nimportequoi
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Posts posted by nimportequoi
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[quote user="Tag"]Apropos of nothing, just how well behaved do you think French kids are compared with Brits?[/quote]It doesn't depend on nationality, but on how well behaved and effective the parents are.
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[quote user="Russethouse"]One factor in the small gite my friend has is that it is very much just for couples - its really not a good space for children and in many ways that could be thought of as an advantage ![/quote]Yes, I bet there is, certainly there is probably a lot less cleaning to do! No yoghurt/chocolate stains on the sofa, no dirty fingerprints to wipe off everywhere, no scrabble letters left everywhere, no sticky sweets to extricate from the soft furnishings...Mark, even in the mountains I would probably want a little terrace or south facing balcony at the very least.Most of our bookings come from people who want a large garden, outside dining (incl barbecue) and plenty of facilities for kids.
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[quote user="Russethouse"]Oddly most of the people renting my friends place are French ...perhaps they have a different perspective ?[/quote]Or it could be the fact it is located in a seaside town - coastal locations are so popular that perhps people are more willing to compromise on the outside space in order to be near to the sea.
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Sorry for the thread creep, but JR is right, even an offer would have been nice. The father could quite easily drop the son off on his way to work and pick him up again after, but as that would mean paying for the garderie, they don't do it. I live on my own with two young children most of the time and have always managed to get by, although my neighbours are there if there is an emergency. I wouldn't have chosen to live so remotely if I didn't have a car and couldn't drive, I have never had to rely on other people (especially those I don't know) for anything, except in emergencies. My other neighbours are all equally frustrated with the behaviour of this family.
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It takes me and my 5 yr old 15 mins max to walk 1km.I've just had a situation with a newly arrived neighbour in our hamlet. A young French couple with a 3 yr old - he drives and works in a local factory, she doesn't. As soon as they arrived, they asked me if I could take their son to school as he goes to the same one as my daughter, 4,5km from where we live. I did this for a few weeks, as I was never offered any contribution to the cost of transport, and it was also incovenient for me, I stopped. Last week I saw the mother putting the 3yr old on the front of her scooter and taking him home this way. I feel a little guilty I'm no longer helping them out, but really if you choose to live in the countryside you need to have your own transport, it is not the problem of everyone else.
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Russethouse is right, if you buy from a hotel wholesaler, white towels are cheaper than coloured towels. I bought mine here and the quality is very good. If you go for colours, paler colours fade less obviously than darker colours.
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I'm sure most responsible gite owners already offer the things mentioned in the thread, but as you say, for new gite owners it isn't always obvious. Until I had a guest who arrived minus a filling and had to take him urgently to the dentist on a Saturday evening, details of a dentist isn't something I would have necessarily thought about putting in the welcome pack.I often get comments from people who stay with us about other places they have stayed in where the info hasn't been there, neither have things like cleaning products and toilet rolls. Another tip - if you want to attract the family market, it is always appreciated (and in some cases expected) that baby equipment is offered free of charge - cots, high chairs, stair gates, baby bath etc.Also nearest wifi hotspot or internet café if you don't have wifi access on site.
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Sorry, just stating the bleedin' obvious!It maybe just in my properties, but why do most of the French never bother to read the Régles de Vie? They rarely remove their own rubbish as requested...
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The info pack/régles de vie should contain everything possible, including how electrical appliances work, if you don't live on site. What to put in a fosse septique if you have one. Details and location of nearest doctor, dentist, A & E, supermarkets, shops, opening days of boulangeries, opening hours of shops, good local restos, opening closing time of pool if applicable and details of rubbish, market days as already mentioned in this thread. Horse riding, fishing, golf and any other activities available in the vicinity. Local walking maps. Contact number(s) if the owner doesn't live on site. Where the land boundaries are if you have neighbours. For UK guests electrical UK - French adapters are often useful. Basic condiments (salt, pepper, vinegar, oil etc.) in the cupboard as well as cleaning products, dishwasher tablets and toilet rolls - at least enough to keep guests going for a couple of days (so to speak!).
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It would help if a lot of them opened before my season started - my local one doesn't open until Easter at the earliest and even then it doesn't have all the brochures!
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[quote user="ArdecheGite"]
Or are free sites a waste of time?
[/quote]Most of them are not worth the time it takes to put your details on. There are a couple of exceptions which do bring in bookings, but if you are serious about letting, you need to be listed on the bigger rental listing sites. Doing a search on google using the key words you think people will use when looking for a gite like yours/in your area will give you some idea about which ones will be suitable. -
[quote user="Will"]
1. Perfectly suitable. There is a choice of several ferry routes, plus two or three airlines flying to nearby airports so getting to and from England is no problem.
