tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post2483037670301704348..comments2024-03-19T14:28:03.565+00:00Comments on welsh hills again: Am I losing touch?Elizabeth Musgravehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-42188802452669117142009-11-10T23:35:25.020+00:002009-11-10T23:35:25.020+00:00Glad Iam not the only one who wonders what planet ...Glad Iam not the only one who wonders what planet those fancy women come from.Around here it's not just the 20 somethings, but women my age(40s) striving to look like stars. Movie star hair, expensive clothes, fancy make up,impossibly tiny figures, Botox... <br />Next to them I look like some sort of wild, fuzzy, stout pony with burrs in my mane..oh well, it's all such hard work trying to be "perfect". <br />Great post, struck a chord.Heidiannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14875098188370755298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-1371343063152568922009-11-03T21:24:29.137+00:002009-11-03T21:24:29.137+00:00No one could spend too long in the country! You...No one could spend too long in the country! You've just experienced what it feels like to go to a new school in your old uniform - very strange but soon overcome!Millennium Housewifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828746856608057335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-73065024316037287762009-11-03T21:00:36.658+00:002009-11-03T21:00:36.658+00:00Ah, the 'chester tan - I believe Farrow & ...Ah, the 'chester tan - I believe Farrow & Ball are working it into their next colour chart and describing it as 'somewhere between tangerine and mahogany'... <br /><br />I am also rather isolated from the big city gloss, but I fear I'm far less accepting of the fact. It's not that I want to dress like a deranged X factor judge (I'm obviulsy not talking Simon or Louis in this context, lest you misunderstand) but I have been known to put on heels and vintage 1950s tea dresses to pick the kids up from school...Dawn/LittleGreenFingershttp://www.littlegreenfingers.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-82724103347471521892009-11-03T19:20:24.193+00:002009-11-03T19:20:24.193+00:00I'm not sure where I wandered in from, but I r...I'm not sure where I wandered in from, but I recognise your world and that feeling of alienation from the glossy Grazia types!<br /><br />Mt teenage daughters have a quirky style all of their own - but I have NO idea where it popped up from (and am incredibly grateful they're not Grazia clones!).<br /><br />I'm more of the 'scrubbed up quite well' type!!!<br /><br />Thanks for a great blog :)Nutty Gnomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06146296943319504785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-88300071713379974092009-11-03T14:59:07.794+00:002009-11-03T14:59:07.794+00:00Paula - thank you, what a lovely thing to say!
Jan...Paula - thank you, what a lovely thing to say!<br />Jan - oh yes, I am very much a wearer of nice warm "fat stuff"! Hate being cold and blue.<br />ATKT - the heels thing also ensures that you tower above anyone other than a six foot partner!<br />SBS - Can't see them anywhere near my chicken shed to be honest.<br />Karen - I am so glad you laughed. I was intending to be mildly amusing and was a bit taken aback when people assured me I was ok. I am afraid I had rather cheerily assumed that they had the problem, not me!<br />Marianne - how nice to see you again. Hope things are well with you. You are so right about the pressure on girls today, boys too perhaps, but girls seem to be expected to meet absurdly high standards on all fronts, everything must be perfect which is a recipe for disaster.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-69719960056409691022009-11-03T14:23:32.986+00:002009-11-03T14:23:32.986+00:00You've obviously struck a nerve with this one ...You've obviously struck a nerve with this one Elizabeth. No, it's not you, it's them! <br /><br />When I was at school, we all had bad haircuts, National Health glasses, crooked teeth and badly fitting clothes - not sure things have changed that much - but having worked in a senior school for the last four years I was constantly astonished at the appearance of the sixth formers. <br /><br />Lunch time was like a fashion show and much appreciated, too. Glossy hair, lovely straight teeth, legs and figures to die for and the clothes and make up! However, huge pressure on the girls to look good and compete at all levels comes at a price.Catherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01588437065757203375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-51616328657462656112009-11-01T19:18:21.611+00:002009-11-01T19:18:21.611+00:00This post made me laugh so much Elizabeth - that i...This post made me laugh so much Elizabeth - that it is only now I can return to write a comment. You, as ever have hit the nail on the head. After only 4 years back in Wales I am completely unable to cope with the experience you wrote about so well.<br /><br />Yes, you have been living in the country for too long, thank goodness.<br />KKaren - An Artist's Gardenhttp://www.artistsgarden.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-89735919071409580082009-11-01T15:40:05.076+00:002009-11-01T15:40:05.076+00:00Nah! Metropolitan gloss ( as Montainear says) wou...Nah! Metropolitan gloss ( as Montainear says) wouldn't be you in a month of Sundays - just think of orange girl in heels trying to open your chicken shed .......:)snailbeachshepherdesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01397158758052413758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-60700009650311901332009-11-01T10:40:55.362+00:002009-11-01T10:40:55.362+00:00No, no, you're the one who's right and (in...No, no, you're the one who's right and (in that awful phrase that sets my teeth on edge), keeping it real! What is it with young women and those vertiginous heels? Every 'do' I've been to lately, all the the women have towered over me at the beginning of the evening but have shrunk by five or six inches at the end, as they've all taken off their torturous shoes.Around My Kitchen Tablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01840917368903178857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-70249511377207937802009-10-31T13:59:36.416+00:002009-10-31T13:59:36.416+00:00I am always clobbered up with FAT stuff in the way...I am always clobbered up with FAT stuff in the way of clothing ....eg. cardigans, scarves, jackets....