Rosebud

[quote user="wen"]Abi, I sympathise as I'd be damned if I'd sit at a table with other people's kids as the parents are bad enough in my experience. I have found that kids these days are allowed to cross too many boundaries ie. calling adults by their first names.[/quote] So how do your kids adress people?? My friends kids call me by my name, I wouldn't expect anything else.  There's certainly nothing 'boundary crossing' about that.  What twaddle!    

KKK, is it my imagination, or are you being picked on in this thread?

a washing machine would be essential for us. a dishwasher would be a must as well!  I would always take washing powder and dishwasher tabs with me, but it's nice to find some already there.  I always leave any surplus behind for the next occupiers. I would always try to keep to the place clean as well.  It helps if some cleaning products are provided, which they usually are. [:)]

Every dog owner in Toulouse who allows his/her dog to cr*p all over the pavement [+o(] All the French men who think it's OK to p*ss wherever the hell they like.  grrrrrrrr Anybody who calls me a grumpy young lass [;-)]  

shouldn't have read that in my delicate morning state.....[+o(][+o(][+o(]

Thanks Cathy and everybody else for your suggestions. So far I'm not having much luck, but there are a few last minute websites I've yet to try..... Rosie  

http://usa.worldcupblog.org/group-e/secret-italian-training-video.html   [:-))][:-))]

Hello all I've added myself but I'm not yet on the map either.....    

Thanks I'm open to all suggestions.  We haven't yet been over to the Atlantic and we really want to try it before we say Au Revoir to France.  I fear I may have left it too late though, as August is of course the busiest month....[:(] I'll check these places out on the web now...... If anybody knows of any decent places to stay, we are two adults & two toddlers, so ideally we need self catering.....      

Dear all We are looking to spend a long weekend on the Atlantic coast sometime in August.  We live in Toulouse, so somewhere around the Biarritz area.  Does anybody have any resommendations where we should try? Thanks

I fully agree with Ali.  Rooney was goaded , as was Zidan, no doubt.  Ronaldo deserves all the critisism he gets.  His behaviour towards Rooney and then that cocky wink to the bench was unreal!  I hope Alex Ferguson dumps him pronto!  I'm no Rooney fan either but in this case he was NOT the villian. I'm SO pleased Zidan won the golden ball, despite what happened last night.  Yes, he behaved badly, but he is a truly fantastic player and deserves to be remembered as such. We went to Place Capitol in Toulouse for the first half of the game.  The atmosphere was fantastic, I'll never forget it.  Yeah, it's a shame France lost, but I was genuinly happy for the Italiens, and at least we were able to get a good nights sleep after all! [:-))]    

[quote user="jayjay"] [quote user="Russethouse"] I reckon a Guiness (or two) might help, but in moderation. You know what they used to say 'Guiness is good for you'[/quote]  Last week was not great for me & going through the change doesn't help.[:(] A little friend on here said to have some Guinness. So I did! I'm sure it helped, but after a couple, I didn't care![:-))] [/quote]   Too right!  When I was pregnant with number two my doctor recommended Guiness to keep the iron levels up!  Now number three is on the way, I'll be doing the same thing, in moderation of course [;-)]

I think it will be a France - Italy final.  I'm sad the Germans went out though, I wanted them to win.  Everybody who's left now has cheated along the way..... I'm not really bothered who wins now, but here in Toulouse they are being VERY patriotic.  If France win, there'll be no sleep for us if last week is anything to go by!  Fire works, yelling, screaming in the street, the lot!! [:)]    

gutted.......[:'(] My money's on Germany now.........   Let's see.........    

Ali, Pip and Steve Thanks for your comments.  Sorry I took it personally, I blame the hormones you know!  I know you weren't saying all  modern parents are rubbish....[:$] It was mentioned earlier that it's always the not-so-good parents who get noticed, and those with good kids are just taken for granted.  I have to admit I NEVER appreciated the hard work of my parents until I had kids of my own!  I guess that's why I get frustrated now, because I know what my attitude used to be... I think the restuarant scenario Russethouse describes sounds dreadful, and I have sympathy for all who were there (not the least the poor kid), but I certainly feel those elderly ladies were out of order for behaving like that. Anyway, that's enough from me, I'm off to put my feet up and enjoy the peace now the kids are safely tucked up for the night....... Rosie [kiss]   PS.  Isn't it tough living in such a PC world?  I have been really tempted to give my kids a smack at times, but these days you can get accused of abuse if you do.....I guess that's another topic though,  but not one for tonight!

