Social Elite and Hoi Polloi

This is a photo-heavy post because (a) rich people have outstanding gardens (b) my raised bed is awesome, too.  But mostly because rich people have outstanding gardens.  They were such a joy to behold!  Do please remember whilst reading this post that I dressed like Tank Girl for two years and got stopped by the cops 4 times for no reason during the two weeks I had a mohawk (punk profiling, yo!) and that in my heart I am still a stick-it-to-the-man punk, not to mention I'm both frugal and environmentally conscious and all my clothes were obtained either second hand or new but very inexpensively, so the fact that I was successfully able to pass as a member of the social elite is something I find both hilarious and amazing.  And kind of cool.

On Thursday last week, I had a social event where I had to mingle with the high society.  It turns out that my everyday Pinterest/French-chic inspired outfits are the same sort of stuff affluent people wear.  I hadn't really considered what I was wearing, but the first person I was introduced to was also wearing a Breton top and as the event continued I started spotting designer logos hidden on the edges of sunglasses, bags, and clothing labels.

(Here's the part where I sound hilariously bougie -- it was an event with coffee and tea and I usually only drink green tea** and worry about black coffee and black tea staining my teeth (my dentist has remarked on how I tend to get staining between my teeth and I'm trying to be more careful), but when I arrived in the grand hall, I noticed about a million water bottles next to the coffee and tea and that's when I remembered fancy people are really into bottled water.  I usually carry a flask of tea or a reusable canteen of water, but when in Rome, drink bottled water with the high society.)

Then I had a Jane Austen moment, where a fancy bloke with a fancy hairdo invited me to see the gardens.  I got a tour and then a spontaneous invite to a tea party next month.  Like, proper high tea on the lawn overlooking the gardens.  Tell you what, when I was a scruffy punk bumming cigarettes and making friends with random punks I'd just been swearing at (Him:  "Hey, fuck you!"  Me:  "Eh, your mother's ass!" And then I must have passed the secret punk test because he smiled and came over and said "Cool, what's your name?" and five minutes later, he has bought me a beer and is talking to me in hushed tones about how a popular brand of beer gives him erectile dysfunction and he has no idea why), I never imagined I would be having Austenian adventures so many years later.

It was fun, I had a nice time.  The bon chic, bon genre were friendly.  My most pleasant surprise was that so many of them talked about exercising.   Here's the thing:  at what point am I no longer an observer of the social elite, but one of them?  I like a simple life, so I live well within my means -- possibly better than they do -- but they have a lot more means that I do.  Is it all about money or is it also about Breton tops, bottled water, and exercise?  I suspect the former, but it's the latter that has me passing as one of them.  That and maybe my white teeth.  ;)

The next day, I went on a local Health Walk, had a community lunch (with eco warriors and random cyclists and unpaid carers and loads and loads of friendly folks and we had such a great time), and then got my much anticipated raised garden bed, a sort of mini-allotment the community gardens let out to locals.  I weeded the whole thing, got a very mild sunburn, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were some beets and onions (or some kind of allium) growing from last year.  Yay for free veggies!  My hands were so dirty afterward, but I really enjoyed it so much, like it tapped some kind of primal instinct in me and I just couldn't stop until the bed was weed-free.

I'll give you an update on the raised garden bed and what we're planting in it in a later post.  I've been diving into the wonderful world of heirloom and heritage seeds and the horrible thing that is seed patents.  We'll talk about that later!

How have you been?  Are you planting anything this year?  Tell me all about it and please share pictures!  

**   I could do a whole post about green tea and how much I love it!  Should I?