GET GONE
The Beginning of an End to a Beginning
by Eduardo 

   Saturday
   The weather for today and sunday means outing plans are cancelled. So its a quiet weekend instead.
Eliza had a long conversation with Liam earlier on the phone, or should I say, he listened to a long lecture.
mainly about how his dad attracts low class people to his life. People like Tom, who is now dead.

  Liam and I spoke about it later and he agreed that in a way I do. But he also understands that if you want to meet really genuine down to earth people and have fun, you wont find those people amongst the rich and famous. Probably one of the main reasons he is so against mum for leaving, is that he understands very well how false the rich and famous are like. He goes to school with many of their kids and always commenting about how shallow and full of pretence they are. I could tell him about how miserable their parents are too. How they cheated or upset so many people to acquire their wealth, that they live a virtual prisoner surrounded by their materialism. Terrified that others will take it from them and that all the bad causes they have done will come back to them.
I've met hundreds of the super wealthy in their work, home and play time. Their only enjoyment, just like Eliza, comes from spending money and the importance it gives.
As for their life? Screwing around with other partners, violent and many times physical rows and their lives filled with nothing that is true, lasting or real. I can tell you, they are the most unhappy people on this planet and long for all the real life they cannot enjoy. I can also tell you for fact, that the highest proportion of physical family violence, is not where you think, amongst the lower classes but amongst the rich. The legal profession being probably the worst, with wife beating a very popular pastime at the worst and violent rows at the best.
The ones who are not in this category tend to be those that inherited their wealth. Most of them are just spoilt little self centred brats with respect for nothing and nobody.
Scathing attack? Yes. Justified? From experience, yes.
Maybe as low as one percent are humble and respectful to each other, of which I have met two only. The lower down the social scale of success one goes, the higher this percentage becomes. That's a sad fact of life.
While desires for wealth used positively, can bring great achievement into our lives, if we allow them to become our God, they will bring great destruction in their wake. Even if a married couple are on the same path of possessions, within a short period the only thing they share in common is the goal. They loose each other and their children in their independent head long rush for wealth. The kids have nanny's and both their parents have lovers to fill the gaps apart. I've been to the yacht parties and the dinner gatherings. I reminds me more of a competitive hunting environment. Both are hunting for a leg up the social ladder and a leg over anywhere they can get it. While the kids grow up loving the nanny more than the parents and devoid of respect or any parenting skills themselves.
If that's life at the very top, no thank you. Its not worth throwing away what one has to chase this dream obsessively. When and if I get to the top, it will be with everything and everyone that I treasure. If I do not make it, at least I get to keep what I have, as I will not have rashly discarded it in some foolish obsession.

  Liam has already formulated these conclusions in his mind without input from me. And just like me, tends to draw his friends across a broad spectrum of class. I believe that is good and the correct way forwards in life. We are after all supposed to be working towards a more harmonious future, with better equality and quality of life for all mankind. Aren't we?
The trend towards segregation has reversed of recent years, with the same positive effect as the old trend towards racism had when we finally managed to reverse it. If we could do the same with war? The world would improve drastically.
While there are still the dinosaurs who believe in segregation of class, culture and creed, happily they are on the path of extinction.

  As we drove down our street later, the conversation continued between Liam and I about class and the difference between low, working, middle and upper class.
"Look at this street." I said to him. "There is not a house down here with much change from half a million. You need to be in the fifty thousand a year bracket to even think about such a mortgage."
"There only ordinary houses." He replied deep in thought about it.
I can tell that he is having a sort of awakening to real life. Maybe all Eliza's views and lectures had him sort of brainwashed to reality or, its just his age. Either way, he is starting to understand the difference between fantasy and reality, with an almost desperation to understand more, and that is good.
"Yes." I answered "And they have to live on top of that. They are not exactly poor to afford that much for a house are they son?"
I needed to establish that point in his mind as his mum would have him believe we are living amongst the gutter of society. Instead of a very sort after, up coming suburban area of large semi detached property's, which one neighbour recently sold for six hundred thousand. No. Certainly not Eliza's low class.
"This is an upper working class area." I explained to him. "Remember where we lived in Hampton?"
"Yes." he replied
"That was a middle class area and the houses were cheaper than here, because we are nearer London." I explained. Well aware of how he felt about the miserable 'keeping up with the Jones' lot on that road, I asked.
"Which one do you think is the best place?"
His reply was an obvious. "This ones much better. People are friendly. Look at that man with the parrot." he reminded me of how the friendly neighbour had helped him.
Where we lived before, one neighbour was so worried and stressed it was killing him with heart problems. On the other side they argued as she bossed him around like a sergeant major and bellowed at the kids. We always knew when she had bullied him too much, as he would come out into his garden and go to this little dug over patch at the bottom. He would get a spade and just dig and dig, on that same patch every time it happened. At least once or twice a month. I found it both sad and comical. Next door to them? Oh my God. The typical obsessed by wealth couple with two kids. Working in my garden office late in the night, I could here them returning from some dinner do or event in one of their expensive cars. They would yell and scream at each other in really foul language. Then the smashing of something the physical smacking and then the wailing and crying. The police came there twice at two in the morning.
You can hear a lot in the still of night with no other sounds around, sat in the garden quietly working. I used to work a lot of nights then. The strain of a disabled person looking after a disabled family, meant little work could be done during the day.

  Most of the other neighbours I knew of had their own heavy problems and they were all middle class. In reality, they were the failures. There desires and dreams of achieving far greater, had destroyed there relationships and or health. Now they were stuck in the middle with nothing of comfort and it was tearing them apart.
The only peaceful ones I knew were some professional Asians. Always respectful and friendly and seemingly at ease with each other.
House crime is lower where we live and happiness levels much higher. Sitting here in this beautiful garden listening to the gentle rain and chirruping of birds, its hard to believe that central London is just down the road. I prefer it here, though still have ambitions of something much grander.

  Later in the day Liam asked could we pop round to Bella's house, so I rang her and agreed to go about five and eat something before the cinema at eight.
So later we drove down and after food went off to the local premiere. It was packed, I have never seen so many parked cars. Fortunately there were some seats left, so it was get popcorn and off we went.
Brilliant film, though nearly three hours long and the special effects are fab. But don't think we will repeat the experience to soon as halfway through I could see that Bella was cat napping and a little while later, all I could hear in the quiet moments was Liam's snoring.

  Sunday it was off to the theatre in Richmond for the evening to a charity show for street children in Africa. Bella knows the actors work and had tickets for the show, so we all went. This was quite a new experience for Liam and he actually enjoyed the first half even though the comedian actor was pretty dull. To much blah blah and not enough punch lines. It was a good night out though.

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