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When I started to understand that some people lived different lives! When did you know and what opened your eyes?

(102 Posts)
foxie48 Sun 25-Feb-24 19:24:53

Born into a "respectable" working class family (my parents description) in the late 40's, I never went hungry, always had shoes that fitted and although sometimes cold, was never worried about anything really. I was just like everyone around me. My junior school was good and I thrived. I didn't really understand that my parents lived a pretty week by week existence until I went to a secondary school that was actually the preserve of the middle classes. It wasn't the big houses that they lived in, or the car in the drive it was the pantry! I wass reminded of this today today when I looked at how much food I have in mine. A freezer full of meat and other bits and bobs, cupboards full of jars and tins, we could live for several weeks without buying anything. I remember my parent's pantry, it had a tin of salmon, a jar of Fussells cream, a tin of mandarin oranges and a little tin for the shillings for the meter. I remember visiting the home of a school friend and being completely overwhelmed by what was in their pantry, it was full of stuff I'd never seen and certainly never eaten. Anyone else have memories like this?

GrannySomerset Fri 01-Mar-24 18:33:42

I was definitely poor but middle class. My widowed mother found life a huge financial struggle and there was no money for anything but the basics. When I went to the grammar school she sold her engagement ring so that I could have an all new uniform (of peculiar hideousness) and not stand out. Her attitudes were definitely aspirational and good manners were expected, which meant that I was welcomed by other people’s mothers as a suitable friend for their daughters. There was not much in the way of creature comforts but I was loved and guided, and the nice house came my way in due course.