Originally Posted by craton:
“For brevity the two main reasons I like Ashleigh:
1. She makes me laugh.
2. She opposes Helen.
The sight of her and Danielle in their dressing gowns having a good bitch and moan and saying things I agreed with always cracked me up when most of the others just depressed me. I didn't have a sense of humour failure about any of that and write her off as just "spiteful" and "mean" and "a little bitch" as many did.
Her wit is sharp, dry, sardonic, acidic, all the things I like, plus she's very sharp and observant and weighs things up with an honesty and candour I admire.
Even the things her detractors list as negatives always made me laugh, such as being petulant and precious and probably (aside from bad times at school she mentioned) the fact that she's not used to being left out, discounted and written off (often because of her age) the way she has in the house.
Secondly, I think a lot of people simply don't grasp the toxic environment she's in. Cast your mind back to the height of Helen's bad behaviour, during her attacks on Matthew. That was pre formal warning (as far as I know) and it was all reaching extremely nasty levels. Ash was starting to intimidate the males who dared answer Helen back. He did it to Christopher and when Matthew tried to defend himself against Helen Ash threatened to "rip him apart".
So that's where things were heading. Helen would batter the females and any male she chose, and Ash would batter the males who dared to defend themselves (well at least until Winston had had enough of it all and put Ash on his back, which he would have done eventually).
Against this foul, toxic backdrop which has people either hiding away or desperately trying to get on Helen's good side, up popped Ashleigh, not only seeing it for what it was and commenting on it, but actually plotting to unsettle and change it. It was gutsy, brave, and the right thing to do, imo.
Yes, she overplayed her hand somewhat, she got "smug" (as some would have it) though I always thought she was just giddy with the fact it actually seemed to be working for a bit.
But I appreciated her efforts, the spark of life and resistance she showed when everyone else was just trying to cope and survive and not be the next one to be torn to shreds.
I gave her kudos for all that. She was funny and a fighter, and those are the kind of people I like.”
“For brevity the two main reasons I like Ashleigh:
1. She makes me laugh.
2. She opposes Helen.
The sight of her and Danielle in their dressing gowns having a good bitch and moan and saying things I agreed with always cracked me up when most of the others just depressed me. I didn't have a sense of humour failure about any of that and write her off as just "spiteful" and "mean" and "a little bitch" as many did.
Her wit is sharp, dry, sardonic, acidic, all the things I like, plus she's very sharp and observant and weighs things up with an honesty and candour I admire.
Even the things her detractors list as negatives always made me laugh, such as being petulant and precious and probably (aside from bad times at school she mentioned) the fact that she's not used to being left out, discounted and written off (often because of her age) the way she has in the house.
Secondly, I think a lot of people simply don't grasp the toxic environment she's in. Cast your mind back to the height of Helen's bad behaviour, during her attacks on Matthew. That was pre formal warning (as far as I know) and it was all reaching extremely nasty levels. Ash was starting to intimidate the males who dared answer Helen back. He did it to Christopher and when Matthew tried to defend himself against Helen Ash threatened to "rip him apart".
So that's where things were heading. Helen would batter the females and any male she chose, and Ash would batter the males who dared to defend themselves (well at least until Winston had had enough of it all and put Ash on his back, which he would have done eventually).
Against this foul, toxic backdrop which has people either hiding away or desperately trying to get on Helen's good side, up popped Ashleigh, not only seeing it for what it was and commenting on it, but actually plotting to unsettle and change it. It was gutsy, brave, and the right thing to do, imo.
Yes, she overplayed her hand somewhat, she got "smug" (as some would have it) though I always thought she was just giddy with the fact it actually seemed to be working for a bit.
But I appreciated her efforts, the spark of life and resistance she showed when everyone else was just trying to cope and survive and not be the next one to be torn to shreds.
I gave her kudos for all that. She was funny and a fighter, and those are the kind of people I like.”
Well said. Great Post
