Where do they all come from?
Oops, sorry. I sent you all off to visit my tenant, then his tenancy ended! I hope most of you got to check him out before he left:-)
Anyway, so Ive been cavorting around the home counties, teaching people 1st aid for the last couple of days. I trusted my sat-nav to find the venues, which it did admirably, and in doing so took me on a fantastic journey through the wilds of Surrey. Now I know Surrey is a very expensive place to buy a house, being next door to London and all that, but it seemed to be completely made up of palacial mansions nestled into great swathes of greenbelt land. I didn't see any "normal" houses at all!
Where do all those fantastically rich people come from? What do they do to be able to buy multi-million pound houses? Where do all the "normal" people in Surrey live?
I mean, IMO we have a pretty big house. 5 (almost) bedrooms, three stories, large garden. It's certainly bigger than our parents or most of our friends. But these places must've been 10 beds at least. Set in "grounds", not gardens! Whole towns full of them. OK, Guildford had some houses similar to ours - but Guildford is spectacularly expensive to live in, so that can't be the answer (I applied for a job in Guildford once, as it has the largest sports centre in the UK - they were offering a £20k relocation grant & it was still completely impossible to find anything at all!). Iguess there must be some estates hidden somewhere, but I sure took a good tour of half the county & I couldn't find them!
Anyway, lovely venues for courses, very friendly people, nice feedback & happy customers. And both places were heated - what more can I ask? Oh yes, and it was very gratifying that all my children came and gave me enormous hugs & kisses when I got home, but had obviously been quite happy & well taken care off while I was away. Well done Aggie & Nanny A.
Anyway, so Ive been cavorting around the home counties, teaching people 1st aid for the last couple of days. I trusted my sat-nav to find the venues, which it did admirably, and in doing so took me on a fantastic journey through the wilds of Surrey. Now I know Surrey is a very expensive place to buy a house, being next door to London and all that, but it seemed to be completely made up of palacial mansions nestled into great swathes of greenbelt land. I didn't see any "normal" houses at all!
Where do all those fantastically rich people come from? What do they do to be able to buy multi-million pound houses? Where do all the "normal" people in Surrey live?
I mean, IMO we have a pretty big house. 5 (almost) bedrooms, three stories, large garden. It's certainly bigger than our parents or most of our friends. But these places must've been 10 beds at least. Set in "grounds", not gardens! Whole towns full of them. OK, Guildford had some houses similar to ours - but Guildford is spectacularly expensive to live in, so that can't be the answer (I applied for a job in Guildford once, as it has the largest sports centre in the UK - they were offering a £20k relocation grant & it was still completely impossible to find anything at all!). Iguess there must be some estates hidden somewhere, but I sure took a good tour of half the county & I couldn't find them!
Anyway, lovely venues for courses, very friendly people, nice feedback & happy customers. And both places were heated - what more can I ask? Oh yes, and it was very gratifying that all my children came and gave me enormous hugs & kisses when I got home, but had obviously been quite happy & well taken care off while I was away. Well done Aggie & Nanny A.
posted by Juggling Mother @ 5:54 pm
7 Comments:
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 7:24:00 pm,
stc said…
I sometimes feel that way when I see 20-year-olds driving cars that I likely will never be able to afford.
I'm not particularly attracted to fancy cars. But it's an obvious status symbol, and it annoys me that some people have it handed to them on a silver platter.
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 7:34:00 pm,
Juggling Mother said…
I've not got anything against the beuatiful houses (although I found it hard to reconcile my conscience when the three of us first moved into a 5 bed house. Everytime I saw a homeless person I felt guilty! Although I did invite a couple to stay occasionally, it felt wrong to have empty rooms, while others had nothing). I just don't understand who all these mega-rich people are. I don't know anyone who has that sort of money:-) Where does it come from?
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 7:44:00 pm,
JR said…
I ask the same thing about my area, what do all these people do for a living to afford such houses? Don't say they're lawyers, because I know better, not only from my own home but my boss's house that is on the same street as mine. Hmmm, maybe it's just the honest lawyers that earn so little? ;-) I heard a quote a while back, can't remember who said it now, but it was "no one should have a second home until everyone has a first home." I think something similar should apply to these McMansions we have all over the place. No one should live to excess when so many can't live at all.
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 7:46:00 pm,
Juggling Mother said…
Actually, I was just thinking I must do a Utopian World post about property ownership. I've got some quite strong views on that one (Surprise suprise!)
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 9:59:00 pm,
Vics said…
Well, I vote that anyone in the emergency services or the caring industry get first dibs on the nice places - people may try harder to work then instead of trying to be pop stars and footballers...
And Banstead in Surrey is a lovely village full of normal sized (but still overpriced) houses.
At Monday, February 06, 2006 2:18:00 am,
mig bardsley said…
Baffling isn't it! You have to remember that most of those people have to have someone in the household working at making money all day and night every day. It must be all they ever think of?
Looking forward to Utopia on the subject:)
At Monday, February 06, 2006 8:09:00 am,
OldLady Of The Hills said…
I was shocked by the prices of homes in The Cotswolds after taking that trip and then looking at some if the magazines like Country Life...especially in making the conversion into dollors, I don't know how anyone affords anything there...and some of the homes in these Ads were tiny and 'needed work', so after you bought this outrageously expensive home then you had to spend half as mufch again to 'fix it up'....How does anyone do it?
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