I realise it's difficult to get your opinions accross on a forum, as things can be misenterpreted very easily, so I apologise if anybody thinks I was being rude to Ali, or in any way condoning the woman who let her child cry and spoil the enjoyment of others, as I certainly wasn't.  As I said, I would be MORTIFIED if I thought my children were upsetting people.  I would remove them from the situation rather than let that happen. I am certainly not a member of the 'children can do no wrong and must be allowed to fully express themselves' brigade, what utter twaddle that is! I absolutely resent being tarred with that brush though because a) I am a parent b) I am 'modern' It's always been hard raising kids.  It's no easier now than it was years ago.  I resent the implication that 'modern' parents don't discipline their kids!!!!  Where does that idea come from?  Just because a few people let the side down.  There have always been bad parents and there have alway been bad kids!  I seem to spend my whole life disciplining mine!!  Bless them, I'm lucky they are (mostly) extremely well behaved (in public at least!) I'll shut up now!  I'm probably just being stressed and hormonal anyway.........two toddlers and number three on the way....would drive anybody mental! [:)]  

[quote user="Pip"] Rosebud, I think in this case the facts were that the mum was more interested in pursuing her own conversation rather than caring for her child or considering other people - totally self-indulgent. It is very hard work looking after kids, no-one can deny that, but the effort parents put in is definitely worth it when, as Dotty said, you can be proud of your kids. [/quote] Show me a parent who isn't proud of their kids!  I know I am tremendously proud!  I'm also a lot more sympathetic towards other parents whose children are 'playing up' because they ALL do it from time to time. However, to make a sweeping statements about how discipline has 'all but' disappeared, implies that today parents aren't as good as they used to be.  It's simply unfair. I agree that in this case it sounds as though the mother was being self induglent, as you put it.  However, I feel the old women who slow hanclapped were far worse.  Nobody deserves to be treated like that.  A polite word in her ear should have been enough....... 

Parental discipline seem to have all but vanished...... (couldn't get the quote to work, sorry!)   Ali, this is a sweeping statement which you only ever here from people without kids.  I find it unfair.  It's bloody hard work!  My two are generally OK in public, but believe me they can run me ragged as well.  I would be mortified if I thought they were upsetting others, and I try my damndest to make sure they don't, but kids do play up sometimes, and it's not fair to blame the parents without knowing all the facts. Maybe the mum was tired and stressed.  Maybe she would have responded to somebody (perhaps the staff) politely asking her to do something about the child.  I don't know.  Before I had kids I was a staunch member of the 'can't you control that brat?' brigade!!  Now I always try to to understand the situation before jumping to conclusions.  Of course I'm not condoning letting kids run wild, heaven forbid!  But I strongly feel that the slow hand clapping was both cruel and ignorant. To do  that makes the hand clappers every bit as bad if not worse than the seemigly uncaring mother.........    

speaking of cheating.  Who saw the Italy game last night? [:-))]

Brazil 2 Ghana 0 Spain 2 France 1    

[quote user="Debra"][quote user="white-van-man"]I'm also in my early 40's, female, no children and white-can-man is the other half. I took redundancy to come, have I moved too early? The place seems split between younger people with children or retirees. My age group is very thin on the ground i.e. not found any, including our lovely French neighbours.[/quote]You could consider having a baby and then you'll have plenty to talk about with the younger people with children or the retirees with grandchildren!  You'll also have a fascinating ongoing project which requires lots of concentration and energy and you'll never have time to be bored again!  I might be biased, being in my early 40's too and pregnant............[/quote] Nice one Debra!! I must admit I found rural France a real struggle.  We came here with OH's work, and with the genuine belief that we could live the life.  It didn't take long before reality hit home though.  I thought I was going out of my mind.  I remember our first village fete, I was holding back the tears!! I'm not knocking it for others, I've met some lovely folks who are really happy here, it just isn't for me.  We're now back in town, en route back to out adopted home later this year.  We've had two years here, and it's not all been bad. However, with two little ones, and another on the way, we just need to be in a place where there's lots going on.......[:)]            

Homeschooling is quite obviously a solution for many parents, and I can see the benefits, particularly if the parents are not planning on staying here long term and don't wish their childrens education to be disrupted. However, I would worry about the childs social developement.  Surely keeping the child at home during these formative years will have a negative impact on that?  Does anybody have any information/statistics, regarding this? 

[quote user="Richard-R"]"Let he/she who is without sin cast the first stone" Seems some posters are just more interested in the fact that this guy's got money and an Aston, so want to hang him from the nearest tree. A very nasty British working class attitude.[/quote]   Err, right OK, whatever you say.......[geek]

Wow!!!!!   I'm going to try this!!! Amazing! [:-))][:-))]

The Four Seasons at Champs Elysees.....pure luxury! [kiss]