Rivka's Meme: Answers

From glitzfrau: Understanding the UK class system when you immigrate from Ireland. Finding your place in it, and being horrified.

I don't think I do understand it. Parts of it are hard to see. I think there's more of it than the class system in Ireland, but that could be because there's more of it above me - the class system is easiest to see from the bottom anyway.

My place as an Irish person was automatically lower than it was in Ireland. That's changing now as my accent changes; a lot of people can't tell I'm Irish at all and that raises my class status considerably. Also, I was far more employable over here than in Ireland, which improved my economic class no end.

I find aspects of class very confusing. Middle class: I use teapots and cups and saucers and tablecloths and prefer guests not to help wash up if they are only over for dinner, because my internalised idea of Having People Over For Dinner formally includes a lot of the stuff people used to manage with servants (my mother grew up with A Girl Who Did, though we never had that kind of help growing up. I have a cleaning lady once a fortnight, who thinks I'm insane but likes me). Working class: I don't spend money without massive overthinking, and frequently feel poor. Middle class: I assume most people I meet are well-read and fairly intellectual. Working class: I don't go to the kinds of cultural events middle class people often do. Middle class: I argued my cleaning lady into higher pay.

That's not clear either. It's not even accurate.

Where I am now feels very middle class to me. But I no longer really know what the external perception is, which is largely because I'm not looking for paying jobs any more. That really made things clear.

"How do you do, and what do you do?" is a social opening gambit which puts me on the bottom of a social status pile, but I don't know whether that's linked to my personal place in the class system, my family's place, or orthogonal.

Rivka's Meme: Answers

From songster: 1) In a fight between a badger and an ocelot, which would win and why?

2) Is there a place in your life for a spork?

3) What is your favourite smell?

(1) From Wikipedia:

The Ocelot: It can be up to 1 m (3'2") in length, plus 45 cm (1'6") tail length, and weighs 11.5–16 kg (25–35 pounds)
[snip]
The Ocelot is mostly nocturnal and very territorial. It will fight fiercely, sometimes to the death, in territorial disputes.

The Badger: Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves, coyotes and bears. Badgers can run or gallop at up to 25-30 km per hour for short periods of time.

So I say badger, but I may have been biased at an early age by CS Lewis. "We don't let go," and all that.

(2) I have several sporks in green plastic, from Spudulike, whose disposable cutlery appears to be dishwasher proof. They are very useful for picnics and camping. They are sufficiently inferior to separate implements that I will never pay money for a more durable spork because I'd be annoyed ever time I took a bite.

(3) Right now, coffee. Fairly often, coffee, in fact. Or bread baking. Smells which tell me something good is about to happen are best; coffee, bread, dinner, seaside, perhaps bonfire.

Rivka's Meme: Answers

From heraldis: If you were given, I dunno, £1000 which you had to spend entirely on yourself, what would you buy/do? (Assume everything your family need is taken care of).

This one is bloody hard.

In real life, I'd put it into the mortgage.

Or use it to help pay someone to do my kitchen or bathroom the way I want them.

All the travel I'd do with it would definitely include my family - and specifically my children - so that's out.

New bras and books, maybe.

Rivka's Meme: Answers

From piqueen: Do you support the 'Million Women Rise' aim of a national holiday for
international women's day?

By supporting the Statement of Demands attached you will be asking the Government and societies, both at home and internationally:
[snip]
For International Women’s Day to become a National Bank Holiday in the UK and Ireland in recognition of and to celebrate women’s achievements

Hm. I immediately think "Yes, of course," and then realise I don't know what I'm talking about.

So first I went and found the Million Women Rise website and read it, and then I tried to find out how many public holidays there are already in the UK and Ireland, compared to elsewhere in the EU or Europe.

England and Wales get 8, Northern Ireland get 10 (St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne), and Scotland get 9. The Republic of Ireland get 9. France get 11 to 13 depending on region. Germany seems to have up to 16, depending on region.

According to Wikipedia, "The day is an official holiday in Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Croatia,[citation needed] Cuba,[citation needed] Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro,[citation needed], Nepal (for women only), Poland,[citation needed] Russia, Serbia,[citation needed] Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam,[citation needed] and Zambia."

So yes. I think the UK and Ireland, both bits, can afford an extra public holiday. And I think it's one worth having. Lots of people find it really hard to think of women who have achieved much at all on a national or international scale, and I think publicly drawing that to people's attention might help some. It's the "name ten famous women" thing.