Gypsies

[Monika]

On our way up to Cherbourg we usually have a rest in the Aire Cantepie (I think that's the name of the only Aire on the Cherbour Peninsula?) The large car park was full of travellers/gypsies. Does anybody have any information how long they usually stay. Days, Weeks? Can they be moved on by the police in France?

Does anybody have information, why the 8.30 (Poole to Cherbourg) BF Ferry on Wednesday 12th March was over an hour docking? (I am just curious!)

[libellule]

Monika

"The large car park was full of travellers/gypsies. ... Can they be moved on by the police in France?"

Why should they be? And can you tell the difference between Roma and "lifestyle" travelers?

[SaligoBay]

Yes they can be moved on, Monika, usually pretty quickly if they set up in a supermarket car park.

However, as you can see from libellule's reply, the very mention of Roms, gitans, tsiganes, gypsies, tinkers, or any other travelling folk, usually only causes trouble.   As poor Basil Brush found out to his cost recently http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=542353&in_page_id=1773

Every time there's been a thread about travelling people, it follows exactly the same pattern, and it's never pleasant.  

 

 

[nectarine]

A recent article in our local paper in the UK followed the story of a woman who was complaining about the lack of facilities on travellers' sites and that the toilet on one particular site was disgusting.  She complained that "as a traveller" her human rights were being ignored and all that.  How long had she been living on that site?  12 years, apparently!.  Is this the new definition of "travelling"?  (or perhaps the term should be "squatting".)

 

[libellule]

Sorry to cause any confusion. This (and the earlier comment) is actually Albert the InfoGipsy squatting on Libellule's sign-in. We've known each other for nearly 40 years.

As the other side of the coin from nectarines little rant, there are many UK cases where Roma have bought land as occasional bases but are not allowed to bring their caravans onto their own land. A well-known case is at Stow on the Wold. At the annual horse fair this leads to long lines of vardos along the roadside when they could quite easily be on a large field actually owned by a gipsy.

[Russethouse]

Sorry to cause any confusion. This (and the earlier comment) is actually Albert the InfoGipsy squatting on Libellule's sign-in. We've known each other for nearly 40 years.

Do you have a problem logging in under your own name, Albert ?

[chocccie]

I'd hardly call Nectarine's posting a rant!

[libellule]

Hi, RH. No problem, I visiting & just borrowed her machine & forgot to log in separately. Thanks for checking.

Albert using Libellule's machine

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="nectarine"]

A recent article in our local paper in the UK followed the story of a woman who was complaining about the lack of facilities on travellers' sites and that the toilet on one particular site was disgusting.  She complained that "as a traveller" her human rights were being ignored and all that.  How long had she been living on that site?  12 years, apparently!.  Is this the new definition of "travelling"?  (or perhaps the term should be "squatting".)[/quote]

LOL, there are chancers everywhere, nectarine!  [:)]

There's a permanent "camp de gitans" down the road from us, they certainly don't travel anywhere, but they do remain quite distinct from the rest of the local population.  I don't know whether they think of themselves as travellers though, you'd have to speak to someone from a community like that to find out how they see themselves.

 

[Monika]

I was just going to ask Libellule if Albert was her husband? I do adore Gypsies as long as they are as clever as Albert (he has given some great advice on this forum), however if they infringe on my rights as a "traveller" I am not so keen ( public parking area - and they were obviously there to stay for some time)  and all I wanted was a space to put my car and rest for half an hour. In our "Campervan" days (lifestyle traveller?) we used to encounter them a lot in Municipal sites, they were never a threat and they kept to a designated area.

[Quarmby]

The old joke - "Why do gypsies make noise when they're making love?  - Because they have crystal balls" doesn't seem to work as well if you substitute "Roma".

[Alex H]

But as in all communities, some are not as welcome as others.

Quote from Yahoo.co.uk News

A gypsy encampment has sprung up just 200 yards from the country home of government minister Tessa Jowell.

Dozens

of travellers piled on to the site over the bank holiday weekend,

setting up a water supply and laying electricity cables.

A septic

tank has been installed and concrete pathways laid on the site, near

the town of Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire. Fencing has also been

erected and hedges have been pulled down.

Residents reported the

caravans moved on to the two-and-a-half acre site on Friday, leading to

accusations that the gypsies were taking advantage of the public

holiday when nobody at Warwickshire County Council was working.

The field, which has space

for at least 30 caravans, is just 200 yards from the country home of

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, 60, and her estranged husband David

Mills.

It was reported the gypsies had bought the site from a local businessman.

Conservative

councillor Chris Saint represents the area on Warwickshire County

Council. He said: "Up until last Thursday it was simply a piece of

pasture land. On Friday morning I got a call from one of the parish

councillors to say that there was some frenzied activity taking place

on the field.

"We view it with alarm because I have no

information about a planning application even being lodged, let alone

granted, and I would be the first to know.

"I understand that

water and electricity have been brought on and I also understand they

have put in a sceptic tank and put down roads and fencing."

Asked

whether he thought the gypsies had targeted the bank holiday weekend as

no-one would be working at the council's offices, Mr Saint added: "We

don't know that for certain but the speculation is that they have done

this because there is a four day window when officialdom is unlikely to

get to them."

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens.

[Russethouse]

Shipston on Stour is a lovely Cotswold village/town - I suspect ALL the residents are pretty displeased.

