Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Continued from

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=30601.msg938163#msg938163


Right. I suppose it's time to tackle "Leave rubbish behind"


As I said earlier, we are guilty as charged. Gypsies do leave rubbish behind, but it is a relatively recent phenomenon, and there is much to be said in mitigation.

When I was a boy, we used to travel in small family groups consisting of of perhaps 3 or 4 caravans. We stayed on traditional camp sites, used by Gypsies for generations. We stayed for a week or two, and then we moved on. Before we left, we would make sure that the camp was left spotless, so that when we had gone, all that was left behind were circles in the grass. Big ones where the tethered horses had cropped it, and small ones where the camp fires had been.

Because the local people knew that we would be gone soon, and that the camp would be left tidy, they were more inclined to be, if not exactly welcoming, at least tolerant of us.

The job of cleaning up usually fell to my brother Tracy and I, but to be honest, it wasn't too much of a job. Back then you see, we just didn't produce much rubbish. There was very little prepacked food, and most of what we bought came in a brown paper bag, wrapped in a newspaper, or sometimes (not often) in a tin. There was virtually no plastic, cellophane or polystyrene, so the rubbish virtually took care of it's self.

See, the brown paper bags and newspapers would be used to light both the fire outside and the stove inside. Any surplus was easy burned as well, but that wasn't often the case, more often than not there was a shortage of paper. Organic stuff like the peels cores and husks from the fruit and veg was fed to the horses, and anything meat based like bones, offal, the odd chicken carcass etc would be boiled up, mixed with a little bran or some such, and fed to the dogs. Tins went into the scrap, and bottles, with a penny bounty on their heads, were rounded up and taken back to the corner shop. 

But times change, and like everyone else, we stated to produce more and more rubbish, but unlike everyone else, we had no dustbin man rolling up once a week to take it away for us.

So with no one to take the rubbish away for us, you might think that the obvious solution would be for us to take it away ourselves, but where could we take it? It is the hardest job in the word to dump your rubbish at a waste disposal yard or council tip on a regular basis unless you have a permit, and you can't get a permit unless you are a resident in that area and have a postal address.

We've tried asking local authorities to provide us with a skip, but they fear that the residents would see this as encouraging or condoning our presence. So we have to let our rubbish pile up, and then when we leave, those same local authorities moan like mad and send pictures of the filth that they have to deal with to the local papers.

To make matters worse, other travelling groups lumped together with us under the heading of Gypsy dump trade waste, and people from the local houses dump rubbish near Gypsy encampments. Want proof? Next time you pass an encampment with lots of rubbish in evidence, take note of how many settees, old fridges, mattresses etc there are, Gypsies don't produce rubbish like that.

I'm not saying that we are totally blameless here, but Gypsies have little opportunity or incentive to keep camps clean anymore. We are producing more and more rubbish every year, and every year it is becoming increasingly difficult to get rid of.

One thing I do know is that if the powers that be would provide skips, or relax the law and allow us to use waste disposal yards and refuse tips without a permit, the problem of Gypsies leaving rubbish behind would virtually dissapear overnight.

 

I need to revisit this. It's been niggling me ever since I wrote it.

All of the above "Excuses" for Gypsies leaving rubbish behind are true, but at the end of the day, they are just that, excuses.

The truth is, Gypsies are a resourceful race, and should they so desire, they could get rid of their rubbish somehow. Unfortunately, as with the rest of modern society, the morals and values of some members of our community are not what they once were. This, in conjunction with the fact that all travelling groups are routinely labled "Gypsy" is much closer to the real truth.

[dik9]

Tom, had a question for you.

I've been running along the canals in and around Tamworth as part of my training for the London Marathon.  Not many people around, except for some people on the boats and a couple of people walking their dogs here and there.  Anyway, it got me thinking, do Gypsies have any history or tradition of living on or near the water? 

Kin, if you are running down the Birmingham/Fazely and go as far as Minworth top lock you will be running through my back garden

My Family on my Dads side have been Boat People for the last 3 generations, only hitting land after worked dried up on the cut in the early 70's, my grandad used to work for T.S. Elements and there were 6 people living in the quarters. There was a bit more room in the horse drawn boats, but when engines were implemented a third of the living space was taken up by an engine room. If you have time check out these videos of reliving a working run http://vimeo.com/channels/jamole08

FWIW I have never heard of the older boating people being referred to as Gypsies or even travellers, the new age "Boat People" live in luxury compared to the working boats, We were looking to buy a canal boat a few years ago for my Grandad with a  4 poster bed and Jacuzzi etc. He just giggled to himself and said forget it.

[RED-DOG]

Tom, had a question for you.

I've been running along the canals in and around Tamworth as part of my training for the London Marathon.  Not many people around, except for some people on the boats and a couple of people walking their dogs here and there.  Anyway, it got me thinking, do Gypsies have any history or tradition of living on or near the water? 