<br />AND sometimes I walk round my city ( on the Rows, which I'm sure you know?) and I see teenagers etc wearing such THIN stuff ( "sundresse" in Winter??) and it makes me shiver...<br />They must be made of iron!Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08627338108089464863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-37543797296435645202009-10-30T21:45:08.608+00:002009-10-30T21:45:08.608+00:00Ah, you always manage it. Always hit the button on...Ah, you always manage it. Always hit the button on the nose. What a wonderful piece of writing! As always you've described feelings and emotions so perfectly.<br />But too long in the country? Nah, never. You look like a breath of fresh air...and you're real.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-27028918139087547832009-10-30T17:02:49.925+00:002009-10-30T17:02:49.925+00:00Susan - well you are right, I am certainly happy f...Susan - well you are right, I am certainly happy for whatever reason!<br />Pondside - ah, I thought I might not be alone in this!<br />Moon - yes indeed, rampant consumerism was never my thing but my dislike of it has been intensified by being further away so that if anything it has more shock value than it used to.<br />Chris - It can't be a generational thing can it, if both my daughters and yours haven't bought into it. I don't think it is a class thing either, or a money thing, seems to cut across all strata of society.<br />WSC - I like your three types of outfit, suspect mine will fit into the same categories!<br />Laurie - well I suppose you can pose anywhere!<br />Pomona - hi. I have read your blog and nice to see you here! I think you are spot on about the indoctrination. I suspect my children have absorbed some of my attitudes, doubtless not all of them but looks like the anti consumerism and the anti Barbie doll gloss worked just fine.<br />Maddie - you have it exactly, a combination of feeling out of place and not wanting to be in place if it means subscribing to that particular view of life.<br />Teresa - yes, there is a lack of prentension here certainly, not enough money to allow for it perhaps!<br />Lin - Hi and welcome. That did strike me too, how difficult it would be to age if you had set yourself such airbrushed standards of perfection. No wonder plastic surgery is becoming so much more popular in our looks obsessed society.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-52946817858136605162009-10-30T15:33:28.867+00:002009-10-30T15:33:28.867+00:00I was in Windsor recently, and at 2.30pm passed a ...I was in Windsor recently, and at 2.30pm passed a young woman in the street who looked as though she was about to enter a nightclub. She was slightly orange, clingily dressed, made up to the nines, and altogether artificial in the bright afternoon light. Why???<br /><br />I think it comes down to a level of insecurity - to feel that you have to dress up to that pitch just to go shopping, well, in my book, that's just sad, and the media has a lot to answer for! How on earth are these young women going to cope when they start to get the odd wrinkle, 'spoil' their figures with children, get the odd brown spot on their hands, find that their teeth/eyes/etc etc are not as reliable and permanent as they once thought?<br />Those of us over 50 were lucky enough, in the main, to grow up without image being all, and to give our appearances little thought, but today's 25yr old has already gone through more cosmetics and 'product' (hateful word) than I am likely to use in my entire life! <br />I genuinely feel sorry for today's young women, and despite their opportunities, would not change places for anything.LINnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-4824877858789549712009-10-30T12:57:25.380+00:002009-10-30T12:57:25.380+00:00No, you've not spent too long in the country.....No, you've not spent too long in the country.... the girls in the bathroom haven't spent long enough in the country!<br /><br />Hooray for the country life with its lack of pretension and real life living!Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14186138266137470331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-73368426021911671582009-10-30T11:45:36.927+00:002009-10-30T11:45:36.927+00:00You've struck a chord here. I felt like that w...You've struck a chord here. I felt like that when I went to London to visit an old friend. I felt so uncomfortable, SO out of place. But I didn't want to fit in. I could have never looked like a WAG or a chav or whatever those Grazia-types are, not would I have wanted to.<br />The country, the beauty, the air, the pace of life gets into your soul. The last time I went to a major shopping centre I had to flee because I just felt so agoraphobic. It's the crowds I can't stand, that fear of not being able to escape. the heat, the prices, the falseness of it all. But give me the wide open space of a field and distant views and I'm fine.<br />Love your top picture by the way.maddiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03479893496291590397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-37471070638189492062009-10-30T09:18:52.255+00:002009-10-30T09:18:52.255+00:00I have just been reading both of your posts - I do...I have just been reading both of your posts - I do agree with your sentiments. I read the Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf many years ago, luckily when I was quite young, and it helped to free me from the tyranny of worrying about my appearance all the time. I feel great compassion for women who are obsessed like that - I don't think it ever brings them happiness or contentment, and the same goes for those obsessed with the latest in consumer 'must-haves'. All these things just seem to complicate life and imprison you on a treadmill of aspiration, whether you live in town or country. We live along a quiet country lane and my children have never been bored - they have learned how to amuse themselves, and have plenty of constructive outside interests - probably because hanging around in the road here would be boring! They have also learned to be cynical about the snares of consumerism and celebrity culture - possibly because I have been indoctrinating them since infancy!!<br /><br />Pomona xPomonahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18399181139470676975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-7729857552500366242009-10-30T02:18:29.836+00:002009-10-30T02:18:29.836+00:00oh, how well i understand this post!
