How ‘The Other Half’ live
I, and millions of others are well versed on the way the aristocracy used to live. A whole trench of period dramas, together with blockbuster TV series such as ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ have left us in no doubt as to their privileged life style and the way a whole industry was set up to serve them.
We’ve looked at it seriously, and come the autumn, we will be able to look at it laughingly, when the cosy, humorous world of P.G.Wodehouse is portrayed on the box, featuring how life was at Blandings Castle.
What is much less publicized is how ‘The Other Half’ lives now.
We know that just about all of them have to open their precious world up to lesser mortals.
We know that they don’t have such an iron grip on their staff, most of who are no longer forced to live in their dungeons.
But what we don’t know is how they are coping with the nitty gritty of real life now that they, well a lot of them anyway, are stony broke.
Do they have to pop down to Aldi on their own?
Do they have to drive their own cars, and are they ageing Bentleys or newer Ford Fiestas?
Do they still dress formally for dinner every day and sit in their grand dining rooms?
I’m busily researching the answers to these and many other questions. Not only because I have always been interested in the mystery which tends to surround the nation’s nobs, but also because I am writing a novel, ‘Open House’, which takes a humorous swipe at them. (Please visit my page, ‘Your Cove Castle’ to find out more)
Actually, the more I get to know what makes them tick, the more I love them. Our country would be much less colourful if they all got sick of the endless struggle to maintain their follies and buggered off.
My guess is that most of them will be around for a good few generations yet.
While they’re still here, still managing to be the same as us but different, I’ll just keep digging and reporting back on what I’ve come up with.
If any of you hear anything, please spill the beans and leave a comment.
Keep smiling.
