115 Years of Snobbish Pretentiousness

I'm referring to the doughty magazine named Town & Country back in 1901.  It was planned and presented to appeal to The Establishment or as they've called in England "landed gentry."  Fashion, advantageous marriages, social doings all featured in its pages then and now. 

I let my original subscription lapse and forgot all about it.  Then I got a subscription pitch and remembered how amusing the magazine actually is.  This is how they bill themselves - "The trusted source of privileged information, elegant living and unpretentious fun."  I would point out that "privileged information" by the act of publication is no longer privileged... 

Regarding "unpretentious fun" the editors hired Pippa Middleton, the now-Duchess of Cambridge's sister to write columns explaining English sports such as cricket.  In one column she wrote about being on top of the Matterhorn!   Speaking for myself, we're lucky to get atop the Palos Verdes cliffs on the way to San Pedro from time to time.

Anyhow in the interest of sharing helpful information with my fellow low lives who aren't expected to know the finer points of social etiquette, harken!  Here are some things we no longer need worry about, tossing fretfully on our faux Dux beds ($30,000 for the real deal) with the 100-count (not 1,000 count) sheets.

"How much do you tip on a $10,000 bottle of wine?"  Three experts - two sommeliers - surely THEY have no interest in a tip (snort) and some hostess lady -  all said that if you can afford a wine that expensive, you can damn well pay a 20% tip.  

An article titled "No Second Acts" tackles the thorny question of if it's all right to leave a play, concert, opera at the intermission break and scoot for Elsewhere.  La! how the experts tossed this one around.  Everything from "It's your money; if you're not getting value for it, beat feet" to the probable tree hugger who mewled "But think of the poor cast - to come back onstage and see all of those empty seats~"  If I were in that cast, I'd like to think I'm with it enough to say, "Damn! that first act needs work!" 

As I don't want to saturate your minds with more inane stuff at once, we will take up the feasibility of flying to South Korea (1st class you may be sure) to try new!  Guaranteed!  Beauty Tips!  It would seem that snail serum is "just the tip of the iceberg."   Coming up tomorrow.  There's only so much pretention I can take at one time.  In self defense, I am thinking about a hot dog and a new pair of Target sweats.