Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[boldie]

This is a "Ledge" type wagon made by Bill Wright. However, Bill was best known for his own particular brand of bowtop.

WOW, that's something else.

[RED-DOG]

Always wondered - would guys like that be constantly travelling?

Gypsies are always complaining about being hounded from pillar to post, and usually with good cause. It's no fun when you are moved on every other day in the middle of the winter, especially if you have a family to support and need to go to work.

I myself have travelled to some county or other only to be met by the local police and escorted to the edge of their jurisdiction. Often, officers from the neighboring "Patch" would be waiting to take over, refusing to even let you stop to take a toilet break. That was bad enough, but we had lorries and trailers. Imagine what it was like with wagons pulled by exhausted hungry horses.

That being said, if we lit upon a camp where we were left in peace, or stayed at a traditional stopping place where we were known and tolerated, we would only stay for a few weeks at the very most before we got restless.

Gypsies think that anything can be made better by moving on.

If work was going badly, or husband and wife were at loggerheads, or if the kids were deemed to be "Going Gorger bred" "Shifting" was always the answer.

They probably wouldn't admit it, but many is the time that my parents have left a good stopping place for the flimsiest of reasons, which in reality were nothing more than a trumped up excuse to scratch their itchy feet.

Mam might say to dad "These kids have looked pasty ever since we pulled here Tom" "Yes" He would reply enthusiastically "Let's have a shift on Sunday"  And so we would.

The Man you saw with the wagon will almost certainly not be living that way full time, it's almost impossible, (But not unheard of) these days.

He might be traveling to Stow fair, doing it the old fashioned way just because it makes him feel good.

Travelling 10 or12 miles on quiet lanes with a horse and wagon, then pulling out while there is still a couple of hours of daylight left. Puving your grai (slipping your horse into an unused field) or tethering him along the roadside. Lighting your fire and putting your pot on, then sitting back and staring into the embers as darkness falls and your meal cooks is an indescribably beautiful way to spend your day.

[Karabiner]

That's a really lovely piece of prose Tom, and another chapter in the bank

[RED-DOG]

What do they do to make a living these days? I've occasionally seen them with a board up advertising knife sharpening and other tinker type work, but can't imagine they get much business these days, do they?

As I said the man you saw was probably just on a nostalgia trip, but that lifestyle requires very little money.

The law makes traditional Gypsy trades difficult these days. There is still a call for knife, scissor and garden implement sharpening "Grinding" but many authorities and police forces have bylaws preventing you from knocking on anyones door (cold calling).

The same is true of scrap collecting, with the added problem of being required to have a waste carriers licence (Only available if you have a fixed address)

Someone living in a horse-drawn waggon would have practically no bills at all though. Even the food in the pot would be "found" growing in some field along the way, and it would be a poor Gypsy indeed who didn't have a snare or two, or nets and ferret, or dog capable of catching a rabbit.

We used to get bacon bones from the butcher. They were a waste product and cost almost nothing, but boiled up with some cabbage and potatoes they made a meal fit for a king.


You can still get grinding work without actually knocking on doors. Especially if you made a traditional "Grinding Barrow" as pictured below. Park it in the street and start sharpening something you brought with you for the purpose, and soon the older folk will come out with something for you to sharpen because they remember the "Grinder" of years gone by.

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

[technolog]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

[RED-DOG]

That's a really lovely piece of prose Tom, and another chapter in the bank

Thanks Ralph. 'preciate it.

[Dingdell]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

Tikay can't grind - he's either all in or all out second level!

[RED-DOG]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

Tikay can't grind - he's either all in or all out second level!

The best grinders have one big rough stone, and one smooth oily one,

[Dingdell]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

Tikay can't grind - he's either all in or all out second level!

The best grinders have one big rough stone, and one smooth oily one,

Any photo's? It really is too late for double entendres - I need to get out more!

[RED-DOG]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

Tikay can't grind - he's either all in or all out second level!

The best grinders have one big rough stone, and one smooth oily one,

Any photo's? It really is too late for double entendres - I need to get out more!

A woman walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre, so the barman gives her one.

[Dingdell]

When I was young, I used to go out grinding with my granddad, I have a load of stories about it, remind me to tell you some day.

Was it Tikay? 

Tikay can't grind - he's either all in or all out second level!

The best grinders have one big rough stone, and one smooth oily one,

Any photo's? It really is too late for double entendres - I need to get out more!

A woman walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre, so the barman gives her one.

Typical of todays workforce - half measures....

[rex008]

Thanks for the answers Tom. Got another glimpse this morning, and it definitely looks like a "ledge" type as per your photo. Beautiful looking thing, mostly green, with decoration.

[taximan007]

Seeing the lovely pics of the wagons reminded me of Alec Draper, for as long as I can remember he lived in his wagon on Chiverton Cross roundabout, just outside Truro.

Did you know of or ever meet this gentleman Tom ?

http://www.imageclick.co.uk/extended.asp?id=26001

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4685635.stm

[RED-DOG]

On the train home from London yesterday, I sat opposite a very fetching wench who looked like a cross between Minnie Driver and Addie McDowell.

(At this point I was going to post a picture of both and ask someone to do that morphing thing with them so that I could see if she really was a cross between Minnie Driver and Addie McDowell, but amazingly, I can't find a pic of Addie on google images. Surely I must be doing something wrong).

I spent most of the journey staring at her over the top of my reading glasses, but not once during the whole trip did she look back at me. Neither for that matter, did she look at any other man. (As far as I could tell).

This got me thinking. As a rule, women don't look at men. When I say they don't look at men, I know of course that they must do, but we never catch them at it.

If a woman were to spend 10 minutes in a cafe, or in a meeting, she would afterwards be able to pick any man present at the time out of a line up, without actually having ever looked at him.

I have stared intently at women in the street while they avert their gaze. But if I should wink my eye ever so slightly as we pass, she will invariably either smile, or more often, hurry away in alarm. The point is though. SHE SAW ME.

Come on girls. How do you do it?

Do you have some inbuilt bat-like sonar type device, or ESP, or 180 degree peripheral vision?

Tell us please.

If you don't want to tell everyone, just tell me. I won't breathe a word, I promise.

[boldie]

It's Andie MacDowell/mcdowell you're thinking off, Mr Red.