Top of the class

I was interested to see an article in the Guardian about a new class structure into which we can all be popped. See, rather than read, at least in the first instance, but I did gather that the new class structure has seven classes, further evidence of the magic power of the number seven, which does seem to pop up in all kinds of unlikely places. I wonder if Masons are into sevens?

I was also interested enough to ask Professor Google about it all this morning and found that most of the first few pages of hits were mixed up with the BBC, who seem to be intimately involved with the survey which has resulted in the new structure. At least I assume that it is that way around.

Next step was to complete the BBC questionnaire, interested in such things as my ethnic orientation to restaurants and the brand of popular music which I favour. Got through this in around 10 minutes and was rather cross not to be assigned to one of the seven classes at the end. All I seemed to get was scores for my economic, social and cultural capital and there was nothing about whether I was to be assigned to the securiat or to the precariat. But I did get to wonder about the value of a computerised survey which appears to be restricted to self selecting people who like playing with their computers. I suppose I should read all about it in an upcoming issue of 'Sociology' - although there seem to an awful lot of magazines with titles along these lines.

Not to put too fine a point on it, more than somewhat cross not to be assigned to the elite, in which my blogging skills clearly place me. But then, quite by chance I found a much shorter questionnaire to fill in which quite happily popped me into the right box (see above) although I don't recall telling it about my elite education. Not sure what it would have based its guess on. But content and so happily off on the Horton Clockwise, where I came across plenty of celandines in flower, glowing yellow in the morning sun, and some early dandelions. The celandines in our own garden seem to have been rather bashed about by something, perhaps by a fox rolling in them, and are barely flowering at all, while dandelions nowhere to be seen at all.

I notice in closing that the small flock of thrushes which had been grazing down Longmead Road for the past week or so seems to have moved on.