shauna

Fantastic Story! lt was so visual and so "Faulty Towers". You will surely have a wonderful dinner party story for a long time to come....loved it..... although l am sure that you have only been able to laugh retrospectively it is certainly a gem  Regards Shauna.

Coco, l totally sympathise and agree with all you said. l am in a very similar position, except that l let my main house and live on site in a small gite on the property. l tend to get families, usually two, they always have loads of kids,they never go out and up to now all have been English. The property sleeps ten and the average stay is two weeks. Yes, the English children are horrendous and yes the parents are in the main totally incompetent in controlling them. l have also considered a child free zone, but have been told that l will limit my bookings by choosing this option. l am not sure that this is true, but l for one would have no hesitation to do this if l was still able to get bookings. Like yourself and so many others by the sound of this thread, l have experienced so much damage from other peoples children. l am just constantly amazed at the total ineptness of parents who just allow these children to behave and do what they like, wherever they are. You certainly sound like you had an awful time with your guests and their kids but without being too negative it seems that this is what it is like at the moment. Have you seen the new series of programmes such as  Nanny 911 where a nanny is sent into a family home to try and restore order for the parents?  These programmes are quite unbelievable if you should come across them and seem to show the incredible lack of discipline that seems to have become a fashionable new from of parenting. Last year l used to wish that the skimmer on the pool was big enough and powerful enough to just suck most of them through the filter system!!  Good Luck for the rest of and as you say you do meet some really nice people in this business but then l've met some really nice people at bustops!!  Kind Regards Shauna

Dear Anton, l am so sorry l forget to reply to your question about what l would do if having not proceeded to no. 5 my guest "had dropped dead on my doorstep". Well, fortunately at the moment we have some building work in process and a resident cement mixer to hand, so providing l could dispose of the "body" before the arrival of the next guests and preferably during nightfall in order not to alarm the resident "live" ones, l would be quite happy to put this down as part of "room service" and of course return their deposit in full. Because after all, l do consider myself to be a very decent and honest kind of person.

Hi MikeJan, my God l cannot believe that someone left because of a lizard in the skimmer! lt makes me feel relatively lucky! As you so say so many stories. l heard someone say this season that their guests had complained that there were bats outside! They apparently left in disgust saying that they would never have booked the Gite if they had known that bats flew around OUTSIDE at night!! We really ought to run a competion for the most outrageous reason for leaving or a refund! Yes and as you say being nice in this business is not only virtually impossible to sustain but it would seen downright stupidity!  Please don't take all this too seriously as l do not want to start a ranting thread here and anyway l have guests leaving and new ones arriving on Saturday. A great time has been had by all and l will be charm itself when l meet my new arrivals Sat afternoon and wish them a very happy week!!!!  Regards Shauna.

Miki l completely understand where you are coming from and the other likeminded Gite and B&B owners. Did Richard mention Blackpool in the 50,s well all l can say is l wish cos l would have them all out with a stale sandwich in their hand, doors locked and not opened again till 6.00!!!. As for "clever clogs" being offensive, well again l think the last time l heard that expression was on Blue Peter! Perhaps this is the 50,s after all!!!!  Regards and sympathies to fellow owners  " Newbie Shauna"

Hi Mrs MDR, in answer to your question "what would you do"? l can honestly say that two years ago when l started this awful business l would easily have gone to no 5 and beyond as you yourself so kindly did. Now, well, what can l say, except that l am almost John Cleese incarnate at the moment, therefore, with that in mind  l would reluctantly go to no.1  secretely hoping that they could not return until the day of their departure!  l would also claim that my French was limited to ordering a coffee and that l would certainly be liable  to suffer a major panic attack upon entering any medical establishment and witnessing any horrendous eqipment etc thus rendering myself more of a liability than themselves!!!!  l hope my first posting is not too much of a shock to anyone but does anyone know of any dogs looking for a lovely farmhouse and private pool to rent for next season?  Kind Regards Shauna p.s. l used to be really nice!!!!!