Pointless exercise and waste of money

I didn’t Callistemon but my older brother and his mates spent the summer of 71 doing so, somewhere near Bordeaux. It seemed so foreign and exotic to a teenager in the sticks of north Wales and I still have a postcard he sent me!

Did anyone go grape picking in France in their youth?

I was brought up in Essex. As I recall it was mostly housewives and students who went fruit picking to get a bit of extra money.

I also recall a number of of the strawberry farms around Tiptree changing to Pick Your Own in the early 70s. All they had to do was pay a few people to weigh the berries picked and take the money...

Pantglas2
I lived near Tiptree for many years. A great deal of fruit picking was done by pentioners. They would arrive in their caravans/motohomes, stay the season and then go to Spain.

Tiptree has a big traveller community. No way would those girls pick fruit ?

I am guilty of having no idea what this thread is about, but remembered the hop and fruit picking from years ago!

It sounds idyllic.

You’re right Callistemon, I worked with a guy who spent his pre school summers in the early sixties on hop farms and didn’t realise his parents were actually working!

I think in years gone by people used to go en masse from London and big cities to pick fruit and vegetables in the countryside - it was probably the best they could hope for in the way of a holiday.

Hop picking in Kent in particular - 'The good old days'

Thank you anniezzz09 and crystaltipps - funnily enough this question came up at a bar quiz last night and one guy said that here in Spain if you’re unemployed you’re expected to turn up at the town hall and are given jobs in the community for six weeks unemployment pay.

Someone else (in his late eighties) also said that in the twenty five years post war and pre Common Market, there was a massive stigma to being unemployed and people would take any job they could get, no matter how menial, in order to avoid that.

I think much fruit and veg was picked by travellers and the poor who
lived in rural area . Many of the rural Inhabitants have moved to towns and cities for more regular employment so that pool of labour no longer exists.

Personally I would have preferred a confirmatory/People’s vote to sort out Brexit. I feel that if the Torys win and continue along their Brexit pathway this will simply be the beginning of years of negotiating deals, rewriting our laws etc. Getting Brexit ‘done’ simply means that we move to another phase. I fear that the U.K. will splinter under the current proposals for a border down the Irish Sea and a raft of red tape for Northern Ireland. I hope we Remain.

It's a pointless question Pantglas, you can't impose the past on the present. The world has moved on, you won't find our educated youth picking tomatoes unless you believe in forced labour. Maybe you do,?

I’ve asked this on another thread but didn’t get an answer - who picked the fruit and veg before we joined the Common Market?

''It will be fantastic to see farmers farming not throwing away their stock

What, like the huge quantities of foodstuffs that have gone unharvested this year because the EU workers haven't turned up in their usual numbers?

Or are you thinking of something else?''

there is going to be a lot of cheap beef and lamb/mutton soon- if No Deal, for sure.

You'll be lucky mary ! We've been asking that for over 3 years and I can recall only two coherent and rational answers.

To Polnan. I would love to know your reasons for voting Leave.

In the rush to register to vote in the last few days, by far the biggest group to do so are the youngest (18-30?).
My DGC most certainly have not shown "shameful disinterest" (sic)

Other countries, for example Ireland regarding abortion, hold referendums as consultation exercises. They are then reheld when the issues which have been revealed have been subjected to research and information gathering, thus allowing a more informed second vote.

The 2016 referendum has been comprehensively shown to have been corrupt and the subject of massive underplanning and misinformation. Of course it should be rerun, it is going to cost us all a huge amount for nothing more than untruths about sovereignty and democracy.

As to the young showing a shameful disinterest, this is validated where? I would say most young people are angry at the future opportunities which are being denied them to study and work in the EU in the future.

And what would we do if we had a second referendum and the result was remain, with as small a percentage as the first referendum? Do we then have a "best of three" to resolve the situation? I personally think a general election is a better way of resolving the Brexit issues - another referendum which, if the polls are to be believed, would be just as close and even more divisive than the current shite state of affairs. We have the Conservative and Brexit parties standing on a Leave ticket, the Lib Dems and SNP standing on a Remain ticket - and god only knows what the Labour party stand for on this issue! Corbyn needs to get his arse off the fence and come down on one side or the other. I personally look forward to the December election and I encourage everyone, whatever your views, to get out there and vote - and encourage the rest of your family to vote, particularly younger voters who have shown a shameful disinterest in the entire protest.

I don't understand why some people think that the EU wouldn't negotiate. They spent 3 years negotiating waiting for the UK to get its act together and to come up with a solution for an EU/UK land border between N Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It can only be that such people get their information, or should I call it misinformation, from the tabloid newspapers. The latter should be shut down IMHO. Reading Farmers Weekly or looking at the NFU website would give you a more reasoned view Merryweather.

Great Post GrannyGranby.

Oh do talk sense merry.
How about suggesting we'll achieve zero carbon emissions by riding unicorns?

It will be fantastic to see farmers farming not throwing away their stock

What, like the huge quantities of foodstuffs that have gone unharvested this year because the EU workers haven't turned up in their usual numbers?

Or are you thinking of something else?

it wasn't actually the referendum that made the decision to leave, it was parliament
Yes, and something I have been questioning ever since Grannygranby

Well, if whichever party doesn't win or the electorate doesn't like the result there can be legal challenges and demonstrations to have it changed, can't there?

Personally, I think we would be best to leave without a deal and tell Europe where they can stick it. How on earth are we supposed to negotiate with people who won’t negotiate?
It will be fantastic to see farmers farming not throwing away their stock. Wonderful fit UK industries the economy we can actually start making and producing things again. We’re paid not to produce by the Eu. The billions we pay to the EU will be better spent here.
Boris - get us out! I voted remain and I wish I hadn't.