I live on a traveller site AMA

[namechange2026198]

Well exactly that really got a spare bit of time and I know with some of the recent ridiculous tv shows I thought I’d see if I could answer a few myths and questions. I will say my partner is a traveller I am not but am married into the community which in itself is rare

How often do you see your own family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles etc.) Do you see them regularly, are they still in your life?

Eight when she met him. Eight.

Oh dear. I think OP has left the thread.

don’t blame her but well done everyone for confirming how prejudiced the non travelling people are

That's awful, I'm sorry you went through this.

So are you/he putting money into a pension scheme through his business? Life is changing fast for every community, and it could be that in 20-30 years you won't be able to rely on family support as the older of your community do now. Or do the community not really trust financial institutions such as pension/insurance companies?

I’ve seen none of that and some very interesting questions actually. A couple of people desperately virtue signalling trying to ruin things though. Just derailing and making themselves look ridiculous however.

I'm having a giggle at the 'you can't tell if someone is Jewish / Sikh' pearl clutching but there have been at least 3 questions about violence and / or domestic violence.

OP

I'm interested in health care and education - I have worked in both. Travellers have much worse health outcomes and die sooner than the general public.

Do you think a dedicated traveller 'clinic' or whatever would be welcome or seen as patronising? Do you have any ideas to improve outcomes?

We used to live up a dead-end road from a traveller site, and my chronically-ill, very shy daughter was a prisoner in her own home because of the traveller youths who used to sit on the fence, shout and swear at her and make her too scared to pass. Why is that? Are traveller men really that hateful towards girls and women? Or was that an anomaly? (hmmm)

Do I take it as an answer in itself that you have twice ignored my question about what the difference is between living in a small house and living in a large static caravan that is never moved?

how often do you travel?

When your children were younger, were they allowed to properly integrate with the other children at school? Did they have friends come over for play dates and vice versa etc?

There are a some kids from the traveller community at my children’s school. They are not allowed to mix with the other children at all. Play dates, party invitations etc are all refused. Actually, ignored would be a more accurate description. They aren’t even allowed to come on school trips. I think it’s a bit sad to be honest.

“It’s your rubbish”. That’s why.

As a Romany gipsy would you say it’s the Irish travellers who are the problem when it comes to littering, violence, crime, animal cruelty etc?

It feels like some traveller behaviour really goes against acceptance of the community in society, and I dearly wish that the traveller community would be zero tolerance of those who ultimately feed prejudice with their horribly anti social behaviour.

I have had some very interesting chats with a traveller about this and she feels it’s one certain section who have that behaviour and she’s as disgusted with it as everyone else but then gets tarred with the same brush.

Can i suggest in the nicest possible way, you need specsavers! There have been posts about filth, litter, dreadful fashion sense, stealing l, sexism, animal cruelty and violence. All of which the non traveller community manage to do quite well themselves but because they aren’t one ethnicity or socioeconomic group they aren’t thus stereotyped.

I’m glad someone said it. Reading these comments with mounting horror. Open hate and disdain, some nasty women posting here

That was evident during Covid, the wonderfully organised and immaculate traveller site next door to where I was at the time were able to live alongside their families with all support in place.

The rest of us were isolated . In all times, they can live in their community and have their horses alongside.

Even in a chalet or static, there’s a sense of freedom when you can just open the door and go. If you decide to move on you can go travelling in a touring van or sell your static and move. With our bricks and mortar we’re a bit stuck, it’s not so easy to sell up and buy/rent a property.

They used to say it costs about ten grand to sell and buy a new property, probably more now. It’s very trapping at times. Probably why I get into a tent or caravan as often as I can. I love the feeling of just opening or unzipping door and you’re out.

I know I’m romanticising because there are massive downsides, for instance, life expectancy is much lower in travelling communities. But I am hugely attracted to a lifestyle where I’m not glued down by a house.

Agree. Some on the posters on here should hang their heads in shame. But they won't because 'they just stating their opinion' 🙄

There's a handful on nearly every thread ruining it with their vitriol.

Did you read the responses to @bitontheobtuse ‘s facile post, as well?

Cos it’s sorta unambiguous that
a) she’s talking bollocks and virtue signalling, and
b) she couldn’t have picked worse examples than Sikhs and Hasidic Jews. Their specific attire makes them very visible.

Nope, there’s no ‘hanging, no ‘heads’, or ‘shame’ knocking about.

Some very nasty filthy travellers around too!!! Very much from local experience.

And we would like to know / understand why travellers behave as they do.

They live outside the laws the majority of the country have to abide by.

Exceptions are made, by our state, government, councils and unfairly so to the largely law abiding, tax paying public.

Thank you!

I do envy you the homogeneity of your neighbours, the knowledge of how those people are likely to behave. On a bricks and mortar estate, I live in a level of anxiety about who might move in close by.

On the other hand I think I'd find it utterly claustrophobic!

I understand the trapped feeling and if i lose my husband I will never buy another house, just rent and move on when I feel like it.

Exactly. Posters are telling us their own experiences with travellers, and a lot of those experiences are god awful.

Wholesale exceptions are made for their behaviour, and why should anyone put up with it?
Some of the things the OP mentioned were dreadful.
So many common or garden things for women and girls are taboo.

Ooh, school, hmm university, eesh working. Ooh, unheard of.
That’s an attitude to be ashamed of.

This may have been asked already.

There are 4 sets of travellers as I understand it.

"New Age" = people with no traveller heritage who have decided they don't want to be tied down to society

Romany = very long standing culture originating in more recent times from mainland Europe but originally migrants from India.

Gypsy = not sure of the derivation of this.

Irish = self explanatory.

Do travellers recognise these groups as separate? Do you mix?

That was evident during Covid, the wonderfully organised and immaculate traveller site next door to where I was at the time were able to live alongside their families with all support in place

@SevenYellowHammers as OP appears to have left, understandably, I wondered if you could shed any light on the cleaning? Is it for example Irish Travellers or Romany Gypsies who have this lifestyle. There are 3 Traveller sites in my town, none are clean. I have never seen an immaculate Traveller site anywhere, so I never understood why everyone says Travellers are always cleaning until everything is spotless