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Life On The Road
The Newton family run a mechanical lucky dip stall, travelling thousands of miles each year to fairgrounds all over Scotland and England ...
Thomas explains, "My family goes back 4 or 5 generations that I know of, but my father's 72 - he travelled all his life, and my grandmother, she passed away two years ago, she was 96, travelled all her life. It's a great life because you've got all your family next to each other, all your friends, if anyone's in a problem, your friends all help. Showpeople will help one another."
Lindsay believes her three daughters have a good quality of life, "My children don't just go to school and come back and sit in the house, they're seeing part of the world." Her 15 year old daughter, Tiffany, who has just finished exams, finds that the travelling life can clash with the demands of schoolwork, "This year, I've been staying home at Glasgow with my Gran all week and just coming home at weekends. I'd prefer to stay here."
The Newtons enjoy their life, but it's not an easy one. Lindsay: "It's really hard to keep the pennies together, to pay the bills. At a fair, you're waiting for a Saturday, it rains all day and it's just been a wash out - it's quite a hard life."
The Newtons live in a 30 foot caravan, with all mod cons, but still find that people can make them feel unwelcome. Thomas: "People who live in house, we call them flatties, no disrespect. We call ourselves showmen. We're happy to pay our way wherever we go, but there's a certain amount of people, because they live in the town, and we're there for the week, think we shouldn't be there. Why, I don't know."
Tiffany is not sure whether she'll carry on the family tradition, "I do know that I want to go to university to study psychology, but I don't know what I'll do - it depends when the time comes." Her father adds, "Whatever she decides to do we'll help her. Show people all help one another. It's a hard life, but it's great. I wouldn't change it - for anything."
Do you live in an unusual place or have an unusual lifestyle?
Did you choose it or are you following a family tradition?
What makes it so different from other people's lives?
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