RMweb Premium Reorte Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2015 Rule number one when considering a Tradesman: If they don't have a landline number then don't go there, unless you know they are Kosher and come with recommendations etc. Too many tradesmen with mobile numbers only are pikey's, despite the fancy signwritten white vans.... Yeah, probably shouldn't have got my boiler looked at by a bloke I met in the pub. (I checked and he is registered, and with what looks like a reputable company, with a landline number, and I wouldn't have gone through with him having a look at it if he wasn't). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 30, 2015 Oh dear............................ I'm speechless. I had no idea there was such history, such culure, such sweet youngsters.................................... I wonder if it was such jolly fellows that 'guarded my wallet' at the gym whilst I was doing a session and they were ' jus 'avin a shower sur'? The sports centre has had a real problem with these 'clients' at certain times of the year. Strangely the week following my broken locker/empty wallet experience the Centre had installed CCTV and advised that lockers covered by CCTV should be used rather than those in the Changing Rooms! However, there is a real 'Traveller' that I have seen around Herefordshire that has that old style caravan, parks up beside the road and sells small items of wooden 'furniture'. He/they are not the same as described above. Phil There is an important difference which lots of folk seem to miss. First of all there are the traditional Romany gypsies - some of whom still use horse drawn caravans and you can even very occasionally see them camped on teh roadside. However the vast majority of them live in motor drawn caravans which are invariably immaculately kept. Some are regarded as thieves and goodness knows what else but they are generally ok I think and just want to live their life their way. Then we have the1960s hippy sorts where i think the term 'traveller' seems to have originally been used. There are various views of them as many seem to live solely on state handouts while quite a lot have followed some sort of business career selling all sorts of things which they usually make themselves. Then there are what are frequently, and over-politely, called 'travellers' nowadays. Their 'camps' tend to be dirty and their behaviour is frequently poor and they go round doing tarmac jobs and the like (and probably not paying tax on their cash incomes. Many of them are seasonal 'migrants' into Britain across the Irish Sea - frequently because they are being chased out of Ireland according to some reports. These are the sort that tend to 'camp' where they shouldn't and leave sites in an awful and very unhygienic mess when the police eventually move them on. A bunch of these did my drive a few years ago - apart from some brickwork which had to be rectified the job wasn't too bad but they didn't entirely work in the way they said they would so I underpaid them by 25%. They got a little bit stroppy about this and I was accused of being hard on them because they were gypsies. I assured them that I would never be hard on gypsies (which of course thereby excluded them) and I asked their 'boss man' to sign a note confirming that they had been paid in full and final settlement for the work they had actually done - which he did (although I have more than a strong suspicion that he wasn't really prepared to admit that he couldn't read and didn't want to admit it). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
station cat Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 A bunch of these did my drive a few years ago - apart from some brickwork which had to be rectified the job wasn't too bad but they didn't entirely work in the way they said they would so I underpaid them by 25%. They got a little bit stroppy about this and I was accused of being hard on them because they were gypsies. I assured them that I would never be hard on gypsies (which of course thereby excluded them) and I asked their 'boss man' to sign a note confirming that they had been paid in full and final settlement for the work they had actually done - which he did (although I have more than a strong suspicion that he wasn't really prepared to admit that he couldn't read and didn't want to admit it). And they wouldn't have done as good a job as they did if we hadn't babysat them all the time they were here and made ourselves bloody awkward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PaulCheffus Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2015 My mother had tiles on her roof from the day that she bought it new until her death (when I sold it) - they were perfect, still. There is one reason that you do not see many tiles on roofs over here and that is the ubiquitous USA thunderstorms which seem to periodically produce 10 pence sized (or larger) hail. Witness what happened in Sydney a couple of years ago during an unusually massive thunderstorm which caused millions of Aus $ worth of shattered tiled roofs. By the way should it be “roofs” or “rooves”? I don’t see that happening in British Isles (at least within our lifetimes). Best, Pete. HI Pete As far as I am aware the plural of roof is rooves. Cheers Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 hoof and hooves, yoof and, er, yooves? Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 . By the way should it be “roofs” or “rooves”? Best, Pete. Roofs - one of my pet hates when spelt the wrong way. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 but of course pronounced rooves! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2015 Many of them are seasonal 'migrants' into Britain across the Irish Sea - frequently because they are being chased out of Ireland according to some reports. These are the sort that tend to 'camp' where they shouldn't and leave sites in an awful and very unhygienic mess when the police eventually move them on.[/i] It seems that in Ireland if they park up on someone's land without permission etc. then it's a criminal offence = police sort it. However, in England etc. it's classed as a civil offence, which means the poor old land owner/farmer/local council have to get eviction orders etc. via the courts...... Something wrong here somewhere me thinks..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 but of course pronounced rooves! Actually no! Pronounced as spelt. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Two blokes offered to wash & seal the house so I asked if I could throw in the wife and dog as well. "Er..no, but we can sell you some seals . We can only offer to wash and seal your house". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 http://www.nebo.edu/learning_resources/ppt/sounds/seal.wav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 . By the way should it be “roofs” or “rooves”? Best, Pete. Roofs - one of my pet hates when spelt the wrong way. Stewart Either is acceptable. 'Rooves' is an older spelling. But both are correct. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Actually no! Pronounced as spelt. Stewart not round our way! I rhyme it with hooves. And I certainly don't pronounce it like a form of medieval wheat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 and let's not get on to dwarfs and dwarves. Tolkien felt the plural of dwarf should have been dwerrow..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 30, 2015 No one has mentioned 'Tinkers'. I think it is the 'modern' version of these that are the ones that cause the hassle? Hippy type 'travellers' tend to keep themselves to themselves and although some people hate them they are the ones that usually protest about Fracking and similar other interesting projects. The generic term 'Gypsy' really does not differentiate between those that choose an alternative lifestyle, those that choose to be nomadic and those that choose to be con artists. In fact many of the latter I have seen on the news, having been convicted, are actually residents in housing and not on caravan sites. There are areas around Sheffield where 'real' Gypsies from abroad have been housed or have chosen to live together and their lifestyle was very different to the existing population. However, they are integrating because of support locally. Some years ago I was involved in work that took me to some areas of the County in which I was employed where the 'lifestyle' of a lot of people was disgusting. These were 'Brits' with no heritage other than that of being born and bred for generations in Britain. They were violent, antisocial and not people you would want living near you I'm sure. The children born into those communities had no chance at all; it was sad indeed. P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 The poor ain't wot they used to be. Typically I would go round to a new friends house and the mother would let me in shouting "Little Rons friend is here Dad"......This gave dad time to put the stale crust down he was toasting on the grate while perched on a poe and pull his army braces over his shoulders. Then rocking on the hearth fender, he would stand there like a sergeant major and bellow, "Come in lad.....Were's thee frum then? Poor but proud. These were 'Brits' with no heritage other than that of being born and bred for generations in Britain. They were violent, antisocial and not people you would want living near you I'm sure. Sounds like Corrie... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Then of course there are "fulltimers", the mostly fairly respectable middlish class motorhome owners who sell their houses to enjoy a simple life on the road. Many wander from one official caravan site to another, but others dislike all the regulations to control the ne'er-do-wells that make it hard to park up in nice places where they do absolutely no harm to anyone. Apart from the lack of space for more than one layout, I wish I was still doing it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 30801 Posted June 30, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 30, 2015 but others dislike all the regulations to control the ne'er-do-wells that make it hard to park up in nice places Round our way regulations don't work half as well as big earth banks & tree trunks laid across access points when it comes to keeping out our portable chums. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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