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Tramps.
May 31, 2022 15:42:59 GMT
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Post by Staffsoatcake on May 31, 2022 15:42:59 GMT
You never see them about anymore, when growing up you saw quite a few of them around the City.
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Post by werrington on May 31, 2022 15:47:01 GMT
Plenty in Burslem August til May
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Post by milton58 on May 31, 2022 15:48:54 GMT
Plenty in Burslem August til May but that's not good for the city
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Tramps.
May 31, 2022 15:52:08 GMT
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Post by thehartshillbadger on May 31, 2022 15:52:08 GMT
You never see them about anymore, when growing up you saw quite a few of them around the City. I think the opposite is true, see many everyday. I think they are just a younger demographic with a smarter dress code these days👀
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Post by probably on May 31, 2022 16:07:22 GMT
I’m assuming you mean homeless.
It’s a little bit pointless begging around Stoke-on-Trent
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Post by werrington on May 31, 2022 16:17:41 GMT
I’m assuming you mean homeless. It’s a little bit pointless begging around Stoke-on-Trent I gave a couple of quid to a beggar outside M&S wolstanton last week and asked him if he wanted a sandwich…..they normally say thank you that would be nice but this one specifically asked for a BLT 😂 He looked a deserving case tbf
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Tramps.
May 31, 2022 16:24:35 GMT
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Post by swampmongrel on May 31, 2022 16:24:35 GMT
When I was a nipper there was one who used to hang out in Wolstanton singing ‘on Ilkley Moor…’ at the top of his voice.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
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Post by svengaliinplatforms on May 31, 2022 16:25:15 GMT
There's always '20 pence man' outside Pets At Home or McDonald's in Longton. He's a pleasant chap. Always try to help him out.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 17:21:16 GMT
So. Not a thread about the famous London celebrity Nightclub in Jermyn Street then!
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Post by Seymour Beaver on May 31, 2022 17:29:05 GMT
Are 'tramps' and homeless people one and the same thing?
When I was a kid growing up in what was then countryside we had what my Nan would call 'Gentlemen of the Road' - who apparently wandered quite considerable distances, sleeping in barns and outhouses, trapping rabbits (and probably nicking chickens) and cooking them on fires in the woods and occasionally knocking on doors but seemingly wanting for not much more than a glass of water or some cast off clothes.
I appreciate that is almost certainly a wholly romanticised notion of (mainly) men who for a host of reasons were homeless - nevertheless they much more fit the notion of 'tramp' than the current unfortunate souls more usually to be found in towns and citied huddling in shop doorways or living in tents on wasteground.
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Post by Seymour Beaver on May 31, 2022 17:31:15 GMT
So. Not a thread about the famous London celebrity Nightclub in Jermyn Street then! Where Prince Andrew never ever sweated and most certainly did not meet Virginia Roberts.
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Post by thehartshillbadger on May 31, 2022 17:36:02 GMT
I like to give money to those who can tell me their life story and how they came to live on the streets. The better and more believable the story the more I give. If he can add a bit of comedy value or an emotional angle all the better. What I won’t do is give money to the monkey dust addicts who smoke crack pipes out side Stoke station.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 17:58:56 GMT
Are 'tramps' and homeless people one and the same thing? When I was a kid growing up in what was then countryside we had what my Nan would call 'Gentlemen of the Road' - who apparently wandered quite considerable distances, sleeping in barns and outhouses, trapping rabbits (and probably nicking chickens) and cooking them on fires in the woods and occasionally knocking on doors but seemingly wanting for not much more than a glass of water or some cast off clothes. I appreciate that is almost certainly a wholly romanticised notion of (mainly) men who for a host of reasons were homeless - nevertheless they much more fit the notion of 'tramp' than the current unfortunate souls more usually to be found in towns and citied huddling in shop doorways or living in tents on wasteground. I think that this is a sign of changing times. My feeling is that when I was growing up a number of factors applied. There was certainly more countryside then and less urban development, so the "Gentlemen of the Road" probably found the open air country life much more to their liking and were much more numerous and visible in rural areas.In the Post War years many of them lived a life on the open road by choice, and many were discharged ex soldiers who had a certain skill set and survival instincts but perhaps could not reintegrate themselves effectively into society and a normal life. I would liken them a little to rural foxes who have cunning and adaptability. Nowadays we have Urban vagrants who are a bit more like Urban foxes and are street wise opportunists. These beggars now find the City life to be more agreeable and affords them a better standard of living, and access to more resources. They are there because many of them are inherently lazy and expect everything to come to them.. They can usually make enough money for a Cafe Nero or Costa coffee cup and a few sandiches without too much effort. This is a little cynical but "begging", where they can get away with it, can be fairly lucrative. There are many urban legends about shop doorway beggars who sit all day gathering money and handouts, and at the end of the day go round the corner and get into their BMW to go home. In Wells we have a day shift of commuting vagrants who travel from Bristol by bus using a cheap touring or rover bus ticket to come here to beg as the city is affluent and fairly tolerant of apparently destitute and needy folk. There was one lad who appeared regularly over the last few years, who I think was named Dominic. He used to draw chalk pictures on the pavement so that he could claim that he was a Street Artist and not a beggar. He seems to have died very recently as there were a large number of not inexpensive floral tributes left in the doorway where he used to sit. If I looked at the other side of the coin and went up to Bristol, I don't think that I would give most of the dropouts around the centre the time of day.
