Category: THE OPULENT.... Life
One thing I've noticed about well brought up children of the rich, is that they often don't realise they're rich - or at least how rich they are......
I had a girlfriend who was this way.
That she was comfortably off was clear from day 1, but because I don't pay too much attention to money, it didn't occur to me (or apparently her) that she was to one day be SUPER rich..
Her father worked for the Dutch Embassy, but he could also be some kind of a spy.
She was brought up in The Yemen.
She spent time in The Sudan.
And when I went through the list of the other countries she'd lived in, I found the postings often coincided with political events...
The story was that he was sent to sort out administrative problems.
And the last I heard of his activities was that a year or two after September 11th, he'd been spending a lot of time in Pakistan.
Maybe there were a lot of administrative errors happening in Pakistan???
Financially speaking, I only realised just what was what, when we went to visit her grandparents in Belfast.
It was well over a year after we'd met.
The house was a nice size and as we pulled in, she told me it was built in the style of Charles Rennie Macintosh.
At the time, I didn't know anything about architecture or design and though it was quite a good looking gaff, the name meant nothing and it wasn't that which give the game away...
That was a later, when I found myself sitting next to a brass heron..
We were having tea in the conservatory, and her Grandad was reading an antiques magazine..
I was still feeling the whole situation out, as you do when around potential new family...
Do they like me?? Do I like them??
Then her Grandad says:
'I see there's a pair of these (notions in mine and the brass birds direction) herons gone for £15,000'
He said it as if he were commenting on a set of new and controversial road works..
'OH SHIT!!! THIS FUCKING BIRD'S WORTH MORE THAN I AM!!'
I thought..
It was the notification to inform me they weren't short...
This difference in fortunes duly noted, I began to pay a bit more attention to my surroundings and it was then soon very obvious just how rich they were...
Everything in the house worked very well.
The shower in my room ran hot perfect powerfully and changed temperature as and when you told it to - in my experience not many showers do that..
Then there was a picture on the wall of their old home that had sat on the same land..
It was a mansion.
It'd been knocked down, the land portioned up and sold (on which 3 or 4 other large detached houses now stood).
I then noticed the gatehouse
And they mentioned the house down the road that was rented out - 4 or 5 stories of grandiose town house also on Belfasts Malone Road...
There was the Ming Dynasty Pottery that had been rescued from a ship wreck...
The large collection of original watercolours that were worth £12,000 a go..
And then there was the docks...
We were going to see a bird reserve because they knew I was interested in birds.
Another thing I've noticed about the rich, is the things that impress them..
Art and Nature are 2 (because they're both bigger and stronger than money???)
It was lucky that I could talk about both..
Anyway, we were driving to see the birds, and on the way they pointed out the docks..
The Thompson Docks
Their docks
Her Grandads family name is Thompson and they were the docks where the Titanic was fitted out - exactly what the link was has slipped my mind, but these docks are still the biggest dry docks in the world...
Well, initially, I felt a little overwhelmed by all this, but then I started playing the game.
In the evenings, I would also read the antiques magazines, and I'd start asking questions about particular pieces, and her Grandad would show me this and that and once I'd got the vaguest of handles on it all, we'd discuss the market and what was worth having and what wasn't...
I soon got used to all that.
That bit was easy..
One evening, when her Grandparents had gone to bed, I pointed out to my girlfriend, that I believed her family to be SUPER rich and that given that she was an only child, one day she would be SUPER rich too - in fact she already was...
'My Granny once said that Grandad could be a millionaire..' she said..
But she didn't seem to believe or understand it...
 | Currently listening : Kiss Clublife By Various Artists Release date: 1999-12-28  |
No comments:
Post a Comment