Class

Posted on 2012/11/19 21:01:21 (November 2012).

[Saturday 10th November 2012]
Went to an "nearly new" sale of baby stuff in the early afternoon, which turned out to just be an attempt to make "second hand" sound a bit more appealing. It was an NCT organised thing which was a bit baffling, because the NCT course attendees we've met are all terribly middle class, and not the sort of people who'd buy other people's used goods - especially not in their local area, where they might be seen doing so. So I think it ended up more like middle class people offloading their used baby stuff onto not-so-middle-class people, and the whole event had a bit of a weird air to it correspondingly.

As though that wasn't a strong enough reminder that the class system is still very much alive and well in England, we'd decided to follow that up by taking a look at the Independent Schools Show, which conveniently was being held just over the river in Battersea Park. Although it's hopefully too early to have to start thinking seriously about schools, apparently we do need to start thinking seriously about nurseries as lots of them have long waiting lists, and the show featured some nurseries as well as the schools. It was a bizarre event - a sort of trade fair for public schools, wherein tellingly the normal banal refreshments stand you'd expect at these sorts of events was a Champagne bar, and the likes of Tatler were also in residence. We got a couple of brochures and spoke to a couple of people but didn't stay too long - I have to admit for all the time I've spent in London living the high life and imagining I'm some kind of minor aristocrat, the world of paid-for schooling was still quite alien to me.

Whilst in Battersea Park, we decided to pop into the Gondola Cafe, which I found charmingly naff.

Erika still seemed a bit restless in the early evening, and Chie seemed to want a bit of a break, so I took her out for another stroll, and ended up getting as far as Parliament Square. I took her for a quick pint at the Westminster Arms before wheeling her back home again. I'd stopped off en route to give her a good look at Westminster Abbey, which I'm sure she appreciated.

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