My big fat book plug

You've seen Rose before. Rosie has a very Irish way about her,  "An owld biddy" as we say. I'm not from a traveller family but I did grow up and go to school with some. You might have seen some of them on My Big fat Gypsy wedding on C4. Shane Ward the winner of the X factor is actually from a well known traveler family, brought up close to me. I know his cousins (but not him) they were on the C4 series.


One of my most treasured books is Alen MacWeeney's  Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More
I have the hardcover which is thin on the ground, there's a paperback for much less, I don't know how well it's printed. My version is simply beautiful. Alen MacWeeney was Richard Avedon's trusted assisted, he is a master printer and photographer and Irish to.



Now Rose is not from traveler stock, but she's every bit as Irish. My sister won't let her forget it but it's in her DNA anyway, it's undeniable. I took this shot of her today

If you really want to understand travellers-well you'd have to be one or spend as much time as Alen MacWeeney did to make this book. Buy the book and you'll understand much more than you did. It's a very beautiful, melancholy glimpse in to a way of life that's all but gone.You're settler when you stop moving, most have now. I think every Irish person has a restless spirit in them, I think that's one of the reasons we're scattered across the globe


Did I mention it was melancholy