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Post by rivival on May 31, 2022 18:21:25 GMT
There's always '20 pence man' outside Pets At Home or McDonald's in Longton. He's a pleasant chap. Always try to help him out. He never gives me 20 pence.....tight fisted git =)
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Post by RedandWhite90 on May 31, 2022 18:29:07 GMT
Having a conversation with my Mother a few weeks ago about this.
Without coming across holier-than-thou, I usually pick up some cans of pop when I see someone outside the shops and casually asked if she did anything similar.
Her response was that she normally grabs some super strength lager to give to them.
Couldn't believe my ears.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 18:35:31 GMT
As referenced above Wells City is fast becoming a home from home for those seeking an "alternative" lifestyle and a life with few responsibilities. Many seem to regard the place as the "posh end" of Glastonbury, which is about 6 miles away.
Many of you may remember seeing a John Craven piece on BBC's Country file, either last year or the year before, in which he highlighted the number of rough sleepers living outdoors in the woods, with some having tents or bivouacs. There were clearly several individual camp sites in the area he featured. This was filmed in Wells' Paddock Woods on the Bishops Palace fields, within view of the Cathedral about 300 metres away. I would suppose that these woodland folk might be described as tramps, but they seem to manage a cooked breakfast or meal from local hostelries most days.
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Post by toppercorner on May 31, 2022 18:37:14 GMT
So. Not a thread about the famous London celebrity Nightclub in Jermyn Street then! Where Prince Andrew never ever sweated and most certainly did not meet Virginia Roberts. I think that was 'Annabels'. Or so i'm told anyway.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 18:44:56 GMT
I think that Andrew was sewing his seed pretty widely around then and was allegedly seen in a number of supposedly discreet venues.
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Post by Roger Everyone on May 31, 2022 19:16:38 GMT
Down south, here on the Isle of wight we had what I will call a proper tramp when I was growing up. He did niff a bit but was a local celebrity in a sense. Homeless out of Choice. Bit of a write up on him here, also the council put a plaque up when he died. www.isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk/others/ryde_searle_tr.htm
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Post by westlandstokie on May 31, 2022 19:28:00 GMT
You never see them about anymore, when growing up you saw quite a few of them around the City. Growing up on Scotia Road in Burslem back in the 60’s and 70’s we had a “tramp” that was often seen on his bicycle in the area. He had rigged a device to sharpen knives to his bicycle which was powered by peddling…my Mum often gave him a few bob for sharpening her “best knives”. Good grief I haven’t thought about this for probably 45 years lol.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 19:39:44 GMT
I think we forget that in the past there were different social attitudes to travelling folk. There was more trust and less emnity. Many travellers were mobile as they had to go where the work was, rather than wait for work to come to them. Thus we had travelling farriers or blacksmiths, ploughmen or sheep shearers and so on, and these were skilled but seasonal occupations. Knife sharpening and dousing (water divining) were fairly skilled yet still itinerant occupations. But country folk trusted and depended upon these visiting tramps.
Which reminds me of another regular feature of my youth, and that was the Rag and Bone man. Scruffy yes, but were they tramps? I remember the Horse and Cart going down Rothsay Road in Normacot as a regular thing when I was little.
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Post by somersetstokie on May 31, 2022 19:44:39 GMT
Plenty in Burslem August til May So much so that "the Tramps" has become one of the many nicknames for Port Vale.
