TheWalkingDude

THAT... is what this place should be about... leave your egos at the door... It seems the mods can't though... Bit of a power thing.... I have asked them to tell me how I de-register.... They don't seem to like me??? I think it is coz i'm black.....

Could not agee more... I am half Irish and Algerian... can you imagine the time I had at the Christian Brothers' School in the mid 1960s??

How can you generalise a nation? Try this… tick the first word that comes to your head: British Reserved / hooligans / empire Irish Drunk French Resistance / Wine / Lovers / cowards Australians Brash / Beer / women with facial hair Americans Insular / Naive / Fat / kinda nice Germans Towels / Rude / War Mexicans Poor Welsh Singers / Coal / Sheep Scots Drunk / Bigots Russians Great Call Girls We all generalise and for good reason many races have obvious traits.. Some even have their own diseases which others cannot get….. sickle cell anaemia… for example. The South Africans were working on a few more but apartheid ended that research I am glad to say….

I just had a thought... I wonder could rude and boring actually be measured on the same scale... I have a meter that reads Chlorine and Cyanuric acid so why not... Imagine it we could measure a French man by getting hi to speak into a meter and that way we would know right away whether or not he was rude or boring... Back to that paint… and when I say paint I am not suggesting French people don’t paint well… They do… look at that short bloke who drank pernod or something…. He was a good painter… Did the cistern chapel he did and him no more than n 4 foot tall… Anyone got views on Pope Innocent III? J

I think they are neither. Some French are rude and some are boring…. Indeed some are both but that can be said of any race. One of my French Friends used to work for the Intelligence services and he is very far from boring. Another of my French friends is a farmer and he is very boring but not rude. I did meet a rude Frenchman in the shop recently but as I did not engage in a conversation with him I cannot say whether or not he was boring. I would be very interested to hear the views of others about what their experience has been. I am particularly interested in whether or not you have met French people who are either one or the other…. That is rude or boring…. But not both. I suppose like all of us French people also have moods so a Frenchman who is normally boring may not normally be rude…. But on the odd day he may be rude and boring… The again a normally boring Frenchman may have a manic day and present as being anything but boring. I must say this is an interesting topic… It is full of possibilities…. We have not even begun to consider regional variations on rude and/or boring. Has anyone experience of Corsican French people, either of the rude or boring type… or the more complex rude and boring type. I trust so far I have not offended anyone…. Where was I… Oh yes! Rude and or boring Corsicans…. Now Napoleon, was not boring but I suppose he was a bit rude…. He was an interesting fellow. I would hazard a guess…. But I am by no means certain that Josephine found him not so rude as other may have done…. Do you know that after battle and on his return homeward he would send a fast messenger out on horseback to Josephine to give her the message…. “I shall be home in 3 days…. Do not bathe”… That was rude I would say…. (I am not suggesting that the habit of not bathing is in anyway typical of the French… just in case someone prowling the forum in search of offence may infer. I wonder can one have degrees of rude… or degrees of boring…. And if they did would the scale be linear or would it be exponential…. Mmmm perhaps some of you readers would have a view on this… Yes I can see you all scratching your heads now and pondering this most interesting enigma. I would love to continue this but I really must dash as there is some paint drying in the kitchen and I want to catch the last 20 minutes of that. Jo….. The new non controversial Joe that is…. One may even say…… BORING JOE! (((Smily Face))))

OK I promise not to mention anything other than the topic 'French are Rude and Boring' Forgot to say... The French are very, very good at revolution... Obviously it is in the air over here even now... J PS ... for the moderators WINK!

It is a small box but OK. I would not ask for any changes to be made here though as it could be seen as contraversial.... I get the impression most users will be using 'applemac' anyway.... It is so much more pc to use that as a pc. Here is a winking eye ;-) just in case someone wants to feign offence. Appareantly that helps avoid people being offended. J

That's a relief.... it was bad enough having another member sending me insults privately without the Mod doing the same (by implication) on an open forum... I used to use Firefox myself but had probs with Acrobat. J

Is there some way I can send a photshot of my page. If there is please tell me so I can send it to the Mod. My page does not have the items you mention. IE 7 is very new and very few people use it. Has anyone else got this problem? The mod plainly does not believe me... If she did she would not have used the words 'if' and 'really' in her message. J

Good point but I only live in France so made reference to them. For my own part I have no vitriol towards the French... Just those who ignore what Really happened .... J

