60 Days with the Gypsies

[NatashaBedwouldbenice]

Channel 4. I was surprised to read that this is the first such programme with, I believe a, gypsy producer. I thought it was a very good documentary.

They don't actually use the toilet in the caravan?!

Killing pigeons and squirrels 😞

So the camp smells of wee cos they don't wee in their caravan for some reason
And they possibly might have pooed there 😕

Really enjoyed it.
At the end when his caravan had been broken into (attempted) I automatically assumed gypsies but he seemed to imply it had been the public.

@Weekendssuck

Really enjoyed it. At the end when his caravan had been broken into (attempted) I automatically assumed gypsies but he seemed to imply it had been the public.

I thought he was implying it was those young kids who had been in and jumping up and down to "test" it and were quite in his face? Interesting programme and I feel he did try to present a neutral view. Although I did laugh at the camp by a "busy train line" there are about 1 small train once an hour!!

How do they get away with taking their kids out of school at age 11? Don't social services /LEAs have anything to say about that? And why did the father seem to think it's a good thing? He's drastically limiting his son's life chances.

I am sure that not all gypsies / travellers do that though, as DP (secondary school teacher) has had traveller kids at his school. Nice kids, he says.

I thought he was implying it was gypsies who did it too

Absolutely disgusting

But yes I think he was trying to present a neutral view on it!

I'm.sure it's not all. The father said that the school wasnt going to teach them anything they needed. And seemed to feel if they could read or write (to a primary level) then the more important skills would be learnt at home/by working.
I guess it depends on the type of job or life you would want your child to have. I can see that if you followed your fathers footsteps then learning GCSE physics isnt a good of use of time as learning how to plaster or cut down a tree etc

I did laugh when the lady said to ed he hadnt learnt much at university due to the state of his caravan

It's not fair on the kids though Needcoffee. What happens if they would have liked to have a proper career, go to uni perhaps etc? As a kid they won't realise, but the parents are denying them that choice, probably for ever. How do the authorities let that pass? There's a reason there are laws around children's education, and most of us follow them. It's even getting a bit much these days when parents are denied permission or fined for taking kids out of school for a few days for holidays etc, but then at the other end of the scale this man can just decide no more school for his son at 11 years old? It's not right.

Well they probably just say he's homeschooled I would have thought

I know it's not fair and it's taking a choice away from a child. I was just trying to think about your question of why the father thought it was a good thing.
I also dont think it's fairthat there can be a culture of not going to the toilet in a caravan so do so on the park/side of the road/site you are on. I live in a house and my neighbours wouldn't allow me to do that either.
I agree with @purpleme12 they probably say home schooling. Although I imagine they just "leave " the whole system and dont officially declare anything

i was a bit disappointed by it. he flitted about so much that I didn't feel he really got to know anyone.
I assumed the damage was caused by someone upset he was there and in not a gypsy.
the idea of not using the toilet in the caravan didn't surprise me really. but imaging all the human pooh around.

I think the school thing is dependant on the family and their own personal choices and probably how often they move around?
I grew up in a town with 3 traveller sites, and majority of the kids who lived there went to my high school and saw it right through to the end. There were 2 girls who dropped out at the start of Year 11, and got married over the summer holidays the same year, but most of them finished their GCSE’s and went off to 6th form/college/got a job along with everybody else.
I suppose these documentaries tend to show the extremes of traveller life and culture don’t they?

the kids we had at our school (70's) lived in houses. I remember asking one girl what she was going to do when she left school at 16 and she said get married. she did.

@purpleme12

So the camp smells of wee cos they don't wee in their caravan for some reason And they possibly might have pooed there 😕

They have 100% pooed there. My teenage DCs have both worked at a local attraction where travellers often camp up outside. Both of them have had to deal with clearing up the aftermath when they leave, including clearing up the human faeces left in the grass.

Oh I see Needcoffee, sorry!

Yes I agree about not going to the toilet in the caravan (and priding themselves on how clean the caravans are inside) but seemingly being oblivious to how the settled population might feel about dealing with their waste (including poo!) when they've moved on. I supposed it's because they HAVE moved on that they stop thinking about it. It's just a different mindset. But why can't they see they are leaving problems for others, and their lack of consideration (around noise too) causes the settled population to resent them?

But then Ed showed how difficult it was to take rubbish to a tip with no permit etc. I also don't think people should be criminalised for being nomadic. Humans have been nomadic for thousands of years after all.

I don't know what the answer is... More understanding on both sides I suppose, but how?

I agree that there things the powers that be or whoever should change to improve things for the gypsies and consequently non gypsies by extension

But this programme has not improved my impression of gypsies or kept it the same but if anything it's worsened it

@purpleme12 i think thats why its annoyed me. seems no better than the trashy programmes about them. I was hoping for a more balanced view. maybe in the second part it will be.

I find it bizarre that the element of cleanliness is so important they won't have a bin or use the toilet in their caravan. But then poo and wee in public. Imagine what teenage girls do on their period? You're not always able to nip into a service station - so they're changing tampons in bushes?!

My husband has been "lucky" enough to have to clear up a business premises once some travellers moved on. They 100% do poo outside. Why do they think it is acceptable for someone else to have to clear up after them? Grim.

Oh yes I didn't think of that

Yes it's like as long the inside of the caravan is obsessively clean nowhere else matters

I remember on a different programme about travelers a young boy about 9 or so saying he would love to be a vet. I thought he probably will never get the chance if he had to leave school so young, it’s a damn shame that those children don’t get the chance to broaden their lives.

Re not using the toilet in their caravans- they appear to just not care about the mess they leave behind when they move on
They don't see it, don't have to deal with it, so it's not their problem.

Maybe 100 years ago when there were fields and verges it was ok, but these days.

I think there is such a drastic mismatch between the traveller and settled communities, and just don't see how it can be bridged.