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Post by OldStokie on May 31, 2022 19:44:56 GMT
Are 'tramps' and homeless people one and the same thing? When I was a kid growing up in what was then countryside we had what my Nan would call 'Gentlemen of the Road' - who apparently wandered quite considerable distances, sleeping in barns and outhouses, trapping rabbits (and probably nicking chickens) and cooking them on fires in the woods and occasionally knocking on doors but seemingly wanting for not much more than a glass of water or some cast off clothes. I appreciate that is almost certainly a wholly romanticised notion of (mainly) men who for a host of reasons were homeless - nevertheless they much more fit the notion of 'tramp' than the current unfortunate souls more usually to be found in towns and citied huddling in shop doorways or living in tents on wasteground. This is exactly what tramps used to be and they mustn't be confused with modern day homeless people. As an ex-long distance trucker in days of yore, we used to see them all over the country. Usually they were middle aged to old aged and preferred a life on the road than living with society at large. The old A38 from Brizzle to Bodmin always had a wonderful, eclectic mix of them when we were on the china clay run. OS.
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Tramps.
May 31, 2022 20:35:37 GMT
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Post by woodstein on May 31, 2022 20:35:37 GMT
You never see them about anymore, when growing up you saw quite a few of them around the City. I think the opposite is true, see many everyday. I think they are just a younger demographic with a smarter dress code these days👀 One's around in my younger days didn't bother with drugs though!
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Post by lawrieleslie on May 31, 2022 20:46:03 GMT
When I was a nipper there was one who used to hang out in Wolstanton singing ‘on Ilkley Moor…’ at the top of his voice. They don’t make them like that anymore. I grew up in Wolstanton in the 60s and remember a "trampy looking" older bloke who always wore a long overcoat and flat cap and nicknamed Tick Tock Freddy because he carried a pocket watch inside his coat and would stop, take out his watch and tell you the time. He would be seen standing under Staniers Chemist clock checking the time. Somebody on this mb once said that he was a WW2 veteran suffering PTSD so my view of him has somewhat changed.
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Tramps.
May 31, 2022 21:24:21 GMT
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knype likes this
Post by middleoftheboothen on May 31, 2022 21:24:21 GMT
Plenty in Burslem August til May So much so that "the Tramps" has become one of the many nicknames for Port Vale. Calm it down mate you'll have the closet Vale fans giving you shit if you carry on this banter with our local rivals.
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Post by pretzel on May 31, 2022 21:54:46 GMT
I was watching this homeless guy busking the other day when he suddenly started to play what sounded like 'Breakfast in America'
I said 'I think that's Supertramp?'
He replied 'Thank you very much'
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Post by danceswithclams on May 31, 2022 23:41:14 GMT
You should never give money to the homeless as they'll only spend it on drugs.
Give them drugs and they'll tell you where to get the best drugs from.
(I sent this top tip into Take A Break magazine but they've declined to publish it as of yet. Wankers.)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2022 0:08:26 GMT
I gave a rather mad woman 20 euro in Dublin a few weeks ago and she followed me back to my hotel and asked was the bar still open. Thankfully she eventually buggered off I assumed she was sleeping in the doorway but looking back I think she was just pissed and fallen asleep there 😧
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Post by marwood on Jun 1, 2022 22:08:19 GMT
As a former pretend tramp, I can vouch for the fact that the genuine Gentleman of the road is all but a thing of the past.
In the late 1970s, I was a member of the Amateur Mendicant Society, a collection of like-minded individuals who spent days or weeks as tramps as a part time hobby. I did it to observe people. Tramps are like waiters, people talk openly in front of them. The government often used Amateur Mendicants to spy. My beat was the A49 between Shrewsbury and Abergavenny, taking in Church Stretton, Leominster and Ludlow . I could often be found in the Heather Brae garage, Lazy Trout truck stop or Queenswood cafe. Great times . Rarely recognised. Most Amateurs have names and it pays to have a gimmick , eg bright red hair, always reading a book, well dressed or profusely swearing. Mine was being well spoken earning me the Nickname The Professor .
Tramps - gentlemen of the road - are much less prevalent now as a lifestyle choice so the AMS has all but fallen into disuse. Like the red squirrel , they still appear in books but in real life they have been replaced in their natural habitat by homeless with real issues , such as substance abuse,mental health challenges .
I understand the government now uses Chavs as a disguise to observe. I was asked to take part not long ago but sitting outside a shopping centre in a tracksuit texting people all day is not my idea of fun
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