This can significantly help lets in the shoulder season as many people do not want to travel for a long time if they are just taking a week off at Easter, for example. Also many families with young children do not want a really long car journey.
2. To be honest it may not have the initial appeal of some of the hotter regions, but the area does have a lot going for it, so it depends mainly on how well you market your place.
From what some of my guests with young children were saying last year, the temperature in summer in Brittany/Normandy is as hot as they want in order to be able to spend a lot of time outdoors with their kids on the holiday. The beaches in the area are unspoilt and beautiful too.
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Andrew,The pompe à chaleur was already installed and had been working for a few years when I made the enquiry about solar, so I don't think the advice was based on what they could sell me! But I appreciate what you have said - solar should work in most places now. If I wanted a temperature of 27°c from 1st April to 31st October, would this be possible do you think?You are right on the noise too - we have never had any complaints from the people staying in gites as ours is far enough away, but noise could be an issue to some people.
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I can only comment on the PSA which I've had for 6 years with no problems. We have an abri, so save quite considerably on heating costs there. If we were further south, I'd definitely consider solar heating, but I've been told it isn't really feasible if you are north of Nantes.
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This happened in my daughters school last year. The institutrice organised posters and petitions but at the rentrée, the class did not exist, there were 3 instead of 4. Two days later it was re-instated due to the numbers per class (35 on average), so it is possible that nothing will be sorted until the rentrée, when the authorities know the exact numbers of the classes.
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[quote user="Clair"]Is it acceptable to agree with only some of Ségo's and some of Sarko's positions? Who is offering the compromise?I do not believe that Ségo has the confidence, the assertiveness to win over the elephants, nor the right program to overcome the current problems and I completely disagree with some of Sarko's views.So who's left?[/quote]François Bayrou?
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Someone new has just joined the Laymyhat forum who appears to offer this service in the Vendée, their website is here
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samdebretagne,you need to consider your building too - a livebox wouldn't work for me because of the 2m thick granite walls and it you are in Brittany you may have a similar problem.
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[quote user="KathyC"][quote user="KathyC"]
[quote user="ali-cat"]I remember being told, by a teacher in school, that English won, by 1 vote, over German.[/quote]
This is certainly what I was taught as well.
[/quote]
Oh well, teachers, what do they know?
http://usa.usembassy.de/germanamericans-language.htm
Edit: Mr. Smith excepted.
[/quote]I stand corrected! [:$] -
[quote user="Blitzen"]The way I heard this one was that it was a choice between English and German!?[8-)][/quote]I'm sure it was French, in fact the French helped America win the war of Independence just before they revolted.
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[quote user="Will "]
That's very true. Read any of the many excellent recent histories of the English language, by people as diverse as Bill Bryson and Melvyn Bragg, and all say the same. French was the language of the ruling classes, the well-to-do and the law makers, English was the language of the peasantry.
Plus ça change... [;-)]
[/quote]And I think I'm right in saying that when America won its independence it had to decide upon either English or French as the national language - if they had chosen French then how different would things be for the English now? -
[quote user="Russethouse"]
And so often they are the very same people who left the UK because of the rise in immigration........[Www]
[/quote]How true -this is an summary of a converstation I had with one such ex pat (possiblly a Daily Wail reader) whom I met on arrival in France 5 years ago.Her: I'm so pleased to have left England, it is full of immigrants now, dreadful place.I think there ought to be a law in place that prevents people livingthere unless they speak English fluently.(A little later in the conversation)Me: How long have you lived in France? You must speak French pretty well by nowHer (very proudly): I've been here 10 years and no I don't speak a word of French, don't need to. -
Same as Honeydo - we have Sky + here with no phone line connection and it records everything incl. series links.
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There was a little article in Time magazine this week:-"Fresh from a country with two official languages: a new Canadian studysuggests that being bilingual will, on average, postpone the onset ofdementia by 4.1 years. Even after adjusting for schooling andimmigration status, the results were unequivocal: being a polyglot (orat least a biglot) fights brain rot. What's not clear is why.Researchers speculate the ability to operate in two languages could —like exercise or stimulating leisure and social activity — help thebrain continue normal functions even as it decays physically. Justdon't expect great things from your French refresher course. The study,appearing in the February issue of Neuropsychologia,defines bilingual as "regularly using at least two languages"throughout adulthood — and there's no evidence that flipping throughphrase books will help. Quel dommage."So even if you aren't fluent, making an effort to speak more than one language is good for you!I had rusty A level French when I came over so never needed lessons and 5 years later speak a lot better than I did, possible fluently, but I wish I could improve my accent! I suppose the good thing is that French people don't know I'm English, but they know that I'm definitely not French when I speak the language.
french kids
in The Complete France Post Bag
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