im a traveller AMA

[TakeABreak2]

irish traveller ama

Another one I’ve just thought of! Near us the travellers park up either in Sainsbury’s car park/Toys R us car park/Morrison’s car park or at an abandoned car showroom forecourt. The forecourt is completely covered in broken glass - how do you park there and not get punctures? Same for when they were in the old pub ruins - how do you keep the wheels working with piles of rubble around?

They bring garden furniture to sit outside in the car parks - where is that kept, I never see big cars?

And where do you buy your caravans?

Do you really have one bowl for men’s and one bowl for women’s, then one bowl for men’s undies and one for ladies undies and another for tea towels?

Is there a feeling amongst the older generation that an old way of life, language, traditions, crafts is dying out?

Are there certain conventions when naming children, e.g. to name them after older members of the family?

I'm blatantly placemarking because I love this thread .Takeabreak2 Thank you

Hiya Takeabreak2 I have loved reading your thread, my granny is an Irish Traveller though she married a settled man (family didn’t like it at first but in the end they accepted it) and my dad was raised as settled. I am often told by other traveller women that I see about due to work that I look like one so I agree you can spot traveller blood a mile away lol. I can speak cant and have a slight obsession with cleaning (my granny taught me young) but I loved all the stories she would tell me about being on the road young. I always wished I could’ve been doing it too!

I think though travellers are modernising I work in a College and we have a handful of male travellers that are in College learning and taking up skilled trade in here which was unheard of a few years ago. A lot of people have a stigma against travellers but like you said when you put on an accent and pretend your not they don’t know who you are and say nothing!

Thanks for the thread OP

lastnightidreamtofpotatos
not frowned upon as such
but maybe grannys/grandads wouldnt listen if you were trying to tell them about jesus - especially if there irish they are very much stuck in there ways as mentioned before

windbeneathmybingowings
caravan tryes are thicker than normal ones i think? garden funiture would probably go into the back of a van/pick up or in the caravan while moving if poss

newname
old ways are dying out the older and younger know thag things are changing... quite fast actually
and not a must or you have to but alot do call children after people

frillyspiders
like i mentioned things are changing - work is getting alot harder to get and ill be sending ds for some sort of qualifacation as a back up! i defo think by the time ds is 18 you wont be able to get work how we do... years ago the men would get a job of some one say for there drive/garden/roof ect whilest drunk! in a pub... now were litterallly begging people for a job.. and most time people dont want it done because you never got a qualification for it and you may be a bit young? but look at it this way - boy gets took out of school for work at roughly age 11 they then get some serious training till there about 16 so by the time their 17 they can go out and get a job and complete it there self so if a man say aged 23 came tp get a job your view he looks quite young no qualifications hell probably mes it up our view is 12 years of expierience been able to smash out a job quite good since 16 iyswim

also your view doesnt look like a registered buisness just knocking on my door asking if i want xyz work completed our view we are tax / vat registered ect, knocking on the doors is the only way we know.. were taught go out and dont stop till you get a job and you will always be working(not that it always works like that) we do post leaflets too so jobs can call in but in our view thats quite lazy because while your waiting for a phone call your not actually doing anything were we could be ourlt trying our hardest to get a job

Do you know any ov the travellers based in Scotland ?

cuppaandcake
i know the surnames of alot in scotland
i know a man who has a site in berwick but cant remember his name? i knew a few from caslisle and a girl from edinburgh but thats about it

I know a few from Carlisle and am friendly with a lot in Scotland. U will probarly know the one what was in the news recently? Not want to say the name and I dnt means the one what the old man killed a man xx

Also want to say you have been so dignified in this thread especially with the blatant discrimination what has been flung at you

cuppaandcake
i couldnt answer that because i dont watch tv so dont really know alot anout whats goin on in the news lol but i only new a few grls and boys when i was younger they would e in there early 20s now Nd i havent spoke to them in ages

Why do the majority of the kids get dressed in Spanish cloths? And what's the obsession with gold, Gucci and other designers

@Sienna57 In your thread of December 2017 you state that you have three children and refer to your partner who you still jointly own a home with. Doesn't seem to add up

Travellers are given such bad names and judged openly. I remember my neighbour warning me to hide the DC bikes at the back because travellers are known to nick anything for scrap metal. I was shocked. All the travellers I have come across are wary at first but when we get talking they are the loveliest people you could know.

Do you feel judged and are you wary of speaking to non travellers?

cuppaandcake
i dont know spanish clothes we just like them.. gold and designer stuff we like our children to have nice things...?

lovelifelive
do feel judged by most people, not all.. butnlike i said before when im speaking to some one (probably not a shopkeeper ect) i try to put on an accent so theydont realise im a traveller

There seem to be a number of people saying the same thing - travellers leave their rubbish, are confrontational to non-travellers (violent here in some cases) and in my own family's case a traveller sexually harassed my sister in public but her boyfriend felt he couldn't intervene without being beaten.

How is it unreasonable to extrapolate from that to most travellers (not all, of course)? I think it's representative of quite a lot of people's experiences. I would like an answer to this because I don't want to be prejudiced.

Really interesting thread, thank you OP

Several years ago, my DH (unknowingly) dropped his phone in a car park. When we got home, there was a message waiting for us to say that someone had picked it up and would keep it safe until we could collect it. He lived on a travellers' site just down the A1 from you. He wasn't there when we got there, and we were directed to his van. The phone was on the seat, and we replaced it with some beers to say thanks!

mynameisnotsteven
but jow could you say most? because id say its less than half is like this.
i agree alot is like this but not most..
i am sorry about your sister but tbf, that was one out of about 100000 but so sorry it happened to her

sallyomalley
mabey it was the same site, i am right at the a1?

Hi takeabreak thanks for coming on AMA. Just wondering whether the Irish traveller community feels any sense of identification/ common culture with those who describe themselves as gypsies or Roma. My understanding is traveller safe ethnically Irish, gypsies/ Roma originate from India ( way back).