Be happy – we are all living the Downton Abbey good life!

It sometimes amazes me how miserable lots of people are. People constantly complain about what they don’t have. Well I’m about to say that (for a lot of us) we are actually living an amazing Downton Abbey lifestyle that is fabulous and glorious, so let us all cheer up!

My wife and I both love Downton Abbey (although I have to admit that I went off it a bit with all the sad story lines of series 4). The show tells of the Earl of Grantham and his relatives and employees, living life in the early 20th century. I find it fascinating to see how it must have been like to live in those times.

Let us imagine ourselves as part of one of the richest families in England, living the high life in Downton Abbey itself. Wow, it must have been amazing eh? Well, actually I’m here to argue that we’re all living just as wonderful a life in 2014 middle-income England.

Forgive me for assuming that everyone reading this has a reasonable standard of income, and is living in the developed world. I’m imagining nothing more fancy than a steady job, an average house and a reliable car (that gets from A to B), plus (of course) whatever electronic device you have for reading my words on the internet. Well, you are living the Downton Abbey dream life!

• Remember how amazed everyone was when the Earl of Grantham got a car? What an amazing device. Wow, it goes at up to 20 miles an hour, and only breaks down once a month or so (and only needs one person to work full time to keep it going!).
  • Well look on your driveway just now. Your car may not be as good as Mr Jones’ car (next door) but check out how fast it goes, its power steering and its air conditioning.
• The Earl was persuaded to get a phone a couple of series ago.
  • How many phones have you got? Wow, you’ve got one that you can even use away from the house, that’s amazing!
• A few episodes ago, the Earl bought his first radio (to listen to the King’s speech).
  • Hold on a minute, you say you’ve got several radios? And also a ‘television’ device that allows you to both hear and see pictures. That’s amazing!

We are living in amazing times. Most of us are living Downton Abbey lifestyles, and yet we don’t seem to realise it.