who were you in 1905?

I enjoy (some) reality TV, documentaries, non-fiction. 'Survivor' has been a favourite since its beginning, but I won't write about it -- enough is written about it.

As usual, I'm writing about a show that was completed two years ago, and whose last episode of its recent revival is this Sunday. I only 'discovered' it on its reshowing on PBS. It's called Manor House and presents all the glorious snobbery and stratifications of life in Edwardian England, circa 1905. The show takes us 'upstairs' among the genteel aristocracy and 'downstairs' among the overworked, servant class.

The participants lived by Edwardian rules for three months, and the research done for the show is impressive. Both upstairs and downstairs find the social stratification can be stifling and lonely, especially compared to today's standards.

Check out the website. There is a snob-o-meter to rate your snobbery level, and you can find out where you would have placed on the societal scale.

Alas, I would have been helping to keep a lodging house, living in a cramped dorm, and rarely seeing daylight. Oh, yes, and I'm one-third snob.