Wednesday 26 November 2014

Persona

We had to go to our nearest town, Northallerton, this morning and the farmer went into the Heating Centre to collect a parcel and I sat in the car in the car park.   There were about a dozen other cars there and I found it interesting, as people came out of the centre, to speculate which car they would go to.

First came a lady, possibly in her seventies, but very smartly turned out.   Hair grey, swept into a chignon held up by a tortoiseshell clip, black trousers and jacket,  knee high red boots, she was slim and elegant.  I guessed right - a Volvo sporty car a couple of years old.

Then came a middle-aged couple, both overweight, both wearing fleeces (I hate fleeces), both looking a bit scruffy - again I guessed right when they approached and got into an old banger.

A man in a check jacket and wearing green wellies - a Range Rover - right again.

At this point the farmer came out so the game was over, but we went into our Farming Merchant's shop next door to go up into their cafe for a coffee and a scone.   Not surprisingly the cafe was full of 'farming types' all eating heartily.   The food was good and definitely substantial - we had a scone each and they were huge and cheap! Anyone seeing these folk would know they were farming types.

All the way home I was thinking about how we project our image to people.   If, like me, you have moved around the country, had various jobs and lived various life styles, then you must surely have developed several different persona.   Does this make us more complex characters?   Or do we just have a wider experience of life but possibly on a more superficial level.

The farmer is a farmer, is a farmer.   He has never lived anywhere other than here on the farm, and all his experience has been in farming so that he has a deep knowledge of all things farming.   My experience on the other hand, spans only twenty or so years.

All a bit complicated I know - and I am sorry if you think I am writing rubbish - but it really interests me, even if I am not putting it very well.

19 comments:

A Heron's View said...

Actually Anne I have a very similar game to you, only I study people and fit them into various places of employment.

Gwil W said...

i must try that little exercise next time I go to the supermarket, which is not very often as I do most shopping at the farmers market which has no car park so in that case it would mean tailing people around the side streets , and I don't think they'd like that, they'd label me as a nosy parker.

angryparsnip said...

What an interesting way to spend some waiting time.

cheers, parsnip

Yael said...

I think it is all about humanity and we are all alike in this game all over the world.

Yael said...

I think it is all about humanity and we are all alike in this game all over the world.

Rachel Phillips said...

It is called people watching and we all do it. Before I read your post I was thinking of asking P if he wanted to come to John Lewis with me on Saturday but I thought then again, no, he would just feel and look out of place. Your post somehow confirmed it for me.

Anonymous said...

The dog that accompanies the people will also give you very good clues to confirm your personality assessment!

Barbara said...

I do enjoy people watching! Although I find myself wondering just what kind of image I portray sometimes. I think you're on to something with the complexity of character.

Terry and Linda said...

Terry and I are Farmers, have been and will die so. So I suppose we must look the part!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/?s=The+Adventures+of+Fuzzy+and+Boomer&submit=Search
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Mac n' Janet said...

Have always been a people watcher. This is particularly fun when you travel. In a cosmopolitan city like London I try to guess nationality without hearing them speak.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I like to do the same thing - guess which car people will get into - mostly I'm correct - now and then I get fooled. Our city is very prosperous, for the most part - almost all the cars in the parking lot at our grocery store of choice (and it is also the nearest to our house) are new, maybe the oldest being 3 years old. If there is an old clunker there it is usually someone from outside the city. Across town there is another grocery store we go to sometimes because there are a few items that we like better from that store and there you see the older cars, the beat up trucks. Sometimes as I sit there I wish I had a basket of money to hand out. I'd give a nice bundle to the young couple with three kids and a car that has one door that doesn't work, and it seems to take forever for the engine to start. Another bundle of money would go to pay for shopping carts full of food for the family with 5 or 6 kids - it would be such a hoot to hand out money to surprise and delight those who have less than enough to get by comfortably. Now if I can just find that basket of money.

Cloudia said...

Interesting. We all love to make those guesses




ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=

Deb said...

I'm going to try that game next time I'm waiting in a car park. :)

Joanne Noragon said...

I believe we are the sum of our experiences. I did so want to grow up to be the woman who drove off the Volvo. Oh, the knee high red boots....

Cro Magnon said...

Someone once said that I look like a painter.... I've now forever wondered what painters look like!

thelma said...

Always do it, but of course you can play at spotting different nationalities, not so much up in Yorkshire bu London especially. Another interesting thing to do is chat up people in restaurants and pubs, my role or personna is the 'listening ear'. Never get a word in edgeways with some people ;)

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Bearded guy, walking boots, rather carelessly dressed and carrying a camera? That's right, it's me and I don't have a car! I just wish that insurance companies were as perceptive as you then maybe they'd stop pestering me to insure my car with them.

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

My wardrobe demonstrates the different facets of my life. Now I'm retired though most items have become "working clothes" as I have less use for the original use.
We have been to a few funerals lately and I have pulled out the suits I used to wear in court. ( Thank goodness those days are over!)
I was wearing some very swish trousers to muck the chickens out the other day, I wonder if THEY people watch? The only items I'm struggling to re-use are the raft of evening dresses and D's black tie suits and posh shirts.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Seems we are all up to it. Jolly good game and it does pass the time while one is waiting. Thanks for calling in and participating.