Romani Gypsies in the UK - Help or Hinderance for the Survivalist?

Just a quick one to get some discussion going on the gypsy's.

How reliable and friendly would they be to survivalists / travellers, not only in SITX but in normal circumstances.
So say if one of us is traveling and needs a place to crash. Would they be a safe bet for teaming up with?
Now in favour is the obvious distaste they have for authority and big government intrusions and the like.

Against them is the taint of thievery and anti-trust that is often levelled against them.
My friend who delivers to them stresses that they would be near-hostile to ANY outsiders who aren't gypsy's OR from their enclave.
He even reckons you'd be stolen from if you stayed there.

I've worked with gypsies and some were good some were bad. I never broached the question of joining them or whatnot though.

Please note I don't mean pikeys when I say gypsies in this sense. I am talking caraven dwelling, roaming traveller types here. Not the housing estate splinter type.

What's your thoughts and wisdom on this guys?

The gypsies would probably give us all a damn good run for our money in terms of clan-bonding and off-grid self-suffiency. However, if you have a skill in short supply, say power-systems or 'fine' electronics (that would give them the added edge over an adversary) then you may find yourself a new home and new friends to fight your corner when times are toughest

reply to post by WatchRider


I'm sure we could learn a thing or two from them. Why the interest?

I suspect they wouldn't be open to outsiders. They're a fairly insular group and would probably be suspect of your motives unless you were truly able to prove yourself to them. This, I base on my limited experience with Rom and Tinkers. Other groups/families/tribes may be more open to intermingling, but somehow I doubt it... their traditions are strong.

When I lived in gloucester a while back I got to know a few old school gypses/tinkers, good people in my opinion.

the new ones hav'nt got a clue.

reply to post by YourForever


Always good to know the lay of the land so to speak.

Originally posted by citizen smith
The gypsies would probably give us all a damn good run for our money in terms of clan-bonding and off-grid self-suffiency. However, if you have a skill in short supply, say power-systems or 'fine' electronics (that would give them the added edge over an adversary) then you may find yourself a new home and new friends to fight your corner when times are toughest

That's a good point mate.
With my lasertroning and your windatron there is scope for help and trades.

I'm afraid my experiences with both eastern European Roma in the UK, and the generally Irish traveller community are both very very very negative. for example each year the travellers head to the north east to go to the Appleby horse fair, and the sad fact is that as they pass through the area, four things start happening, First peoples caravans start getting nicked,last year 13 went from this area in 10 days. My next door neighbours plus his best friends both went in one afternoon. Second is fly tipping, as the travellers pass through they raise income by doing jobs ( without paying any tax) gardening, roofing, tarmacing, fencing etc, as soon as they arrive you ffind every bloody gateway and layby full of fly tipped waste. Next is trespass, every year they arrive and simply park up on other peoples land, in this village they even cut down a new fence around the childrens only play area, when they were finally evicted they left rubbish and human waste all over the place. The fourth is violence, they frquently resort to threats and violence if challenged, two months ago a young travellor delibarately drove over a farmer who caught him stealing diesel, breaking two legs, a hip and both arms, the farmers mum collapsed and died as she tried to call for help. Two other young travellors recently broke into over 20 caravans stored on a local farm, they ripped off the doors of the caravans causing thousands of pounds of damage, they attacked the farmer who caught them. They told the police they were looking for food even though they had over £1000 in cash on their persons. My friend lives in limerick in Eire where many of the travellors come from and he hates them, they cause misery ervery time they go anywhere. I dont think they have any skills apart from scavenging that survivalists can use.

I have only ever met a few romani Gypsies, they tried to sell me jewelry,which looked really tacky, so they were pointing to the chain around my neck as if too swap with the jewelry they were trying to sell. Because they hardly spoke a word of english, it too me a good 20 minutes to explain that the chain i was wearing was from my girlfriend and i would'nt swap. As for the Irish pikeys, my experience has been nothing but good really. The gym i train at is in an old wharehouse, all old school free weights, a mix of old and new machines with a load of punching bags, sparring gear etc... and a ring for MMA and Boxing. This gym costs a mere £5 a week to weight train and a extra fiver a week for MMA or boxing, there's a camp site just down the road so a load of them come in to train and fight, they stick to themselves mainly at first but when you start talking to them, they seem a good bunch of lads, and yes they love to sparr in the ring.. I think they seem to think everyone hates them anyway, maybe thats why they act like they do when travelling around the country.. But then again my only contact with them is when i train or fight, i've never lived nearby a camp site.. I have family in Ireland and they tell me the travellers there are a nuisance, and cause nothing but trouble, so i guess it's difficult to give a overall opinion on them... I too have noticed there not short of money, and they all seem to have expensive motors..