Thursday Time Warp Open Comments

Some people just can’t handle the current era. I found this article recently and was fascinated by the subject. This lady has spent thousands of dollars to retreat to what she considers a beautiful time period:

Quirky spinster Julia Wood, 42, lives her life like a 19th century lady and can often be seen leaving her terraced house wearing ankle-length velvet and carrying a parasol.
The self-confessed ‘eccentric’ has transformed all five rooms of her property in Leicester with late 19th or early 20th century decor.
/snip
The writer, who has lived in the home for two years, is an avid Oscar Wilde fan and says she lives her life like a character from one of his plays.

I don’t know what she does for a living, but she must have some money.
That story reminded me of another article I read, about similar couples. They have decided to live as if they were in past periods as well.
1950s:

Joanne Massey, 35, lives in a recreation of a 1950s home in Stafford with her husband Kevin, 42, who works as a graphics application designer. Joanne is a housewife. She says:
I love nothing better than fastening my pinny round my waist and baking a cake for Kevin in my 1950s kitchen.
I put on some lovely Frank Sinatra music and am completely lost in my own little fantasy world. In our marriage, I am very much a lady and Kevin is the breadwinner and my protector.

And I bet she supplies her beloved Kevin with all the beer and sammiches he can handle. She has original Bakelite and period furnishings, wears 1950s clothing (as does her husband, when he’s home), and they have very traditional roles. She doesn’t put gas in the car, the man does. She tries to not deal with the modern world, and they hang out with like-minded couples. Why do they do this?

I admit I am in retreat from the 21st century. When I look at the reality of the world today, with all the violence, greed and materialism, I shudder. I don’t want to live in that world.

1940s:

Debbie Cleulow, 34, lives in Upper Tean in Staffordshire with her husband Martin, 38, who works for a JCB contractor. Debbie says:
When I see a girl walking down the street wearing next to nothing, I think: ‘Why don’t you have more respect for yourself?’
Other women may laugh at my determination to make my home perfect for my husband, Martin, but I enjoy spending my leisure time baking cakes and sewing.
/snip
I’ve made my home a shrine to the Forties, and I only ever wear clothes from that decade. Other people may laugh at me, but I really don’t care.
I think I have a far happier marriage than many other people I meet, because we have strict demarcations in our roles.
I do all the cleaning, ironing, washing and cooking, and Martin puts up shelves and looks after the car. He’s the breadwinner and I create a lovely – and loving – environment for him.

Again, they are in retreat from the modern age:

have spent so many happy hours sourcing retro furniture and kitchen gadgets for our home, and gradually we are eradicating every trace of the modern age.

I wonder if she uses the Internet to do her “sourcing”?

As it is, I hardly know the people who live next to us. Of course, I’m not such a Luddite that I don’t use modern medicines and other comforts of modern life when I need to, but I find a genuine happiness in living in a time when life was simpler.

I guess so.

My job is to devote myself to Martin. He has a physical, stressful job and he loves coming home to a wife who looks pretty, has his meal ready in an immaculate house and has all the time in the world for him.

1930s:

Diane Rowlands, 38, works parttime in a customer service centre. She lives with Martin, who is 40 and works in a warehouse. Diane says:
My love for the Thirties started with the music. As a teenager, I loved to listen to the big band sound and I would sit entranced for hours watching films starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They were so glamorous.
Back then, the world just seemed a sunnier place, even though it was an austere time between the wars.

Again, there’s a longing for traditional male/female roles:

Men and women knew their roles in society and there wasn’t all this pressure on women to have to go out to work and try to be equal to men.

Being true to yourself can be difficult, though:

At first I was a bit dubious about going out dressed in Thirties clothing, but I am totally used to it now. Comments from strangers can be pretty *itchy, though, because people just don’t like anything that’s out of the ordinary.

I’ll bet they were all liberals, wondering why this woman couldn’t get with the program and dress like a streetwalker and carry a pro-abortion sign.

Retreating to this world is our sanctuary.

I don’t know if these people are sane or not. I can understand wanting your surroundings to reflect the peace that your heart desires, but they cut themselves off from current events. I have always admired people who were honest with themselves, though (as long as they’re not hurting anybody else, that is), and so I do admire these couples for living in the style the desire, despite pressures from the modern world to “fit in”. I was sad to hear that some of them aren’t having children, because they don’t want them offered up to the modern world’s violence and threats. I would hope that they would find a way of extending their sense of morality to their children, though I can see the challenge they’d have from all the modern “toys” invading their home, dragged in by their children and their friends. With all the effort they put into de-modernizing their lives, though, I could see where having a mom at home with brownies waiting each day after school might make their home a favorite hangout.