One of my occasional rants on Stuff Wot I Read On The Internet (tm)
Goodness. One obnoxiously smug article refuted by another. Actually, I think the second article annoys me more. Mostly because people being happy is generally less irritating than being bitter. But both seem pretty certain that everyone wants the same things.
How about we take away from this the following life lessons.
1) The London housing market is not the only story. Actually, there are loads of places in the country where it's pretty feasible to buy a starter home for £100k-£200k which isn't impossible.
2) The London housing market is remarkably shitty and I personally think one of the shittiest things it does to everyone who lives there is creates this insane bubble where you have to incessantly claim that 'this is just how it is' or in some way tell yourself that living in London is worth it. Personally, I'm not convinced that any number of last minute tickets to Wicked are worth paying £1500 per month for a flat that would cost a third of the price for about twice the size in Glasgow, but I accept this is my own personal area of obnoxious smug evangelism. But yeah. London isn't normal. Paying that much rent isn't normal. Those house prices aren't normal. It's horrible and bad and wrong. But I've no idea how to fix it, because I also know many people don't really have the option of moving.
3) People want different things, especially in their twenties, and THAT IS OK. Some people want to buy a two bed in a cul de sac outside of Manchester and are probably deliriously happy snuggling on the sofa watching box sets. Some people want to spend their twenties drinking gin and eating take out with their mates at 2 am, or buying twelve different shades of MAC lipstick and being frightfully glamorous. That's also OK. Some people (this was me) want to drink tap water in the pub, get mocked by their friends for thinking a DVD and pizza is a fun social night, and pour £200 per month into an 'air fares fund' to get out of the country at every possible opportunity. None of us are right or wrong.
4) Different people have different circumstances and that is ALSO OK. Yes, some people have the good fortune to have nice middle class parents that can afford to let them live rent free while they save up from a deposit and you can't because your parents kicked you out of their fast moving car when you were 12 or whatever. I get that. But then, you live in a wealthy country, with access to free healthcare, in a period of history where you haven't died of the plague so we're all lucky. And I know false equivalence is shitty, but so is the misery olympics.
5) FUCK OFF with the interior design snobbery, Vice. Do you know how much furnishing your house costs? Really? Yes, most young people who have bought a starter home aren't buying their amazing hand crafted artisan upcycled book case from the market you like to walk around on a Saturday, but you can't first bitch about how life is about more than saving money and then bitch because they haven't saved enough to shop in Habitat. Yeah, most people start off with a cheap sofa. My first sofa was a futon that cost me £200 and could just about seat two people sitting bolt upright, and I guarantee I'd have leaped at a gumtree leather sofa if I could. And how many colours do you think cheap carpet comes in? Smug wankers. You decorate your home with what you've got, and if it's what makes you happy and comfortable, then yay! My house is 50% IKEA and 50% the British Heart Foundation furniture store. And I regret nothing.
And now...breathe.
How about we take away from this the following life lessons.
1) The London housing market is not the only story. Actually, there are loads of places in the country where it's pretty feasible to buy a starter home for £100k-£200k which isn't impossible.
2) The London housing market is remarkably shitty and I personally think one of the shittiest things it does to everyone who lives there is creates this insane bubble where you have to incessantly claim that 'this is just how it is' or in some way tell yourself that living in London is worth it. Personally, I'm not convinced that any number of last minute tickets to Wicked are worth paying £1500 per month for a flat that would cost a third of the price for about twice the size in Glasgow, but I accept this is my own personal area of obnoxious smug evangelism. But yeah. London isn't normal. Paying that much rent isn't normal. Those house prices aren't normal. It's horrible and bad and wrong. But I've no idea how to fix it, because I also know many people don't really have the option of moving.
3) People want different things, especially in their twenties, and THAT IS OK. Some people want to buy a two bed in a cul de sac outside of Manchester and are probably deliriously happy snuggling on the sofa watching box sets. Some people want to spend their twenties drinking gin and eating take out with their mates at 2 am, or buying twelve different shades of MAC lipstick and being frightfully glamorous. That's also OK. Some people (this was me) want to drink tap water in the pub, get mocked by their friends for thinking a DVD and pizza is a fun social night, and pour £200 per month into an 'air fares fund' to get out of the country at every possible opportunity. None of us are right or wrong.
4) Different people have different circumstances and that is ALSO OK. Yes, some people have the good fortune to have nice middle class parents that can afford to let them live rent free while they save up from a deposit and you can't because your parents kicked you out of their fast moving car when you were 12 or whatever. I get that. But then, you live in a wealthy country, with access to free healthcare, in a period of history where you haven't died of the plague so we're all lucky. And I know false equivalence is shitty, but so is the misery olympics.
5) FUCK OFF with the interior design snobbery, Vice. Do you know how much furnishing your house costs? Really? Yes, most young people who have bought a starter home aren't buying their amazing hand crafted artisan upcycled book case from the market you like to walk around on a Saturday, but you can't first bitch about how life is about more than saving money and then bitch because they haven't saved enough to shop in Habitat. Yeah, most people start off with a cheap sofa. My first sofa was a futon that cost me £200 and could just about seat two people sitting bolt upright, and I guarantee I'd have leaped at a gumtree leather sofa if I could. And how many colours do you think cheap carpet comes in? Smug wankers. You decorate your home with what you've got, and if it's what makes you happy and comfortable, then yay! My house is 50% IKEA and 50% the British Heart Foundation furniture store. And I regret nothing.
And now...breathe.