In Utopia Streets there is a lot of social interaction. The boozers, the opium addicts and the grammarian fiends all openly interact through their respective addictions. Overall they enjoy more social cohesion than the poor and law abiding normals; those cravers of respectability who scrimp to pay bills, work all hours to put food on the table and yet continue to believe in the system.
Gypsies better cope than the normals in harsh economic environments. Their nomadism serves them well. For this often comes with knowledge of which rivers to fish and how to lay effective rabbit traps. And, as experienced foragers, they harvest nuts and wild raspberries.
Not to forget their penchant for eating hedgehogs. They trap them too!
Hedgehog stew
Strayleaf’s dad is held in high esteem among his community. He is tough and sharp witted, and further distinguished by a broad back and the tattoo of a hedgehog upon it. It was while learning to swim with Strayleaf’s family – on the stretch of river downstream of Wilders’ old bridge – that i saw the tattoo for the first time. With the natural frankness of youth, i straight out asked him why.
The answer i received came in the form of one line recipe: ‘Remove the snout and boil until spines drop out.’ Afterwards his daughter gave a fuller explanation for why hedgehogs are gypsy kosher.
– Spines (on the outside) meaning the insides are clean to eat. Tasty, too.
i said nothing, not wishing to cause offense. And i remain sceptical. Martha having told me that when there isn’t much to eat, the best sauce of all is hunger, which makes anything taste great.
The age of prolonged austerity has seen the resumption of hedgehog stew.