Just seen this - a 27 stone dress?? bloody hell

You can then rewind it or fast forward Karma....great to pause things if you need to then you can fast forward through the adverts Also, don't forget to stop the 'timeshifting' when you've watched the programme or you'll be behind all day/ night

I found this programme really interesting, I was interested to hear the prejudices they have to face everyday just for the lifestyle they live, like the reception venue cancelling on them....

...I was like this at the pregnant woman in the figure hugging outfit

Karma, 0191 is most of the NE area... not sure about 703 though

I would like to not be centre of attention... do you think there's any chance of that?

One girl's dress was so big that her dad had to walk behind her down the aisle

It is odd that a society with such strict moral values doesn't mind that it's young girls dress like tarts

Yes, I wanted a dress like my sister's, so I borrowed hers.

I thought that too

Proves the Imams wrong, and the other prudes.

What struck me is that although they have a strong sense of community, which is good i suppose, I noticed that they feel 'victimised' by people from outside their communities (the venue who called the Reception off), yet, they do not want their kids to mix with us 'Country Folk'??? Isn't that just the same the other way around????

They go far too far in the other direction Blizzie..there's a happy medium after all.

Exactly what I thought - And as for morals and trying not to piss us 'country folk' off there weren't a whole lot of morals flying around when they broke into and emptied Mr Bugs van off all his tools (£18,000 worth of gear) when I was in hospital giving birth to my twins who died!) I cannot forgive them for doing that during a time when Mr Bug was at his lowest ebb and he kept it from me as we'd been through too much. They only managed to find a few of his tools at their 'site' (someone had witnessed the robbery and identified them) but no charges were brought... Justice???  Nope. Morals and decent upstanding??? I should bloody coco!

I expect Mr Bugs tools have been hocked to pay for one of those hideous dresses!

They have morals within their own community LB, but that doesn't extend to ours most of the time in my experience too....*hugs*

Or maybe to pay for the mahoosive plush cars they drive around in.

I guess there are good and bad in all walks of life, though in my experience, the ones who travel round and camp anywhere seem to have the Law on their side.......there are permanent Gypsie (am I allowed to use that word???) camps in and around where I live, there are also open playing fields where some travellers like to camp, turning up overnight and staying there weeks until the Council can move them on...leaving us Council Tax payers with the clean up bill. Last year they camped on a School playing field during the Summer Holidays, it took weeks to get them moved on, upon which they left the childrens playing field full of discraded sofas and lord knows what else....

I think that is part of the problem people have with them, that they are allowed to carry on doing this, getting moved on and returning months later, without paying their way as us 'Country Folk' have to do....**sigh**

I'm confused. Joan the 22 year old who got married towards the end of the programme, it was stated that she is a 2nd generation Traveller, that makes her parents 1st Generation travellers and they lived in a house, so her grandparents are not Travellers! So what constitutes a genuine Traveller, or could I decide to be one tomorrow. Am I being totally thick about this?

Yes, but do we have preconceived ideas about what constitutes 'tarty' clothing?

It sounded like both sexes, on the whole, managed to wait until marriage, despite what the girls' fashion sense was like. I suppose boys growing up not being told that outfits like that are 'tarty' and that the girls are 'asking for it', if they dress like that, makes a huge difference.

Similarly, some cultures in hot climates, who wear very little clothing, do not necessarily have 'looser' morals than other cultures where women are expected to cover up completely.

I find it very interesting.

That confused me too, Essie!

I felt really sorry for her, as she seemed terrified at her wedding and the husband didn't look too keen either!

Well yes! But I find the look those girls were sporting as extremely tarty...they looked like hookers (no offence)
That of course does not mean that they would be 'asking for it' anywhere. It does not follow that all travellers dress that way. There is a permanent site on the A3 and their girls don't dress anything like that...the only way you would know they were Travellers is that the Security guards watch them like hawks when they're out in town shopping. Is that a preconceived idea about their likely behaviour....or experience of their actual behaviour?
As you say...interesting, but my experiences with them hasn't been a pleasant one and my judgements are based around that.

The other thing I was wondering about is the 'P' word, largely Travellers find it racist and derogatory. I was at a wedding last October, a very good friend of the groom is a genuine traveller going back generations, he also happens to be in the Fire Brigade and is an officer. He was wearing  Fire officers full dress uniform, I failed to recognise him as I've only ever seen him wearing civvies, he came over put his arms around me and said "It's me Essie, Pikey John" He lives in Sussex, so I'm wondering if different area's view the 'P' word less harshly.

I think some will take it with humour, Essie.
Especially those who have mixed with 'country folk' and are used to being ribbed about it.
But, generally it is seen as very derogatory.

