“Peyton Place” A saying in America for a situation that is like a soap opera! In fact the saying comes from a book written in 1956 and ensuing prime time soap that was aired from 1964 to 1969…
“The term “Peyton Place” became a buzzword to describe the duality of middle class life, with its deep secrets and rampant sex beneath a hypocritical veneer of propriety.” (Link)
Last night I used that term and Svet used a term that Russian’s use, “Santa Barbera!” It seems that Russian’s loved the soap Santa Barbera!
It all started: I had just walked the dog at around 1:30am and thought that going to bed would be a great idea. Svet was finishing up on some computer programing and I had battened down the hatches on the flat.
That is when the soap opera started outside our flat. In our building is a young lady that has a child. She lives with her mother. The young lady is still married but they do not live together. So I have noticed that this young lady has a multiple of boy friends and they all some how seem to coincide together? Until last night…
The husband that does not live with her anymore got upset with the situation and it escalated from there…
We had the cops outside. Plus we had at least 5 of her boyfriends that I have seen making the rounds. 🙂 We also had her real husband and we had all their friends. All together about 25 people. Oh, and also her mother was in the middle of all this. Everyone was screaming in the middle of the street. The young lady was the center of attention and you could tell that she was so happy to play the part of the distressed mistreated female.
She had all her guys ready to fight for her and she was the damsel in distress. It was a great show and better than any soap opera on TV. This was real life and after 2 and a half hours of drama. The young lady and her real husband walked off into the sunset (really sunrise at this point) hand N hand discussing how much they loved each other…
That is when I said: “Oh Brother – What a Peyton Place!”
Svet said, “No – What a Santa Barbera…” 🙂
Windows to Russia!