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| Hove, Photo Copyright Gareth Cameron |
People are weird.
I began to realise this when I decided to move away from Hove three years ago. Not because it wasn't good enough, it was just too expensive for me to find adequate accommodation spacious enough for all my books and files.
I'm in West Sussex now, but for a while I considered towns nearer to Hove, in East Sussex.
I suppose some people might find what happened to me offensive. I didn't. I couldn't let myself care that much, but here it is:
It appears there are "people" who are really beneath one, and with whom one has nothing in common. Some of these people live in areas a little outside Brighton & Hove.
All this because I was thinking of moving to Peacehaven, conveniently situated halfway between Brighton and Eastbourne.
But it's all right, they said. I would be okay so long as I moved to Shoreham instead. (Personally, I've always found upmarket Shoreham a wee bit unfriendly and Peacehaven more than agreeable. But there you are. I guess, maybe, I'm a bumpkin too and those lower-class Peacehaven people recognise me as one of their own!)
There was one positive aspect to all this. I was made to understand that, because I managed, at least, to get myself educated, I am not entirely lost as a human being in spite of my "Sarf London" accent.
I suppose some people might find what happened to me offensive. I didn't. I couldn't let myself care that much, but here it is:
It appears there are "people" who are really beneath one, and with whom one has nothing in common. Some of these people live in areas a little outside Brighton & Hove.
An invisible line
Apparently there is a line, where B & H and its more salubrious suburbs, like Rottingdean, end, and then one might venture, at one's peril, into areas where one just wouldn't choose to live. At this point, the people change from being educated, with "nice" manners, into those who need to be avoided at all costs. The word generally used is "common." (shudder...)All this because I was thinking of moving to Peacehaven, conveniently situated halfway between Brighton and Eastbourne.
But it's all right, they said. I would be okay so long as I moved to Shoreham instead. (Personally, I've always found upmarket Shoreham a wee bit unfriendly and Peacehaven more than agreeable. But there you are. I guess, maybe, I'm a bumpkin too and those lower-class Peacehaven people recognise me as one of their own!)
There was one positive aspect to all this. I was made to understand that, because I managed, at least, to get myself educated, I am not entirely lost as a human being in spite of my "Sarf London" accent.
Oh, give me a break! I thought. Are you implying I will be the only "educated" person in Peacehaven? Goodness Gracious!
Not a Wetherspoons - here - please!
Not that class distinctions are absent where I live now. One person mentioned in the presence of another delightful (and unsnobbish couple) that saunas were a great leveller and only when people got dressed could we recognise their "class." I was swift to point out that these days it wasn't okay to judge people that way, but to discern their human qualities of kindness and acceptance.
But there is nothing much one can do. There is a certain chain of easy going, admittedly slightly shabby pubs, that serve consistently excellent food with plenty of vegetarian options for very little money. The pubs employ friendly respectful staff and have a most comfortable ambience.
You should have heard the uproar when it was thought we might get a branch of the chain when the old Co-op was closed down in the village. The local forums were positively bristling.
"Not a Wetherspoons in Rustington. We really don't want that."
I am so glad I live inside my own head. How much rich, human experience must be lost to people with snobbish mindsets?
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