" The Place Had Been Well Gypo'd "

If I had a pound for every time I saw that comment, on " Derelict Places ", I'd have even more money in my damn bank account. Never, since I left THL forum, have I encountered such endemic, open and sanctioned Racism. Some of those idiots were foaming at the mouth so badly they seemed to be saying " Fikies ".

Ok, so apart from the usual use of quite disgustingly derogatory terms in general, in this respect, I saw these idiots pointing out that a site they'd explored had been " Gypo'd ". As in, someone ~ person or persons unknown ~ had obviously entered and, at the very least, removed " Scrap Metal ". Be this the lead off a church roof or, one might imagine, the brass door handles of an abandoned cinema.

For a start then, let's look at the termenology. " Gypo'd ". We all know who they're refering to. " Gypsys ". " Pikeys ". " Travellers ". But look at the tense. " Gypo'd ". Past Tense. Historical. It'd already been done.

And these incandescent dinelos Always appear to be mentioning how they come upon the signs of this historical theft and criminal damage. Not one, that I saw, actually mentions finding any Gypsys on site, in the act. And yet they state, perfectly catagorically, that 'Pikies did it!'. They never saw fuck all. They actually know fuck all. But they Know, in their own fevered little minds; It was Gypsys.

And that's why I invited ye all to take a look over the photo's I took when Dean O' and I visited an abandoned stone quarry last week end. See; Some of us can fairly well examine the remains of a predated creature and have a fair idea what predator killed it. Foot tracks to bite marks. Even manner of eating. Lots of minutiae adds up to give us a fair impression of what probably went on there.

But, who better to spot the clues of a fox kill than a fox? " Takes one to know one ". And I wonder how You compared; looking through my photo's, to what I was able to see, as I took them?

I never pointed out any particular shots. I wanted ye to enter that site, just as we had. The shots were, and are, simply uploaded by numerical order. Just as I took them. You saw what I saw. Did ye feel that place had been " Gypo'd " ?

Either way, now I'll explain ~ with a few pictures:

The Site

Lovely place, isn't it? I just wanted to earth us both by showing that one. Plenty more on the " DitchShitter " PhotoBucket. Album, " Explore 11 ".

But here's the shots I conciously took, with a post such as this already formulating in my mind .....

" Gypo'd " ?

Well? Any 'Experts' Reading ?

Ye see, pretty much coming from 'Derelict Places' forum to this Explore, I was still very much tuned in to the biggoted drivel I'd seen voiced by so many idiots there. And so, at first, as I wandered around the old quarry, I was quietly thinking to myself; " Hmm. Wonder what They'd make of this? "

But, towards the end of our tour of exploration ~ we must've actually spent well over an hour or two in this relatively small area ~ the whole notion of how tunnel visioned, jack booted 'Daily Mail' / 'Sun' readers would have percieved and then reported this site was fucking me Right off.

Dean O' got it first hand. I normally only utter expletives of delight and amazement, during Explores. I may question what we're finding. But, last week end? I found myself more and more drawn into pretty much ranting and raving, as I pointed out the - to me - patently obvious .....

The last shot there ~ to those who Know ~ says it all. There's # 1 staring ye in the face. A good six foot or so more is out of shot. All hand strippable. There's Braziary staring ye in the face. And, though covered in lime dust, in the shot, a blind imbecile would realise that there's a fuck off great motor tucked in behind there. All wound up in a lump of #2. And let's, for gods sake, not forget the fucking great Brass nut on the left! Few turns of a wrench and the lot would be in the back of the truck in minutes.

" Gypo'd " ?! Pida tu mui! If ye thought that? Ye don't have a clue what the fuck ye Think ye thinking of. Go get a fucking life!


Minutes later, as we were walking back to the motor, me Still bending Dean O's ear about the wankers who want to blame all that's fucked up in their country on the bogey men they most love to hate, I paused. " Fucking Look at This! ", I cried.

" This "

Lifting and dropping it. A six foot length of Aluminium sheet, just laying there beside the main track?! FFS!

This site has been " Gypo'd " by a bloke who simply decided the best, and most obvious, stuff was simply too good to leave to waste. Probably the Owner himself, or a former worker? But they made a piss poor job of it and likely left as much as they even knew to salvage. Complete amateurs. Chancers. Just grabbing a bit of pin money.

No self respecting Gypsy would have gone to the trouble of removing the scrap, yet leaving so much. What we see there is the work of a Gaujo. Snatching and grabbing. And why not? Anyone else ever sees the results of their handywork? They'll just pin the blame straight onto Gypsys anyway!

As I said to Dean O', as we left it all behind us and clamboured over the gate; " There's only One fucking 'Gypo' ever entered this place, mate. And all he's taken was pictures! ".