We have something similar here , on Friday 4 caravans appeared on a local park/ childrens playground.

The cost of moving these people on amounts to 18 million pounds a year nationally

[Frederick]

I bet they gave themselves more that the 2 inches of tarmac they put down on customers driveways ! 

[Frederick]

A few years ago I stayed overnight in the caravan park by the port at Cherbourg ...we found travellers in the park and they were using the washing machines and drying their cloths  over the pitch hedges...fine by me ....live and let live .. We noticed one of their kids face kept appearing at the fan light windows about 8 feet up on the toilet block  during the evening ...strange ? 

The folowing morning ....a crowd of ladies very animated  gathered outside the toilet block ...being a municipal site . no staff living on camp to deal with problems at that time of the day .... We gents were suddenly invaded in our toilet block by the ladies who were crossing their legs ....... The little  ....  had gone into every cubicle in the ladies and then put the bolts  in the doors and climbed out over the top  ! 

[libellule]

Monika

"I was just going to ask Libellule if Albert was her husband? I do adore Gypsies as long as they are as clever as Albert"

No, Monika, I'm not married at present. (Hint! Hint!)

Monika

"however if they infringe on my rights as a "traveller" I am not so keen ( public parking area - and they were obviously there to stay for some time) ..."

If they have settled in for a long stay in a public car park I'd have no issues with their being moved on, whether they were some of my bits of cousins or just a bunch of itinerant workers.

Albert on Libellule's machine.

[Just Katie]

[quote user="libellule"]Sorry to cause any confusion. This (and the earlier comment) is actually Albert the InfoGipsy squatting on Libellule's sign-in. We've known each other for nearly 40 years. As the other side of the coin from nectarines little rant, there are many UK cases where Roma have bought land as occasional bases but are not allowed to bring their caravans onto their own land. A well-known case is at Stow on the Wold. At the annual horse fair this leads to long lines of vardos along the roadside when they could quite easily be on a large field actually owned by a gipsy.[/quote]

But Albert, that law applies to us all. We cant just buy land and do as we please on it, we apply for planning permission and, if this was not applied for beforehand then that is their fault.

Why do we tolerate so many immigrant gypsies who come to a country simply to beg?  If I move to a foreign land, I would line myself up with a job first.

[libellule]

Just Katie

"Why do we tolerate so many immigrant gypsies who come to a country simply to beg?  If I move to a foreign land, I would line myself up with a job first."

Funnily enough, the only beggar I know the nationality of in France is Welsh. :-)

Anyone else here spend much time in Vannes? He's usually just inside the Porte St Vincent.

[Just Katie]

I love that for an answer Albert. [:-))]  I hope you dont give him money.  Why on earth doesnt he get a job?  Or come back home to Wales?  The major cities of France are swarmed with beggars and,I dont mean homeless people, many of whom could be hospitalised, I mean beggars who are healthy enough to get on the shovel. I am sorry but they really wind me up.  I dont find it half as bad in UK perhaps we are less tolerant here because we know that there are plenty of jobs available for those who choose to work.

 

 

[Renaud]

Wonderful comment from Olympics Minister Tessa Jowel in the paper today to the effect of "its not my problem its the problem of the husband I am separating from".

Is there an olympic event for buck passing yet?

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="Just Katie"]

I love that for an answer Albert. [:-))]  I hope you dont give him money.  Why on earth doesnt he get a job?  Or come back home to Wales?  The major cities of France are swarmed with beggars and,I dont mean homeless people, many of whom could be hospitalised, I mean beggars who are healthy enough to get on the shovel. I am sorry but they really wind me up. 

[/quote]

Well, he seems to get enough handouts to pay for booze & hash -- I've had reports from a friend of a friend in the local Red Cross soup kitchen. Apparently he's fully legal with a catre vitale & suchlike. Is there a metier registration for beggars?

The only time I ever bunged him was when Wales stuffed France a few years ago. [:D]  Nearly demanded it back when they beat England in the following match.[:(]

Back in my normal identity -- sorry if I confused any of my devoted readers.[;-)]

[Just Katie]

Albert, would I be rude in asking what your Gypsy origin is?

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

No prob, Katie.

I'm an offshoot of the Mobey clan. Granny was born at the back of the tent and my earliest recollections of my Dad's parents they were living in an old converted bus. Their sons actually clubbed together & built them a bungalow where they spent the last few years of their lives.

I looked up my family in the 1901 (IIRC) census and their address was 'The caravan, the waste ground, Woking'. My middle son is travelling in a caravan at present, doing the daffodil picking.

The last writing I have from my father was some Romany vocabulary he wrote down for one of his grandsons the evening before he died. I remember taking him to the Stow horse fair (now dominated by Gipsies) and seeing him catching up on old connections. I will admit that my Romany is rudimentary at best, but I have a smattering.

I will admit that I am the white sheep of the family. Some of my relatives range from a bit dodgy to seriously hooky. One is even a lawyer!

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

You may find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/kent/realmedia/kent_romany_dvd?size=16x9&bgc=6699CC&nbram=1&bbram=1

Or this:

http://journeyfolki.org.uk/

[Hoddy]

I shall be very interested to see how the local council deals with the illegal site, but I'm not holding my breath. We've had a similar situation in this village for at least the last six years and every time our local council appears to win the residents come up with a new ploy.

Maybe they will be able to learn some lessons from Tessa Jowell's husband.

Hoddy