The guys who can afford houses here now want the beauty, safety and sophistication, but don’t need to buy into the old establishment.
"Oh, horror or horrors!!
The newcomers don't bring tribute with the proper bowing and scraping to those of us already here. We are all doomed!"
This is an old, old, story. Back when my mother was in some kind of hospice/respite facility, there was an old lady there who remembered the town of Malvern (famous for its water) in its heyday when George Bernard Shaw held court. She had me biting my fist with silent laughter at times.
Then came the rant where I had to excuse myself because I could not contain the hysterics any more. She said something like, "But Malvern was never the same because of the War (meaning WWII). The War Office set up that dreadful place in the boy's college and brought all those ...
people to the town."
It was the little pause that you could fill in for yourself that was the final straw for me. She didn't say "common", or "rude", or "not understanding the way of things" out loud, because she didn't need to. The wrinkle of disgust that crossed her face said all those things and maybe more.
I guess pointing out that the place set up at Malvern and those
people went on to develop radars, ECM, and navigation aids that helped win WWII would have been bothering her with unwelcome facts.
Telecommunications Research Establishment - Wikipedia
Her unbiased view on George Bernard Shaw was short and frank. "Dreadful man, he always made his wife walk a step behind him like he was royalty".
