The jeans were probably the only point of contention.

TRS clearly did not like his old chum being 'disrespected'.  In fact, he became rather defensive before extolling the virtues and glories of the Socialist Republic Of Hackney.  Having never lived there - or, indeed, in London or any further south than Stoke-Upon-Trent - like the chappie in 'House Of Cards', I couldn't possibly comment. 
One of my favourite old posters, Jesmond, once paid me a compliment.  He said I wasn't a 'Yes' man, even for Frosty.  And one can get a little weary of playing 'Simons Says'.

I don't think of myself as in any sense 'suburban'.  Yet, if you read the landscape historian Trevor Rowley, forty-plus years ago, he dismissed the notion of the 'village'.  And that was before the Internet.  Well before. 
My wifes relatives are 'suburban' - i.e. largely unthinking, shockingly conformist, watching endless amounts of TV, never challenging anything too strongly.  I take pains to avoid them - even my Northern Soul-loving brother-in-law. 
So - 'The City'.  London.  Zone - what? 
Pevsner, Summerson and Nairn all thought it rather mediocre.