I have no desire to be difficult and will as you suggest in future add faces etc to show people I am saying something in a particular manner. I had thought though that those who use this forum were sufficiently well educated to deduce that for themselves. On the PM thing. I certainly never claimed it had been approved. I claimed that no objection was raised. I sent the post to 'Chris' last night and after 14 hours had no reply. I simply stated that no objection had been raised. With respect, if you pay so little attention to the content of my text it does explain in part why you have removed it. The txt I wrote was accurate factually. It did not make any personal remarks about any individual. Look at the title of the thread for heaven's sake!!!! That is more objectionable than my text. It seems Mt Shallac ( :-) ) a world figure can say 'the British can't cook' yet I cannot say the French don't do War so well'... You will if you are not careful have a forum full of spineless sycophants. Take a look at the threads to see what I mean. I feel my contributions, whilst not to everyone's taste do stimulate thought, emotion and reaction. If you find my comments objectionable .... don't reply... simple. I honestly feel that my text does not break any rules... Unlike the personal attack I have endured from another member. Plainly your PMs can not see the difference between personal vitriol and general comment.... even if it is a bit controversial. So much for free speech. Joe

This is not how my page appears. I am using IE 7 (Beta) . Where you say a horiz box will appear there is a row of faces. I can select any one but only to put next to my handle. There are then 2 more boxes, one says 'Post' the other 'review. J

That's an interesting story. I am glad you don't seem offended by my post. I have obviously used extreme humour to make what is a fair point. I have already been told off alittle but as the post is still here we must assmume the PMs are OK with it. I did also run it by themBEFORE posting to get an objective view on whether or not it was offensive. They made no comment so I presumed it would be OK. J

Thanks for the advise . I have looked for drop down boxes but see none ... there is a row of icons here... Is that what you mean. Hey... at least I got some life in me.... Joe

Sorry... Did I read that right? You compare Formula One hotels to 2 or 3 star Frenh hotels. I have stayed in many French hotels, usually 3 or 4 star (equ) and have always been appauled at the standards. The French obviously think dirty sheeets, shoddy decor and exposed wires are fine in a hotel..... Well what do you expect from a nation that take a dump into their shoes whilst standing up? J

but only at sea level.... I think I should tell you that it was only a joke. I never really freeze petrol.... or almost never.... I do store it n biscuit tins on the wardrobe though. J

That's very wise. I was not suggesting all discounting is daft... just wild discounting when you are desperate.... I only give discounts to people who re-book or those who book multiple weeks. More often I throw in a good generous welcome basket some wine etc... J

If he contacts you again get his address and give me a shout... I have a few mates in Dublin (and Sligo and Tralee and Limerick) who could pop round and have a 'chat'.... J

I recommend Bounce... I lived on that and G uinness in Uni... J

My car overheated in the French heat the other day and I have come up with an ingenious system to prevent this. Simply fill the ice tray with petrol and then freeze it….. it makes handy little petrol cubes which will cool your engine when used ……….. probably Joe

Did it myself. Don't be tempted to use a simple face mask. It is bad stuff. If you are not in a Termite area you will not be asked to do it. J

Fair enough, I probably over stated the point... I was suggesting that if everyone refused late booking discounts then the late booking problem might be lessened. We are after all all in the same boat... Regardless of how much we need the money we'd all like to get the best price available and I just feel giving too big a discount is counter productive. That said it would be hard to turn away a dicount request if you are eating dog food (not that i am suggesting you are....). An example I am on about is when a man contacted my wife and asked for a peak season week. he knew the rate was £750 and told my wife he only had a budget of £400. She simply asked why he was calling if his budget was about half of our prices and he became very abusive. Many holiday makers think we Gite owners are all poor and starving..... If we'd have said yes to that booking we'd have just reinforced that impression. I'd much prefer an empty Gite myself.... Cheers joe

Hi, It has been pointed out to me by someone who speaks French very well that my offer of translation whilst word by word accurate makes no sense as a phrase. Just in case you are about to use it in your brochures .... don't. Apparently the French will not know what you are saying. I regret to have caused you any inconvenience and wish you luck in your B&B venture. Joe.

Well done you....! That is exactly what people with cotages need to do... offer something a little different... the sucess you are getting is deserved. I do think though that one does not need to be obsessed by TV just for having one... as many others have said these devices have an on.off button.... Joe

I’ll tell you one of the conditions that was put on our pool build. It surprised me but maybe you already know about it. When we excavated we had to treat all the open ground against Termites. Apparently they live at about 6 foot and you can accidentally release them…. Full body kit, breathing apparatus and spray gun were needed…. One of those little things the kit suppliers forget to tell you about…. Joe