A Romany Caravan. Well the last post touched a nerve. Not the bit about Osborne Robinson or the class but the bit about the Travellers – for want of a better name; the pikies, the didicoys, the Gypsies – whatever you want to call them.
Only one nice comment on the blog but quite a few emails – 'are you mad?' 'You don't know what you're talking about' etc. When did I ever say I knew what I was talking about?
Let me visit the subject once more today – this black day!!
I have an affinity for the travelling folk, the itinerant people or whatever you want to call them.
I remember when I was a child, when we were sent back to Dublin for the summer, and we stayed in Finglas which is just outside Dublin. Not one of the boonies more like a burb in distance but there were fields and fields that we could wander through, avoiding those cows that might be bulls, till eventually we would smell the camp fires of the Gypsies and getting close we would see their Romany Caravans and see and smell the horses and would be given fresh Turkish Delight wrapped in grease proof paper as we were offered a seat by the fire.
So they were a bit rough but I can only remember kindness.
A couple of years before he died the actor, Corin Redgrave, was trying to help the Travellers from Basildon with some legal documents and he collapsed. People stood back in shock as the poor fella lay there but a Traveller, an Untouchable, a Gypsy got down on his hands and knees and gave him the kiss of life; and it was a kiss of life as it resuscitated Corin and brought him back to life.
Their caravans, near Finglas, were beautiful and were always warm and cosy and the old ladies inside seemed to have more lines on their faces than the average women of their age but they seemed to burst with knowledge, know how and nous.
I was just a poor lad out late but wanted to stay and sleep in one of the caravans but it wasn't to be; I had to go back to my aunt and civilisation.
Some of the Gypsy lads could ride the horses without a saddle; they would get on the horse and ride it full pelt as if animal and man were one and the horses always looked to be loving it as they got up to about 25 miles per hour without a whip.
How they stayed on without a saddle is beyond me but they did . . .
So I had quite a few emails berating me for being on the side of the underdog but I'm as bad as you; I'm not helping the Travellers but it just seemed to me that they are heading the way of The American Indian. They're heading for the Res.
The Travellers in Basildon set up camp on a piece of concrete that was built by the council and as they stayed there and a community was formed. This particular lot seemed to have had enough of travelling and settled. Their caravans disappeared and they started to live in a settled community - not all of the caravans as you can see below.
But they are not welcome – so where should they go?
Apparently these Travellers are not proper Travellers – they are Pikies; probably on their way to being chavs. They are not Travellers because they don't travel. Some of the Travellers in Basildon don't like some of the other Travellers because they don't think they are Travellers because . . . . . ah you know!
We are not very tolerant to our fellow man. Christmas is coming and how many people out there will be inviting a homeless person in to their home for Christmas? Might be a bit iffy – their feet might smell!!
But today, as I mentioned before, is a black day. The police and the bailiffs have moved in – people have been tasered – people have been taken to hospital - but pictures speak more than words:
A Caravan Burns at Dale Farm today.
Dale Farm today. 
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ReplyDeleteHi Chris as you are aware you have touched a very emotive subject. I think the main thrust of being against these self styled "travellers" is that they do not pay their way in our society [ie Council Tax, Income Tax etc] and yet try to use our laws to their advantage. After all the furore at Basidon there will be another cost to tax payers, that of clearing up the mess left. It's just not on.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is an emotive subject, Dave, and as much as I romanticise their existence, because I am a romantic, the myth of them not contributing to society is as mythical.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the Gypsy kids go to school since they've have been in Basildon; not all of them, we know, and a lot of their parents have been paying their poll tax – sorry, council tax. There are a lot of non-gypsies who don't contribute either.
By the way the word traveller is our word not theirs – they lead a gypsy way of life.
I had a friend who worked here 3 years ago; he lived in Los Angeles, owned a house in Chiswick and didn't pay any tax here at all. He couldn't live here 52 weeks a year as he would have had to pay tax so he counted the days and would get his VAT back each time he went back to the USA.
So the not contributing to society is a tenuous argument; what were they contributing to society?
Every time they bought something in a Basildon shop they contributed even if it was only a bottle of beer or a packet of fags; in fact they would be contributing more by buying booze and fags than anything else because of the tax on them.
But what about the place where they lived – where they had settled? That was a community which has been broken up by Basildon Council at a cost of £18 million ($27 million) to the tax payer. The piece of ground they inhabited will no doubt be put to good use – Sainsbury's or Asda; what do you reckon?
We are talking about Basildon so what was all the talk about green belt? Have you been there?
A community has been broken up.