bizarre people either had blood pouring down their legs or nothing at all- I was nothing at all).

So I have lunatic attracting pheremones..... Hmmm explains a lot