The gypsies are here again!

[Janh]

Every May they pass through here on their way to Appleby Fair in Cumbria - there are rows of Romany caravans lined up in a dead-end lane and shaggy coloured ponies tethered on the verges. God knows where they all originate or how long it takes them to do the journey, but DH used to drive that way to work and one year he passed the same caravan every day for 3 days over a stretch of about 30 miles. They are fascinating.

(The fair is on from 2-8 June, main days Sat 4 - Mon 6, if anyone's interested in going.)

[Anteater]

The police use our storage compound during Appleby week for holding the caravans that they find are pinched! They come in with a double police escort...

[Janh]

Presumably that's the modern kind, not the Romantic Romany ones?

(You realise you have just shattered my idealistic image of the horsey gypsies? )

[Anteater]

yes, all modern on the outside, but quite interesting on the inside!!
Do you go to the trap races??
Hows the weather over there... our wind has been at gale-force nearly all day.

[suedonim]

We've driven down the road from the M6 to Skipton (A65??) at fair time and there were horses/ponies tethered up on every spare bit of grass. It's an amazing sight!

[spacecadet]

i would rather those gypsies, than the ones we have 7 miles away in cottenham.

[expatinscotland]

Sorry, I'm an immigrant here w/a valid question - what's the difference between 'Romany' gypsies and 'modern' gypsies?

[Janh]

Horses and pickup trucks, mostly.

[starlover]

romany gypsies are the ones with lovely caravans and horses who live on the road.

modern "gypsies" are travellers, who park their caravans wherever they like and stay there til they get evicted. during this time they have a tendency to nick peoples stuff, cause a nuisance and when they leave there is a major clear-up to do.

so sick of them round here.

[misdee]

i saw a lovely old fashioned gyspy caravan on the way to harefield once. bit like this one

[Janh]

Did you look at the pics in my Appleby Fair link, expat?

[starlover]

i did janh... i wish i lived close enough to go to the fair!!!

[misdee]

thats the sort of fair i want to go to!

[Janh]

suedonim, just seen your post, the A65 used to be DH's route to work (back roads to Giggleswick and then NW to Kirkby Lonsdale).

[spacecadet]

sadly weare 7 milesaway from the irish traveller camp in cottenham, they go into the garden centre that dh manages and blatantly steal stuff etc, they are a nightmare, they murdered a man in cottenham(the police know who it was but they went back to ireland) and park the vans everywhere, double yellow lines etc and shout abuseat anyone that challenges them, yet just down the fen we have some traditional fair gypsies who are never any bother.

[sparklymieow]

OMG be careful girls, I posted similar stuff about Gypies before and got flamed........

[darlingbud]

Unfortunatley we have had travellers setting up a site on a playing field in a local village. Boulders were put there to stop anyone using vehicles on the site and the buggars moved them!!

Sadly, one of the local kids football teams and Scouts hold a fete on that field each year to raise money for charity. it was meant to be tomorrow but has been cancelled as the travellers are still there and not been moved on in time.

The field is an absolute rubbish dump - they have not cleared up after themselves at all.

[spacecadet]

sparkly, i dont need to say anything about cottenham, its been on the national news etc, im worn out with it now.

[sparklymieow]

Sc just warning you, I got flamed big time when I posted about gypies stealing things from the supermarket I worked in, about the rubbish they left and how crime went up whenever they are in town........

[spacecadet]

would like to point out that wehave lots of old -fashioned, settled travellers round here, most of whom now live in houses,they tend to live down the fen and keep themselves to themselves, the fair people are lovely, they have a permanent site down the fen.

[spacecadet]

thanks for warning sparkly, although as everything else seems to have gone wrong for me at the mo, might aswell be shot down in flamesabout this to, there are good and bad, modern travellers not to be confused with romanies, the bad ones give the good ones abad name too.

[spacecadet]

cottenham is a permanent site btw, they are all illegal and they actually ousted the traditional gypsies that were on there.

[misdee]

pst, apparently me and mieow are descendants of romany gypsies.

[sparklymieow]

Thats true too, One of our great great great great great (etcetc) grandparents were romany gypies

[spacecadet]

my dh's grandad was adopted by a romany gypsie family! he was the product of a love affair between a jewish rich man and his house maid in london!, the girl gave her baby to a family she knew locally in cambs who were romanys and they raised him!

[misdee]

no wonder we loved camping as kids