Speaking of class, and we weren't
-Bath is the Whitest and The Most Middle-Class City In Britain. And I'm noticing that a bit and it's fearsome. It worries me. Well-off people scare me a bit because they have bizarre coping strategies, viz:
-A middle-class person will say they are CROSS instead of being UPSET or PISSED OFF. I hate the term "cross". It's cushioned. It's soft. It's avoidant. I apologise to all the "cross"-sayers on the flist, but there is something about it that makes my skin crawl. It's a really mild term of annoyance that means YOU HAVE FUCKED UP TERRIBLY AND MUST PAY THE PRICE. *flail* It's terribly English, but/and because of that/whatever, it's not being frank and letting-it-all-hang-out honest about things that are FUBAR. And I fear it. I do. It's not like Finns don't do coding. They do. And they hide things. And that erupts sometimes in the middle of a perpetually dark winter period with lots of vodka and a shotgun. Like us, the Brits try to avoid that but flip out in different ways ANYWAY. And and and saying they're "cross" about things is just useless when they could say "FUCK, I CAN'T STAND IT ANY MORE". I don't get the hiding with Finns either. The fear. So, yeh, if you're pissed off with me, TELL ME ZOMG, I don't want to feel all autistic about this because The Horrid Truth is far easier to deal with than Hiding It. Yes.
-This place has middle-class chavs, proving that I'm not wrong in assuming it's not just a working-class thing. I saw some on the other day, coming home from the Uni onna bus. They were decked in PLATINUM ear studs and chains, mother, daughters, father, sons, the lot of them, and they were being twats on the bus and shoving people out of the way of their arse-exposing low-cut Armani jeans Because They Were So Great. Argh. Possibly Lotto Louts, but fucknose. Twattishness doesn't need a class, all it needs is an attitude of Being Better Than Others And So Cool And Kickarse. Gah.
-Also, yes. Bath has the attitude of a closed-off little village with old people Guarding The Morals and Being Proper, with Rich Twats joining them, and still has a slimy underbelly of kids going mental and setting fire to cars and dealing drugs to the rich fuckers. Cocaine is all over the place. It's one of those places that manages to keep up a facade of A Pretty Little Town but is Fucked On The Inside.
-The local clinic won't take in any druggies or other people suffering from addictions. It basically plasters stuff all over the place saying SCUM NOT TREATED HERE (i.e. if you need drugs of addiction, if you are badly depressed, if you're fucked in the head, then piss off). And I felt excluded, because you're supposed not to Go Wrong and for example, need sleeping pills and shit, or struggle with drinking, because they think those are Evil And Bad. Needless to say, I ran like a fucker and registered with the campus Doc.
-Anyway, yes. Bath is pretty, but its people seem to build on privilege. Students aren't as bad, and hey, Oldfield Park is the studenty area, that's why we have a cheap Co-Op, but yeah. It's mostly RICH PEOPLE. And it's scary in that aspect. I feel like I'm blagging my way through a lot of stuff since my spoken English can come across as pretty posh/cultured/whatever, but anyway. Fear. I guess I'm reacting because you don't really see much of a class divide in Finland? Srsly, not even the poshest areas of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Espoo East End, Kauniainen, Vantaa) compare with this. It's good fodder for a developing perspective of cultural differences, that's for sure.
-But mostly, I'm scared of rich people who pretend everything is all right. Brr.
-A middle-class person will say they are CROSS instead of being UPSET or PISSED OFF. I hate the term "cross". It's cushioned. It's soft. It's avoidant. I apologise to all the "cross"-sayers on the flist, but there is something about it that makes my skin crawl. It's a really mild term of annoyance that means YOU HAVE FUCKED UP TERRIBLY AND MUST PAY THE PRICE. *flail* It's terribly English, but/and because of that/whatever, it's not being frank and letting-it-all-hang-out honest about things that are FUBAR. And I fear it. I do. It's not like Finns don't do coding. They do. And they hide things. And that erupts sometimes in the middle of a perpetually dark winter period with lots of vodka and a shotgun. Like us, the Brits try to avoid that but flip out in different ways ANYWAY. And and and saying they're "cross" about things is just useless when they could say "FUCK, I CAN'T STAND IT ANY MORE". I don't get the hiding with Finns either. The fear. So, yeh, if you're pissed off with me, TELL ME ZOMG, I don't want to feel all autistic about this because The Horrid Truth is far easier to deal with than Hiding It. Yes.
-This place has middle-class chavs, proving that I'm not wrong in assuming it's not just a working-class thing. I saw some on the other day, coming home from the Uni onna bus. They were decked in PLATINUM ear studs and chains, mother, daughters, father, sons, the lot of them, and they were being twats on the bus and shoving people out of the way of their arse-exposing low-cut Armani jeans Because They Were So Great. Argh. Possibly Lotto Louts, but fucknose. Twattishness doesn't need a class, all it needs is an attitude of Being Better Than Others And So Cool And Kickarse. Gah.
-Also, yes. Bath has the attitude of a closed-off little village with old people Guarding The Morals and Being Proper, with Rich Twats joining them, and still has a slimy underbelly of kids going mental and setting fire to cars and dealing drugs to the rich fuckers. Cocaine is all over the place. It's one of those places that manages to keep up a facade of A Pretty Little Town but is Fucked On The Inside.
-The local clinic won't take in any druggies or other people suffering from addictions. It basically plasters stuff all over the place saying SCUM NOT TREATED HERE (i.e. if you need drugs of addiction, if you are badly depressed, if you're fucked in the head, then piss off). And I felt excluded, because you're supposed not to Go Wrong and for example, need sleeping pills and shit, or struggle with drinking, because they think those are Evil And Bad. Needless to say, I ran like a fucker and registered with the campus Doc.
-Anyway, yes. Bath is pretty, but its people seem to build on privilege. Students aren't as bad, and hey, Oldfield Park is the studenty area, that's why we have a cheap Co-Op, but yeah. It's mostly RICH PEOPLE. And it's scary in that aspect. I feel like I'm blagging my way through a lot of stuff since my spoken English can come across as pretty posh/cultured/whatever, but anyway. Fear. I guess I'm reacting because you don't really see much of a class divide in Finland? Srsly, not even the poshest areas of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Espoo East End, Kauniainen, Vantaa) compare with this. It's good fodder for a developing perspective of cultural differences, that's for sure.
-But mostly, I'm scared of rich people who pretend everything is all right. Brr.