Credit crunch?
Everyone appears to be either slagging of the world at large and taking no responsibility for living off monopoly money (for that's what credit is - it's not yours, it's not owed to you, you signed your soul away borrowing it in the first place, and outside of computers the stuff doesn't even exist...) or revelling in their smug, unaffected lives showing off about having secure jobs, having holidays booked, having the various accutriments of smug naughties living...good for you, whatever floats your boat, and horay for you rubbing it in to those less fortunate, that must make up for all those times you were bullied at school right?

As for us - Superdad was made redundant a week before Christmas and told that he wouldn't be getting his last two months commission because the company was in dire straights and couldn't afford it. I was sacked a month before that for being pregnant. Shiny.

So we sat down, worked out what we had and made a plan.

He starts a new job next month on twice the money he had before. That's handy. I've done some freelance so I've a bit tucked away. That's handy. You see we didn't just whinge that we were being shat on - we did something about it. Funny how that works out.

This weekend we're moving out of the docklands penthouse - walking away from the private gym, the pool and the view of Canary Wharf out one windown, Greenwich out the other - because it's just gloss - this isn't what makes us sucessful.

We've replaced it with, at half the cost, a grade II listed building in Cornwall with acres of land on which I'm going to be keeping chickens and goats and growing veg. I'm going to 'retire' from my city job and whilst Superdad is working I'm going to make us self sufficient, in true Laura Ashley twee 'the good life' manner and bring our kids up to be elf sufficient, and with the ethos I was brought up with; the world owes you nothing sunshine.

We could do what everyone else is doing and sit in our now too expensive apartment with our sky plus and our busy social life and our two new cars and complain that we've been done guv - but who the hell are you helping doing that?

Living the dream.

Good luck to those of you who still think all that shit matters, and that anyone's impressed. I'll give you a nod from my idyll, out of debt and out of pressure.
(Supermum, Sat 24 Jan 2009, 13:02, 18 replies)

I agree entirely...
...but, bringing up your children to rely on mythical creatures with mysterious magic powers? Really?
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Sat 24 Jan 2009, 13:33, closed)

Well of course
since I'll be using the unicorn mane to weave fabric for making their invisibility cloaks - who else but elves would harvest the cakes?
(Supermum, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 19:07, closed)

although I agree totally with what you're doing
you're being just a little bit smug yourself...
(jennymnemonic, Sat 24 Jan 2009, 14:22, closed)

Word.
But if you start throwing dinner parties with Hugh Fernley-Whatshisface can I come?
( monkeybananaraffle, Sat 24 Jan 2009, 14:31, closed)

Only
if you bring your own feta
(Supermum, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 19:07, closed)

Pending further investigation
You don't happen to both work in finance by any chance do you? Please do keep in contact, and don't plan any trips abroad for the time being.

Yours Ever So Gratefully
The Financial Services Authority
(BongoTheWhippet is called forgetful but at least I'm not forgetful, Sat 24 Jan 2009, 14:28, closed)

Elf sufficient?
Are there going to be flying reindeer as well?
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Sat 24 Jan 2009, 16:32, closed)

Either this is a brilliantly crafted fakepost, or:
"revelling in their smug, unaffected lives showing off about having secure jobs, having holidays booked, having the various accutriments of smug naughties living...good for you, whatever floats your boat, and horay for you rubbing it in to those less fortunate, that must make up for all those times you were bullied at school right?"

I'd imagine you were bullied so much because you seem like a hideously smug shiteater.

Good luck to you if you think that shit matters, and that anyone's impressed. I'll give you a nod from my spiral of hatred and vitriol.
(McDave, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 1:19, closed)

Erm...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you had a Docklands apartment and had to move out, surely you were making a fair bit of cash to begin with, and saving was a)easier and b) common sense? Or am I just trying to find a bit of humility in your obviously unavoidable arrogance?
(stiglfc And the big wheel keep on turnin', Sun 25 Jan 2009, 1:33, closed)

...
Too easy cherub x
(Supermum, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 19:08, closed)

Allow me to mock recoil at your laissez-fair indifference.
*recoils*

Roll with it duck, rise above. Don't sink to their level.
(McDave, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 17:10, closed)

Well
enjoy living in Cornwall - probably the shittiest, most chav-invested corner of this septic isle - full of the dregs who have washed up there, or those whose IQ isn't sufficient to cross the Tamar...

Seriously, the place looks nice to tourists, but the reality is that it's full of racist, pig-ignorant peasants.

I bet within 6 months you are screaming to return to civilisation.
( I_Was_Mordred, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 11:53, closed)

I grew up in the lakes
How much worse can it be?
(Supermum, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 19:08, closed)

Fair point
Well made.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sun 25 Jan 2009, 19:44, closed)

So...people like me are smug..
because we've said "it's all hysteria, it's no worse an 87, 92, or any other downturn and, actually, we're doing pretty well, especially now everything costs under £1", yet you aren't smug for boasting about your husband's wage, your docklands apartment and your huge place in cornwall with a million acres...?

By the way, unless mummy and daddy bought the apartment (sorry, it's a flat, we aren't in America) either you were a) mortgaged up to the eyeballs, or b) rolling in cash. Either way, the choice of location alone, as someone who isn't interested in style-following, does smack rather a lot of Yuppie-dom, whilst the choice of Cornwall over the more laid-back Dorset/Devon or overall nicer Scottish Highlands smacks of herd-following, too - so much for striking out as an individual and your kids will grow up retarded unless you home-school or send them to boarding school - Cornwall is a backwoods, educationally. Watch Straw Dogs and understand the *real* local culture... And I speak as someone who actually likes the place - I'd never, ever raise my kids there.
(Chad, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 16:23, closed)

I like you
that is all
(Supermum, Tue 27 Jan 2009, 10:25, closed)

Aye man,
'self sufficience' (read: failing to grow crops and having a few hens that lay eggs once a week until they get slaughtered by a fox) and buying organic is what all the middle class yupsters do nowadays, so Olivia/Amelia and Archie/Alfie have a cracking start in life without those horrid E-numbers.
(McDave, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 17:14, closed)

Ok.....
the very fact you had to post the last sentence shows that actually you are quite a bit pissed off about the whole thing. You just keep trying to convince yourself that you're terribly happy with it... you don't sound like you are.

And actually, anyone who was ever important never was impressed by all that shit anyway. Only very inconsequetial people ever were. And the majority of people really affected by poverty and a very poor lifestyle do not waste their time thinking about the likes of those who live in 'apartments' but about where their next meal is coming from.
(Clarabelle is reverting to type on, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 15:23, closed)