Some folks who live on boats like to call themselves Gypsies, as do many other "opt out-new age" type groups. This creates confusion, which is further compounded by the settled community's propensity to label any nomadic group "Gypsy", or, more often, "gypsy".


"No" Is the short answer.

That's why I asked.  I know there are a lot of travellers who opt for life on the river (or canal), but hadn't heard of it being a Gypsy tradition.

Any reason why?  I would have thought it would be a good fit for the way of life?

I suppose the reason Gypsies didn't take to the canals was because in years gone by, they were persecuted every time they came into contact with the settled community. (It was once illegal to be a Gypsy, on pain of death) It's very hard to hide in a canal.

That said, My dad bought a small towable (trailable) canal boat called a "caracruiser" (it looks like a cross between a caravan and a boat) He says that cruising the canals and stopping in a leafy spot for a few days before moving on again is very reminiscent of travelling with a horse and wagon.

[RED-DOG]

Tom, had a question for you.

I've been running along the canals in and around Tamworth as part of my training for the London Marathon.  Not many people around, except for some people on the boats and a couple of people walking their dogs here and there.  Anyway, it got me thinking, do Gypsies have any history or tradition of living on or near the water? 

Kin, if you are running down the Birmingham/Fazely and go as far as Minworth top lock you will be running through my back garden

My Family on my Dads side have been Boat People for the last 3 generations, only hitting land after worked dried up on the cut in the early 70's, my grandad used to work for T.S. Elements and there were 6 people living in the quarters. There was a bit more room in the horse drawn boats, but when engines were implemented a third of the living space was taken up by an engine room. If you have time check out these videos of reliving a working run http://vimeo.com/channels/jamole08

FWIW I have never heard of the older boating people being referred to as Gypsies or even travellers, the new age "Boat People" live in luxury compared to the working boats, We were looking to buy a canal boat a few years ago for my Grandad with a  4 poster bed and Jacuzzi etc. He just giggled to himself and said forget it.

The "Boat people" stuff is very interesting Rich. I would love some more info, links, pics etc.

[RED-DOG]

I played a couple of GUKPT side events at the Manchester G. I ran deep in the £300, eventually finishing 4 off the money. Close, but, as they say, no cigar. I did manage to recoup a little on from the cash games, which were mental, so not too bad all in all.

The Manchester G is in one of the worst areas imaginable, a depressing mix of unkempt terraced houses sitting cheek by jowl with run down businesses on crime ridden streets. But, like most places, there is beauty there if you look for it. I found this lovely unspoiled spot within a few minutes of the casino.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

While I was there, I wached a magpie mobbing a stoat (Stoats are inveterate egg thieves)  but I only had my phone camera and couldn't manage to get a picture.

[RED-DOG]

In the first pic of my last post, you can see a church in the distance. I have a bit of a fascination for old church yards, they always seem to harbour something unusual or poignant. this one was no exception.


I found the grave of Trooper Eric Gibbons. He died in 1956, which would have been at about the same time as this holly tree started to grow.

People still come to pay their respects, (Note the posy in pic 2) And yet no none removed the holly tree from the grave, although it would have been the work of but a moment when it was a sapling.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

 

[MANTIS01]

I think it's quite poignant that nobody removed the tree. New life shooting up from the grave of a loved one is pretty symbolic. I think people visiting the grave would have found pulling that sapling out a pretty difficult job, even if it was just a moment's work.

[Colchester Kev]

Tom, what was the wording on the gravestone, the bit where it says "Killed in Germany as the result of ...... ?

[RED-DOG]

Tom, what was the wording on the gravestone, the bit where it says "Killed in Germany as the result of ...... ?

....a tragic accident.

[RED-DOG]

I took Bridie on the London eye the other day

Click to see full-size image.

As an anti terrorist measure, they confiscated my pocket knife, and issued me with this ticket.....

Click to see full-size image.

[Kev B]

I took Bridie on the London eye the other day

Click to see full-size image.

As an anti terrorist measure, they confiscated my pocket knife, and issued me with this ticket.....

Click to see full-size image.

Now that ticket's brilliant Tom. Did you take photo's from the eye?

[RED-DOG]

Did you take photo's from the eye?

Yes, I took this one.

It shows a chimney with a dozen or so little wooden boxes sitting on top of it. All the other chimneys (See the one bottom left) had similar boxes. I've racked my brains, but I can't work out what they are for.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

I took this one on Tower bridge. It shows that while cast iron has amazing tensile strength, it is still incredibly brittle and shatters easily. A good man could demolish it with a sledge hammer.

Click to see full-size image.

[kinboshi]

I took this one on Tower bridge. It shows that while cast iron has amazing tensile strength, it is still incredibly brittle and shatters easily. A good man could demolish it with a sledge hammer.

Click to see full-size image.

...or a bad man.

[RED-DOG]

Also on tower bridge.

This pivot doesn't swivel far enough to crack the paint that has seeped between the moving parts, but it still has a grease nipple.

I estimate that without grease, that joint would fail in the first 10,000 years.

Click to see full-size image.