In the news

Still manages to look sharp, even in the wilderness ;-).

It beggers belief that he kept the same pair of specs the entire time.

they do look a bit 1970's don't they !

seperated at birth !

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/11/american-hermit-caught-27-years

I find this story fascinating. I accept the stealing takes away from the romanticism. But still. 27 years camping. Alone.

Really interesting story that.

Funnily enough me and Mrs Spenceey had the same chat yesterday wondering if anyone had ever camped/lived in a forest their whole lives. This must be the longest surely?

CSB.

There was a family in Russia that had lived in the wilderness for longer.

goes to scrabble through t'net

ah yes, here we are - http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family

what about the japanese soldiers after world war two who never got the message it was all over.
some have been found as recently as the 90's still in hiding on / guarding remote tropical islands and they needed their ex senior officers to come to the island and tell them it was all over

^^ also had a read of the Old Believers page linked to in that wiki article. What an amazingly pointless religious argument, even in the context of religious arguments which are ridiculously pointless in the first place. Wut.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/11/american-hermit-caught-27-years

I find this story fascinating. I accept the stealing takes away from the romanticism. But still. 27 years camping. Alone.

I came to post this, fascinating.

I've been intrigued by this idea for a while but never looked into it but over the last couple of years I've been doing quite a lot of trail running and the more I ran off road the more permenant/semi permanent camps I've stumbled across. Most are on the fringes of town (I live on the outskirts of Oxford) but I've come across others further afield too.

The most interesting was a small trail I followed down from the ring road in an attempt to get to and follow the river but I stumbled across a bicycle graveyard and then further on a smouldering campfire and finally a collection of shanty huts constructed from rubbish (one had a guitar built into the wall). I turned back and when I was looking for an alternative route A guy emerged with armfuls of wood for the fire and told me there wasn't any way through and that "this is campfire country down here". There is another clearly semi-permentant village of tents on Osney Meadow.

At first I had written off many of these camps (under bridges and around pillboxes etc) as rubbish left by tramps/drunks/druggies but the example above made me think a bit more - who are these people and why do they live like that? Is it by choice (I can partially see the appeal) or are they people forced out of society by circumstances and making the best of a bad lot?

The whole thing fascinates me.

^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9694000/9694094.stm

ah yes, here we are - http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family

Fascinating. That was a brilliant read.

I'm always inspired by people when they survive through things like that, and worry that maybe in future generations people won't know how to survive without the latest mod cons.

Maybe that's all been said before but I don't know.

thatchers britain
pffft

ah yes, here we are - http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family

Really enjoyed that, thank you.

^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9694000/9694094.stm

Also interesting. The tent village in Osney (maybe c.10 tents that are easily visible) certainly seems like a community of homeless who are simply scraping by. A single larger tent fronted with bare ground and a makeshift table also gives the impression of a communal area. I worry that the police take a dim view of these communities because another tent camp (just a couple of visible tents) visible from a railway bridge on my commute was moved on a couple of months ago.

Still, the shanty community seemed subtly different. There were at least 2 small dwellings built from junk (corrugated iron, pallets, tarp, a guitar etc etc) and they somehow felt more permanent. The huts were small but IIRC big enough to stand in and building those structures must have been considerable work. Also the camp seemed to be spatially organised into distinct areas - campfire, huts etc. There was also a bicycle graveyard and I wondered whether the inhabitants were somehow scratching a living from repairing/selling old (abandoned or stolen??) bikes.

Fascinating. That was a brilliant read.

I'm always inspired by people when they survive through things like that, and worry that maybe in future generations people won't know how to survive without the latest mod cons.

Maybe that's all been said before but I don't know.

The Armish will survive. Cutting off peoples beards.

Most are on the fringes of town (I live on the outskirts of Oxford) but I've come across others further afield too.

Forgot about the family of Scarlet Keeling-- that 15 year old girl raped and killed in Goa after a drug spree some years back? Living in Devon in busted caravans and piles of rubbish ....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-532789/The-truth-Good-Life-murdered-teenager-Scarlett-Keeling.html they went on an extended "holliday" to Goa on their Dole money... what did the mother say back then about the trip... It being a "reward" for their success...?

Really enjoyed that, thank you.

Also interesting. The tent village in Osney (maybe c.10 tents that are easily visible) certainly seems like a community of homeless who are simply scraping by. A single larger tent fronted with bare ground and a makeshift table also gives the impression of a communal area. I worry that the police take a dim view of these communities because another tent camp (just a couple of visible tents) visible from a railway bridge on my commute was moved on a couple of months ago.

Still, the shanty community seemed subtly different. There were at least 2 small dwellings built from junk (corrugated iron, pallets, tarp, a guitar etc etc) and they somehow felt more permanent. The huts were small but IIRC big enough to stand in and building those structures must have been considerable work. Also the camp seemed to be spatially organised into distinct areas - campfire, huts etc. There was also a bicycle graveyard and I wondered whether the inhabitants were somehow scratching a living from repairing/selling old (abandoned or stolen??) bikes.

http://www.lgcplus.com/lgc-news/young-and-homeless-in-the-countryside-an-emerging-crisis-for-britains-youth/1407971.article

Holy crap - Sunday - http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, believe anything that BBC WEATHER reports.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

madge goes child shopping again
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/11/malawi-madonna-exaggerating-humanitarian-efforts

and brace yourselves for the next dance craze and a million / billion copy cat video's
gangnam style mk.2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/10/south-korea-psy-new-single

Guaranteed that no-one will care

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, believe anything that BBC WEATHER reports.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

they're consistent

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, believe anything that BBC WEATHER reports.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

yeah i saw the update.
fuckers...

The cartooniness of the Met Office mapping irks me. I want to see the predicted movement of the clouds, not a scattering of silly icons FFS!

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/observations/#?tab=map&map=Rainfall&zoom=5&locId=350928&fcTime=1365642000&lon=-4.00&lat=54.63

hit play button

They're observations, not predictions.

^ the most accurate kind of prediction