Friday, August 21, 2009

Prevailing classes

In a recent Womans Hour item about beach huts Jane Garvey mentioned that such things are a rarity on the west coast of England. Her expert guest tended to agree, but offered no explanation.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that you just have to spend too much time cooped up inside your rabbit hutch with the doors closed while the prevailing wind from the Atlantic throws the rain against it.

This meteorological fact is often cited to explain why the West End is the posh end of London – the wind blew all the polluted smokey air over to the poor so-and-so’s living in the East End.

On the other hand you might think that, despite the rain, the west coast offers a view of some spectacular sunsets for you to admire from your armchair in the cosy little hut.

I recently heard an explanation, based on sunrise & sunset, for the apparent world wide tendency for the west side to be the posh side of a city, whatever the prevailing direction of the wind. But, senior moment, & I cannot persuade Google to jog my memory. Perhaps it is because the rich do not get up early in the morning & so prefer to be able to have an unrestricted evening view of the sun. Meanwhile the poor, their servants, need an early morning awakening



Merchants and bankers are necessarily the prevailing classesInternational Review January 6 1874