Ramblings, 'old school'

I suppose you are asleep but maybe not." Ramblings " with Clare Balding at the helm has just finished.

This week it's five old buffers who meet to wander around the countryside, having  awfully genteel and polite chatter, a sort of club in its own way. They, the ramblers have emerged through life, professionally trained with a sense of their own value, sharing a life experience but today put to one side for the day, like William and his gang, they were boys once again off on an exciting wander around with no particular plan, only the pleasure of being together rescued them from wishing they were somewhere else.

"Three Men in a Boat" has a similar collaborative theme of men messing about, enjoying being boys again without the strain of being that 'other person' which society and their wives demand they are.
Puffing like steam engines they open and close gates and rumble around in the refuge of their minds to add to the gaiety of a collective view. Every nook and cranny has the potential to remind each one of them of a memory and it's this collective feast of reminiscence that is so rich in the sharing.
Balding holds the reins of the conversation superbly clearly enjoying their off the cuff banter and the old school way of telling. It's all very English, abet a rarefied school these days but it reminded one of a more refined time when 'style' meant something and I don't mean the badge on the car.
They used to say it was due to breeding something you either had but couldn't buy. It was an accumulation of school reinforced by family where the greatest crime was letting "the side" down by crass behaviour. The tribal totem which distinguished the "gentlemen" from the "players" and was worth in the deep crevice of your being, more than money.
Class has many forms and formats but it is most evident in the way you speak and the way you deflect the uncomfortable truth of the importance of birth and all that flows from it.