Oh and the other things they're famous for are trading ponies and bare fist fighting tournaments. There's a so-called "King of the Knackers" competition every in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway every year.
Friend of mine has an amusing story how one of the finalists made a show of going around all the pubs in the town looking for his opponent, knowing that he was hiding from the cops. 'Course the guy turns up outside one of the pubs and knocks the crap out of him. A rowing club I belonged to in Dublin used to rent out their function room for itinerant weddings because no hotels would dream of it (the room was extremely spartan nothing redeeming at all). Some of the rowers used to help out as bouncers and they said there would be massive fights every time, not with the bouncers but over women, money horses you name. But they'd take it outside, while plastered drunk, and then they'd fight for a bit and afterwards they'd be the best of friends. Unbelievable behavior. The rower guys used to run a book between themselves to guess who'd end up fighting and winning. Kept them amused I suppose. -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Gilchrist Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 4:06 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: What a crock That's a better generalization although not exactly true. They are officially referred to as itinerants in Ireland and are the equivalent of roaming trailer parks. Their history is allegedly the dispossessed of land by the English over the centuries who were turfed out on the road and essentially never settled and kept moving. In the early parts of the century they were known as "tinkers", they would repair tin pots and pans etc. Nowadays they operate junk yard types of things. People go nuts when they set up camp near them due to concerns about crime etc. There have been numerous schems to create permanent halting sites for them to settle but they have never really been that successful. Many have also been offered free government housing. Most just don't want to settle. Brad Pitt plays the role of an Irish itinerant perfectly in Snatch, his accent was spot-on (I was really impressed, I'd written him off up till then). -----Original Message----- From: Cantrell, Adam [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 2:52 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: What a crock > She also described herself as an "Irish traveler" a person who does > not have a permanent home, but travels around doing odd jobs....and I > also heard that irish travelers also many times run scams > I think the correct term here is - Gypsy. ______________________________________________________________________ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
