<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p>On 08.02.2021 14:03, Stephen Barkway wrote:<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:01e101d6fe1a$d46d8380$7d488a80$@btinternet.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered
medium)">
<style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">‘I
am sick of the bloody British sea with its toffee wrappers
and trippers in pink plastic macs bobbing in the shallows, <b>and
caravans piled one on top of the other like enamel coffins</b>’.
– <i>Letters of Sylvia Plath</i>, Vol 2, p. 811 (17 August
1962) <br>
</span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>Nice one. "Trippers" and "caravans" share a snobbish
disparagement of the lower orders I think. I remember the pink
plastic macs. Worn in this instance I presume because it was
raining rather than as a form of swimwear.<br>
</p>
<p>In contrast, in one of the letters in <i>Letters Home</i>, Plath
writes to her mother about " . . . Benidorm (that lovely little
Spanish town where we spent five weeks on our honeymoon)," adding
in a later letter that "while Benidorm is just being discovered by
tourists, except for the hotels, it is utterly uncommercial." A
decade or so later, Benidorm had developed in such a way as to
make Peacehaven look positively genteel.</p>
<p>It occurs to me that "Caravan Site" (UK) is not quite the same as
"Trailer Park" (US), as the former is a place where people go on
holiday, and the latter where people live permanently (right?).
But the class associations of both are not totally dissimilar. The
class associations of many English seaside resorts seem to have
remained relatively stable, although Eliot's "Brighton Beach"
seems to have come down in the world from its days with the Prince
Regent.<br>
</p>
<p>Jeremy<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
</body>
</html>