Friday, September 30, 2005

Pikeys

Possibly a slightly controversial post (little nervous as to how its going to be received) (parts may also have to be withdrawn depending on events) but something that I have to deal with frequently. Namely, aforementioned pikeys, or travellers as I shall generically refer to them from now on, moving into agricultural fields and acquiring enforcement notices on account of it.

[withdrawn]

Anyhow it consistently baffles me how these people continue to exist, it just doesn‘t seem to stack up in modern society. If I moved in somewhere and the following morning some local authority people rolled up, told me to fuck off, told me the unpleasant ways they were going to make me fuck off, told me the dire implications of my not fucking off and how pissed off they were at having to tell me to fuck off in the first place I might reconsider my lifestyle choice.

That having been said, and arguably totally contrarily, I kind of understand where they are coming from. It’s as traditional a lifestyle as fox hunting is a rural pursuit but if you know little about it or have never done it on what basis do you consider that you can comment?

I remember speaking to a fairly articulate traveller recently, when he expressed his feelings about his childhood and relayed to me his younger queries to his dad of ‘why am I living in a motorway lay-by?’ Seriously, why was a kid being brought up in a lay-by? I had to sypmathise with his position, opinions on travellers notwithstanding that’s not right.

A lot of it seems to stem from a lack of understanding of that lifestyle from regular folks hence travellers get marginalised. Once you get marginalised and folks only want you to fuck off out of their neighbourhood you are quickly going to get forced into unlawful and criminal activities which only adds to the cycle of misunderstanding. But then again if you have done nothing wrong why don't folks want you around in the first instance?

Despite working both against and with these people for the past year nearly now I still haven't formed an opinion on the subject.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should move out of your flat, buy a caravan, and live the traveller lifestyle for a year or so, then you can fully look at the matter from an impartial point of view having experienced both sides of the issue

Anonymous said...

Maybe if you stopped refering to them as "Pikeys" then you might be able to form a more unbiased opinion.

And I assume that was a hook - but I am biting anyway!

Nick said...

Mark, I hope you will be happy to let me park my caravan on your driveway then and I'll claim ancillary resi when I get enforced.

Dave, yeah it was a hook. I have yet to form an opinion.