Frederick Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 http://www.shortfilmfests.com/content/get-my-landAbout Trespassing .... warning it may shock ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 [quote user="Salty Sam"][quote]......... with directions of how to get to the charity coffee morning being held around the corner, by another English couple.[/quote]There you go idun, if it's a English run affair - French rules don't apply![:D][/quote] Lovely, just what I like to hear[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="DerekJ"]"The only trouble with that is that the permanent UK residents who organise or attend these events may feel a bit miffed " Then they should have the good manners to ask first. PS. what is up with this forum software? All screwed up yet again![/quote]Absolutely right Derek.The UK residents who think it perfectly acceptable for attendees to use anyone private land to park would not be the type of people I would like to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Oh, it's not just UK people.....This time last year we got some new neighbours in France. They actually live round the corner, but we have a barn with doors that face onto the road next door to their property, and it has a small space outside those barn doors: just big enough to park a car.The property they bought was in dire need of complete renovation, and had a small front garden. The previous occupant (who was renting) had a large entrance area to the garden, where he could drive in and park a car. There's NO other parking space, and the road in front of their house and my barn is only one vehicle-width wide.When I visited last January, the builders were busy...and were parking daily on the patch of land outside my barn. No harm done, I thought at the time...they had a big flatbed truck and it seemed logical for them to be able to park there whilst using the front garden for materials, cutting wood etc.There were other slightly niggling things going on which impacted on our property, but I wasn't too concerned at that stage. A little miffed that no-one had endeavoured to contact us to warn us of their various intentions and the impact on us or our property (including them inserting ugly glass bricks into the niches de poule in their back wall, which forms the garden wall of our house)When I went back in Spring, however, I discovered that the building work had finished, and among the "finishing touches", they'd built a wall which completely enclosed their small garden, with just a gate for pedestrians to enter.....leaving them nowhere to park their car except outside our barn!!!I bumped into the neighbour, who turned out to be a German chap, and we had a brief chat, during which he delivered the question "You don't mind me parking here, do you?" Which is the sort of question which leaves you feeling as if you've just been asked "Do you still beat your wife?" because however you answer (if your answer is actually "YES") you sound churlish. So I made it clear that I did mind, at least a bit. The blow was softened a little by the German neighbour announcing that they'd bought an adjacent barn to use as a garage.When I returned in summer, they were still parking outside my barn. However, builders arrived and started work on the barn, so I was fairly happy that the parking issue would shortly be resolved. After a couple of weeks, however, I noticed that the Germans seemed to have a different car....and then twigged that in fact they'd let out their house to family or friends, and told THEM to park outside our barn!!!!On top of all this, the small area of land on which they were (permanently) parked now had waist-high nettles growing round the edges, and the grass not flattened by tyres had grown to the point where it was beyond the capacity of our lawnmower.....even if I could have managed to get to it to tidy up! They'd neither considered or offered to do anything about this....At this point, the red mist descended, and I popped out to the local brico and bought a couple of fence posts, a decent length of chain, and a "Defence de stationner" sign. When I got home, I found that, for the first time in several days, the locataires had actually gone out in their car, so I struck while the iron was hot and erected my makeshift barrier!! Just to make things clear, I spent the entire afternoon of the following day weeding and mowing the aree. As I said, it's just about big enough to park a single vehicle, so you'll get an idea of the state it had got into if I tell you that I removed 7 wheelbarrows full of weeds and grass cuttings!!!I haven't seen them since, but trust they've got the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I presume a "defence de stationner" is the french equivalent of a "polite notice".[:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I dunno.....I certainly wasn't in any way intending to be polite[:P]. In any case, the notice is behind the chain fence, in a belt-and-braces approach. Well, this IS a cause for celebration! I have a full-sized reply box AND smilies. Thanks, santa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breizh Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Betty, after 15 years of living and working with them, you don't have to be "nice" to Germans. Polite requests will not register. Do not be subtle. Do not think polite British. They just don't get it. It an old cliche, but give them an order, and they will understand, they will not be offended, or take it personally. Took me years to get my head around it. I now have 3 heads. My polite English head, abrupt, commanding German head, and polite, demanding French head. Can be fun if you've got a meeting with all 3 nationalities in the same room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="pachapapa"]I presume a "defence de stationner" is the french equivalent of a "polite notice".[:P][/quote] I don't think that I have ever seen a sign that says aller vous faire quelque chose, which wouldn't be polite and would be noticed![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="idun"][quote user="pachapapa"]I presume a "defence de stationner" is the french equivalent of a "polite notice".[:P][/quote] I don't think that I have ever seen a sign that says aller vous faire quelque chose, which wouldn't be polite and would be noticed![:-))][/quote]Twas' nought but a cunning orthographic ploy.http://goo.gl/9NNPQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="breizh"]Betty, after 15 years of living and working with them, you don't have to be "nice" to Germans. Polite requests will not register. Do not be subtle. Do not think polite British. They just don't get it. It an old cliche, but give them an order, and they will understand, they will not be offended, or take it personally. Took me years to get my head around it. I now have 3 heads. My polite English head, abrupt, commanding German head, and polite, demanding French head. Can be fun if you've got a meeting with all 3 nationalities in the same room.[/quote]I should have known, really....having a Dutch f-i-l, who was, along with the extended family, similarly direct, I soon learned that, around them at any rate, the answer to "do you mind?" is a perfectly acceptable "Yes, I do!".I can totally understand your point, breizh..I work with many different nationalities and the Germans I meet always respond remarkably literally to requests AND suggestions. Just before a recent round of exams, I set my students a little "test" of 20 fairly meaningless questions, divided into 2 sections, the whole test having a 10 minute time limit. Question 14 read "Do not answer any of the questions in section 1". The objective, of course, was to demonstrate the importance of reading the exam questions thoroughly before starting to try and answer them. As you've probably guessed, the only students who didn't fall for it were my 2 German students (well..one was Austrian, but..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="pachapapa"][quote user="idun"][quote user="pachapapa"]I presume a "defence de stationner" is the french equivalent of a "polite notice".[:P][/quote] I don't think that I have ever seen a sign that says aller vous faire quelque chose, which wouldn't be polite and would be noticed![:-))][/quote]Twas' nought but a cunning orthographic ploy.http://goo.gl/9NNPQ[/quote]Golly, I made a typo. I should be taken out and shot, of course. I couldn't find one that said "Trespassers will be Persecuted" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Obviously once he'd got his towel on your bit of beach it was his, Betty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="pachapapa"][quote user="idun"] [quote user="pachapapa"]I presume a "defence de stationner" is the french equivalent of a "polite notice".[:P][/quote] I don't think that I have ever seen a sign that says aller vous faire quelque chose, which wouldn't be polite and would be noticed![:-))][/quote]Twas' nought but a cunning orthographic ploy.http://goo.gl/9NNPQ[/quote]Golly, I made a typo. I should be taken out and shot, of course. I couldn't find one that said "Trespassers will be Persecuted"[/quote]Oi, who are you calling 'Golly'? It ain't polite to use that word nowadays, you know!![:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="cooperlola"]Obviously once he'd got his towel on your bit of beach it was his, Betty.[/quote]Snarf! Of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 [quote user="woolybanana"][quote user="You can call me Betty"]Golly, I made a typo. I should be taken out and shot, of course. I couldn't find one that said "Trespassers will be Persecuted"[/quote]Oi, who are you calling 'Golly'? It ain't polite to use that word nowadays, you know!![:D][/quote]I only used it because I couldn't spell shyte.[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Hahahahahahahaha[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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