THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

I feel for you, thriftwizard. The region I'm in attracts affluent retirees and also younger people from London and other urban areas who want to live the good life. They don't see the suffering they cause as they drive up house prices and the others costs of living so that regular folks (or the younger generation) are driven out of their home villages and home towns. Which are often ghost villages out of season due to the high proportion of cottages which are now second homes.

It's very easy to feel resentful of the blithe lifestyles of the privileged. I try not be a green eyed monster but I do get a bit ratty when these characters either mock the indigenous working class or actively involve themselves in making their lives difficult to impossible. Such as resisting affordable housing, affordable retail establishments, or workplaces that aren't quaint like art galleries.

I expect if asked them if they were in favour of supporting the rights of indigenous peoples against economic exploitation and cultural appropriation, they would nod earnestly and say yes. You could then ask if that only applies to people living Far Away, speaking other languages and perhaps wearing feathers and lip-plugs?

I occasionally mess with people's heads IRL by asking questions like this. I work on the principle that a seditious idea, randomly implanted, may bear fruit somewhere down the line.

Still can't get over a chazzer in Pretty Town wanting £15 for a well-used pair of Cl@rks loafers fgs.

fuddle

I still miss it though thriftwizard and I still cry about having to leave. Only because as you say it's pretty. The experience of walking through a pretty place covered in things that are lovely to look at is much better than the experience I have now walking past the hardware shop, haberdashery that still bustling after all these years or the local carpet, blinds and electrical shop is very different but I can live here independently without the need of a second car. I await eagerly for the lidl to open. When it does I'll be in my element.

Without the useful shops my new-to-me little town wouldn't be useful and would die. There's only (on the whole) the money for necessity here and maybe there's only the desire for necessity too.

I could live happily there but really I wanted for nothing. It was more about experiencing people who are proud of what they have and looking after it but as you strip the layers back that proudness seemed to me to be about showing rather than feeling. But I judge.

I will revisit someday though because my memories are good memories. I could appreciate the beauty while appreciate what I did have too. It's still a little raw thriftwizard but I've been away long enough to wear the rose tinted glasses now, now I'm not working in the care system, not navigating the roads, not losing my allotment to house builders etc etc.

thriftwizard wrote: »

Welcome to my world! Can't buy a screwdriver here any more, or a lightbulb if you need anything that isn't politically correct, but I can choose between 20 different kinds of overpriced, underspecified green welly (that'd last about a week in our garden, never mind a real field) or relax with a cup of organic delicately-scented chai and a wisp of exotic pastry on every corner!

I sometimes think I've blundered into some kind of living lifestyle magazine, where people think nothing of spending tens of thousands on a BBQ hut for one "special birthday" party. I see friends who had good, solid careers in teaching or middle management snapping up the rare yellow-stickers in W8rose and turning out their pockets for the last dregs of change to pay for it, whilst congratulating each other on how well the kids are doing upcountry. We're all frantically trying to keep the "face" up and not admit that we've all been priced out of the market & the pension's nowhere near enough to live on, especially not if you happen to have kids still living at home for whatever reason.

Worries me a bit that this is the part of the country that people live the longest. It'll be more like exist the longest for those of us not blessed with "disposable" income...

moneyistooshorttomention

Somewhere there is probably a happy medium - not found it yet....:cool:

ie between nice (but expensive) and affordable (but tatty/poor-looking)...

I chose a work-a-day place (because that's what I could afford:() sited VERY near nice/normal to me/attractive/etc/etc and spend a noticeable amount of time in "nice/more normal to me/etc/etc" bits of surrounding area and my house is being changed bit by bit as the money comes in to be nicer and that includes hiding eyesores visible in the garden as far as possible.

Seemed to be the best way to handle things imo. People will vary obviously on that...and all have our own take on what feels "comfortable to us" personally.

I try and count the blessings of "Tatty poor area" - ie much lower chance of builders developing everywhere and got fresher air to breathe.

fuddle

I've found the happy medium. It took a while but I worked it out. It's called appreciation of what you have. Contentment soon follows.

mardatha

I well remember my dad - a salt of the earth, very intelligent well read, countryman-born and miner all his days - many years ago when we were walking around the village I lived in before this one. All the yummy mummies poured out of the school gates, yapping away about yoga class and pony club and calling their kids "Chloe darling" and "Sebastian sweetheart" (honestly, I kid you not). My dad's face was a picture of total incredulity and all he said was "Load of silly bu**ers that wis! " :rotfl::rotfl:

Doveling

One of my grandsons is called Sebastian, one grandaughter is currently begging for a pony.
Until a couple of years ago, I went to yoga classes but then had to change to Pilates.

Does that make me a silly bu**er?:rotfl:

It's good to appreciate what you've got but that does not preclude you from wanting more for yourself and family.That is achieved by finding a way to get what you want out of life.

Some may want a caravan or holiday abroad. Some may want a motorbike or chelsea tractor. Some may want a pony or a racehorse. Some may want a Btech or a Master's degree.

Everyone's happy medium is relative to their circumstances and what they want out of life.
Life doesn't have to be perfect - you just have to feel that you've made it the best you can.

This will vary from person to person as there could never be one definition of a perfect life!


Moving on - I cannot believe that Hinckley Point is going ahead :eek:

moneyistooshorttomention

Well said Doveling:T

We'd still be living in caves if some caveman (or his wife...) somewhere hadnt said "I wonder what would happen if we strove for this/tried that....".

Agreed re Hinckley Point - I guess we could see that one coming. Let's just hope that thinking of matters fuel-related that things don't go any further re fracking:eek:. I hope that they never come anywhere near here with their offers of bribes to make sure they don't get demonstrations against them about it. There is no bribe big enough that could "buy me" (much as I'd like/could do with a nice windfall)...

maryb

I don't know what the answer is to the problem of incomers driving up house prices. We will downsize in a few years time once our two girls are settled and I hope to live close enough to them to be able to help them while they are in the run ragged years of working while bringing up children - because it's unlikely they will be able to stay home even if they want to.

If they are working outside the South East ( and one of them could in theory be transferred anywhere and the other may find that the job opportunities in the field she is interested in are not all in London) then I suppose I would be one of those incomers.

fuddle

Deleted. I can't be bothered. There's more to life than debating with people who are so obviously poles apart from my own way of thinking.

Tea-time

mardatha

No Doveling you couldnt possibly be a silly bu**er if you're in here!