I suppose it's similar to other racist terms. One of my black friends takes the mickey (is that acceptable? ) out of himself with some racist terms.

Blizzie, I'm not even going to tell you the reason my black friend gave for moving out of Hackney.

Oh, I can maybe imagine!

it's pretty dismal that the word 'traveller' applies to anyone that either chooses not to live in a house or are born gypsies, the culture of gypsies is  a fairly strong,moral one,the culture of many travellers is a desire to live more freely  and the culture of  some travellers is to work as little as possible and rob stuff.

same in any society there's good and bad and the  bad gives them all a bad name they don't deserve.

Oh God. Timeshifting? Eh? Ok, it looks like I am going to have to take this very slowly Bring back good old VHS!

And yes, the pregnant girl who looked like a human humbug left a lot to be desired

Time shifting just means that you are watching the TV behind 'live' time... so if you paused for 5 mins to go to the loo, then pressed play to start watching you will be 5 mins behind 'live'. So when you fast forward through the adverts you often catch up... or if you are watching the beeb then just press stop when you finish watching your program and it stops thing you are watching and goes back to live

Simples

Just watching this new series on catch up. Some of this stuff is amazingly surreal. I can't begin to comprehend their morals, they aren't allowed to approach boys but they are allowed to dress and act like whores? They can't drink before marriage but they are notorious for thieving? What a skewed view of the world.

That poor little girl at her confirmation . All the other little girls looked incredibly sweet and innocent and then she lumbered up hardly able to walk with the weight of her hideous dress.

It made me laugh though - the kids on their own in a limo w3ith fake champagne

I found the whole thing hilarious!

I don't think I've had the goldfish expression as much as I did while watching this 

As RiverRock said they dress like whores yet there's no sex before marriage, they marry young and when they do they look hideous 

I watched this and quite honestly found them just a load of chavs trying to out-do each other.  Pathetic.  And the dresses were quite foul and I definately was not impressed by most of the women: and all of their 'morals' and customs (the boys and the girls,) were really odd IMO, Also, they claim they have this 'close community,' but there's a fine line between being in a close community and being in a life that is basically controlled by your elders, and where your life is planned out for you.  This kind of life would not suit me I'm afraid. 

Did they really say that the dresses can weight 27 stone?  (nearly 400 pounds)  I didnt hear them say that; i heard them say 5 stone (60 pounds,) but not 27 stone.  I'm not saying they didnt say it, I just didnt hear it.  Would anybody possibly be able to wear a dress weighing 27 stone (400 pounds)  I find it unlikely.  so if they did say it, I don't think I believe it.

That was last year and they are already divorced.

oh dear!  

Seems the fairytaie pumpkin carriage is not only a on the bit tacky side ...   but a bit jinxed as well!

OMG i loved this program, cant wait for next week!

I found the 'grabs' the boys did quite disturbing

I grew up across the road from a gypsy site. We played with the boys but never the girls. None of them could read or write and they never went to school. The caravans were so clean yet they dressed like scruffs. They made their money from laying tarmac and selling scrap metal and were never short of money.
When we got older the boys would drink in the pubs with us and chase all the local girls.

The girl seemed too young to be getting married, even her own mum didn't look too sure about it and she had hardly known the bloke for that long, i also found it strange that they had all these rules about sex before married and not being allowed out alone, yet the way they were dressed went against all that

The way they dressed and the way they danced did them no favours.

I agree Longcat, like you we had a site near us when i was growing up, they never caused any bother and as i got older and started going to the pub we made friends with some of the lads, you never saw the girls though, i wonder why they wear the clothes that they do
I found it strange as well that the bloke was buying their new home (caravan) don't the women get a choice in that either? i wonder if they will be living close to her family, she was on about 16, seem's abit much too be moving away at such a young age with a bloke she hardly knows, then again maybe this is what they all do and have been brought to know that this would happen, can't say i'd want the same for my 16 yr old

I dealt with many travellers in my former employment , whilst their traditions are difficult for most of us to comprehend they for the most part do strictly adhere to them....Sex before marriage is forbidden,unmarried mothers unheard off ,dating couples are chaperoned and if I remember correctly dowry's are still paid...Their choice of clothing may not be our choice but it is not indicative of their moral standing,by the same token a girl who worked in our office years ago dressed as prim as prim could be yet had a reputation that had travelled further than she ever would

Exactly! I don't really see how we can stand in judgement ...................it's fascinating to see such a different way of life. I'm sure most of us cannot begin to comprehend - it is as it is - they have their life and their traditions - long may it continue.