those girls, ...oh, how well i understand this post!<br />those girls, for what it's worth, wouldn't know what to do inside a Waterstones.lauriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18055442432266567561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-40218395743306058402009-10-29T21:07:40.614+00:002009-10-29T21:07:40.614+00:00I haven't read all the comments but heck - I t...I haven't read all the comments but heck - I think it is more important to just be oneself no matter what others may think. Here in the country (40 years), we have three types of outfit: working scruffy - building and gardening; respectable but purposeful for mud and rain and shutting the hens in even if we have visitors; and our idea of 'chic' for smart visits in town or country, which definitely looks rural but is comfortable and I don't care what people think for I was never glamourous and haven't been able to wear makeup for 50 years. So there!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-52838606268015425772009-10-29T16:55:20.552+00:002009-10-29T16:55:20.552+00:00No, Elizabeth - you're the one who's In to...No, Elizabeth - you're the one who's In touch! Like you, I'm delighted that my daughters aren't clones of some C-list sleb.Chris Stovellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03741359642268813093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-3314405526073457142009-10-29T07:43:02.720+00:002009-10-29T07:43:02.720+00:00Yes, you've clearly stayed too long in the cou...Yes, you've clearly stayed too long in the country. In fact, you seem to have stayed sooo long that you've begun thinking that rampant commercialism and vanity are bad things.<br /><br />Congratulations. :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-57620423834249506972009-10-29T02:54:26.546+00:002009-10-29T02:54:26.546+00:00Honestly, Elizabethm, I'm laughing WITH you, n...Honestly, Elizabethm, I'm laughing WITH you, not AT you! How many times have I had that same shop window experience. Yikes! Who is that frumpy woman...oh no, it's me!<br />Don't worry. You inhabit the real world and those poor girls are in a world to which no sanely mature person would ever return. I remember 'hot pants' and it isn't with any affection.Pondsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02407539138546412482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-63741051027680749362009-10-29T00:56:15.302+00:002009-10-29T00:56:15.302+00:00Yes, you are losing touch with the city life.
And...Yes, you are losing touch with the city life.<br /><br />And you are happier for it.Susan Tomlinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01532464326705599296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-82270277460145582222009-10-28T23:56:54.671+00:002009-10-28T23:56:54.671+00:00Anna - thank you. I agree, I suspect it is a cast...Anna - thank you. I agree, I suspect it is a cast of mind more than a place to live.<br />Sara - I think my thought was that this sort of look was not current at all when you and I could have done it!<br />VP - thanks, I have emailed you. I would appreciate your take on blogger etc.<br />Friko - I didn't take your comment on my last blog to be a dissenting voice. I am very happy here. I would not dream of saying that my answer is everyone's, indeed I can tell from my own friends and family that it isn't, so to have someone point out that country life is not a bed of roses for all is totally fine by me! This blog was more about a shock at the "celebrityification" of young women in the way they look than a pro-country/anti-city rant. I think I might notice more coming from here than if I lived amongst it, but not necessarily. I very much want you to comment so I hope you will! My own position is much more grey and much more flexible than perhaps comes across.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-40038601296472414482009-10-28T23:33:40.682+00:002009-10-28T23:33:40.682+00:00I read some of the comments to your post first.
I...I read some of the comments to your post first.<br /><br />It is really interesting to see how many people say 'it's the countryside where it's at', the countryside which matters and which is the preferred place of living when only a very small percentage of the population of the UK actually lives outside towns and cities. And the majority of the people living in the countryside is retired. And, a personal and very limited survey carried out by me here at Valley's End found that the majority of young people say "there's nothing here for us".<br /><br />I think I must also have been the only dissenting voice in the comment section of your last countryside post. I really don't mean to spoil your enjoyment of life in the country.<br /><br />I could either visit but not comment at all or say what I really think. What would you rather have?Frikohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04277167831642088694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4028290314714419963.post-86136317742254115892009-10-28T23:20:38.568+00:002009-10-28T23:20:38.568+00:00No, it sounds like you spent too long in Mancheste...No, it sounds like you spent too long in Manchester! I went to Cheltenham the other week. I felt seriously underdressed there in the middle of the afternoon too.<br /><br />I've just seen your Tweet (sorry, I was being nebby) re Wordpress vs Blogger. I use both, there's pluses and minuses to each of them and from my experience of both of them, it really depends on what you want to do with your blog which makes the difference as to which one's best...<br /><br />Email me if you'd like to discuss it a bit more...VPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02732971362066784175noreply@blogger.com