A social revolution?

milliemonster

One thing that has struck me about us Brits, is the emphasis we place on wealth and being successful in life judged by the house you 'own', the car you drive etc, whenever I have been to France or Italy for instance, you rarely see a new car, most of them drive battered up runabouts, yet coming back to the UK every other car is new, a status symbol for the average British family and we are judged on that, it's ridiculous!

I for one, crave the simple life my parents had when they were growing up, we have turned into a want want want society, we seem to care so much about other people seeing us as 'wealthy' and that is what defines us as worthy people, it's become a joke.

Why have we amassed all the shopping centres full of the same chain stores(that came from the American shopping malls) that have killed off the high street and has just fuelled our desire to buy 'stuff' that we don't need or even want really. We have to buy a new car every 3 years to keep up with the 'image' of doing well in life, we now must have a house with an en suite and a utility room, !!!!!!????????, the whole country has gone mad, and its now all collapsing around our ears, about time too it's just completely unsustainable.

It would be nice to see people growing their own vegetables again, and many people are, but this was the norm years ago because people had big gardens and the space to do it, now we have so many little tacky boxes of new houses and apartments all crammed into the tightest plot of land with postage stamp size gardens that these people don't have that option anyway.

Pure greed on a mass scale has got us here today, not just from consumers getting into debt, but the banks being greedy, house builders, retailers, this is what we have called prosperity in the UK for the last 10 years? its a complete joke

I

SingleSue

Very true milliemonster, although I am one of those who has never signed up for the keeping up with the Joneses mentality.

I have never had a new car, the newest we ever had was 5 years old and the cars got changed when they fell apart! My current car is 16 years old I think.

I was always one of those who would ask the question - Do we need it? Can we afford it? Much to my ex hubbies annoyance.

I do have a utility room though, came with the house but only one loo and one bathroom (mine are seperate, hate combined loo/bath rooms).

My brother is currently doing my veggie patch (I call it a field as he wants it so blooming big), I am lucky that I have a huge garden but this is the first large garden I have had since leaving home, all the others were postage stamp size as the houses were new builds.

I hope I am passing on helpful things to my children, my eldest has already become a budget head when shopping and will look for the bargains instead of paying full price..and only if he really needs it. My middle son has saved up his pocket, birthday and Christmas money to buy himself a Wii, my youngest son is more the worry though as he is of the want now, pay later type, still I have several more years to educate him.

hethmar

We are the same - never gone in for the trappings - in fact people are quite surprised when they realise we arent actually on our uppers but we choose to live without the new car, huge telly on the wall, satellite disc etc.:) (Our neighbour from hell, who moved in next door after this being our paradise for 16 years, actually stood there saying he "could see" we couldnt afford to stand up to him in court - hmm, he got a surprise, didnt he

milliemonster

I have always thought that those with true wealth don't show it as they don't need to

When I think back to my own childhood, the memories I have are the time I spent with my dad, hammering nails into bits of wood in the garage, and baking with my mum, stuff like that, but ask me what I got for my birthdays and xmas's and I couldn't tell you

Darth_Marty

milliemonster wrote: »

I have always thought that those with true wealth don't show it as they don't need to

When I think back to my own childhood, the memories I have are the time I spent with my dad, hammering nails into bits of wood in the garage, and baking with my mum, stuff like that, but ask me what I got for my birthdays and xmas's and I couldn't tell you

Thats entirely true. But most parents these days dont want to spend time with their kids, rather allow them to sit on the wii/xbox/playstation so that they are occupied. Probably chuck in a few bags of sweets and its their perfect day.

Society is !!!! ed

hethmar

You know, the MOST exciting Christmas ever for me, and I still get the shivers of excitement nearly50 years later was looking through my dads shed window and seeing a second hand bike that he was repairing and repainting which was obviously to be my Christmas present.

It is still in my mind the most wonderful present anyone ever gave me. (and he painted it red, my favourite colour )

SingleSue

Mine is going to the local second hand shop to pick out a new doll. The doll was almost the same size as me at the time but over 34 years later, it is still going strong.

Lotus-eater

hethmar wrote: »

You know, the MOST exciting Christmas ever for me, and I still get the shivers of excitement nearly50 years later was looking through my dads shed window and seeing a second hand bike that he was repairing and repainting which was obviously to be my Christmas present.

It is still in my mind the most wonderful present anyone ever gave me. (and he painted it red, my favourite colour )

OMG I got a 2nd hand Raleigh Chopper, I thought I was going to die from excitement. I wish I still had that bike

I give my kids 2nd hand presents sometimes as well, the relatives look at us as though we are mad.

hethmar

And when dad made us all stilts, lol, I wonder if I could still use stilts.

c4r105

I bet your all listening to New World Symphony, it was so much better in the good old days. Good times come and go, as do the bad times, nothing fundamental will change.