So the weather here has been quite spectacular.
We do get really great Septembers….warm, sunny. Nice way to finish of the summer.
Being that Crunchy Husband had work to do and there was a kids birthday party next door, that we weren’t involved in..I decided to get the kids out and about and we went to the Southlands Country Fair.
Now, I will have to explain what the Southlands are.
It is a part of the westside of Vancouver…hidden down below South West Marine Drive…is this little bit of country right smack in the city. But not just country…HORSE country. Equestrian, horsey people country.
Check out the real estate on this realtors site.
Ouch.
It is gorgeous down there. When the fair isn’t on, the streets are quiet..only interupted by the clop clop of the local ponies out for a stroll.
It is truly beautiful.
The Southland Riding Club puts on a Country Fair every year to help raise money for it and the special needs riding that it does.
My kids like it because there are pony rides, and face painting and hay rides and so on.
My kids LOVE horses.
But I tell you, I am sure glad we drive a nice car. Because there were a lot of niiiiiice cars parked down there.
How come rich people look rich?
You can just tell that a person grew up with money and always had money.
Rich Vancouver people stand out as just that.
You see them on South Granville too. They have that ‘tone’ to their skin. Even their casual clothes look like my sunday best.
There we were, surrounded by wealth. Or people trying to live the life of wealth that only grewing up on the west side of town know. Urban, hip….children with names like Zara and Brook.
The horsey types in their jodpurs…even the young girls looked coltish..long legs, glowing skin.
I don’t look like that. Neither do my kids.
You can tell we are not born of wealth. You can tell that we had snuck in from the other side of the tracks.
My east side neighbours had never even heard of that part of town. Just looked at me oddly.
The same look when we say we are taking the kids to the open air pool at Maple Grove Park….again, a place NEAR the Southlands.
Why do I like to go to that side of town? Especially when there are pools and parks here applenty?
I don’t know. I have always felt more comfortable on the West Side.
Even my born and raised East Vancouver husband prefers the west side of town.
Are we snobs?
Social climbers?
Probably.
Living in our rental housing…..with airs and graces of a lifestyle we are not party to.
Maybe because places like Shaughnessy and the Southlands still have a whiff of the ‘Empire’ about them…a vestigal memory of the ‘good old days’ and the old country. Maybe I feel the same sort of class system that I grew up in in the UK.
I did feel the faint urge to tug my forlock and call someone ma’mm as I crawled from the coal cellar to explore the life of the lords and ladies.
Well, ok..maybe not THAT bad…but almost.
Now my kids want us to buy them a horse of their own to pet and care for.
That will look good tied up in the back.
Barbara Doduk says
I don’t think you are a snob. Nothing wrong with liking nice things. Hope your computer is fixed soon. Have fun getting your hair done. Michelle gave me amazing extensions last week, she is a hair diva. 🙂
Barbara Doduks last blog post..Hair Hair Hair
Nordby says
cool picsxx
Mikhala says
You might not be a snob, but they are. Some of the people down there are extremely cliquey and stare down their upturned noses at everything! I can’t even begin to describe.
I just started riding again after a long time off – and found a mount at Southlands to lease…well, I haven’t felt like a gr. 8 in a new school for about 25 years. Older women on beautiful dressage horses will nearly run you over if you aren’t careful, and do they care? apologize? nope! they don’t even so much as glance at you as your horse stumbles out of their way. These ‘snobs’ should stop…they should realize that if it wasn’t for the newbies joining their elite club, that it would probably close due to lack of membership. They are the aged, and they will have to retire.
Hey, elitists…take a glance over at some of us new kids, smile and say hello. You never know how you might need us one day.