What we have to put up with.

[Quillan]

I didn't want to put this in the B&B section because I suspect Gite owners get strange things as well. I also thought I would share my experience with none owners so they can see some of the things we come across.

Perhaps Gite owners will know more about the Dutch than us but the Dutch always have a reputation of bringing everything with them and never spending a cent in France. This includes things such as potatoes, toilet rolls etc, etc.

We seem to be having a few Italians at the moment and we have a couple in at the moment. Apart from their terrible lack of timing (to arrive at 14:00, changed to 17:00 and actually arrived at 21:00) they also seem to believe many things in France are far more expensive than Italy so they also bring things with them.

This couple arrived, threw a case in the room then went off to find a place for dinner. We went to bed about 22:00 as we had a rare night off from evening meals so never saw them return and unpack the rest of their luggage. Before they went the chap asked for an ashtray for the room and of course we said we had a 'no smoking' policy in the rooms but you just know they will end up leaning out of the bathroom window to have a smoke.

After breakfast we, or more to the point me, service the rooms and the guy obviously saw me go in to another room with the master key. He caught me on the way out and told me not to touch the petrol in the bath! Scrapping myself off the ceiling I said I best have a look because it is an acrylic bath, he said not to worry because the caps were on properly. Well I had a look and behold, not one 25ltr red plastic can, not two even but four totalling 100ltrs in all.

I asked him what it was all about and why so much petrol to which he answered that a friend had told him that petrol was far more expensive in France and he should take some with him. I obviously thought that the difference must be astronomical but it turns out, compared to our local supermarket, that yes petrol is more in France, about 2 cents a litre more which to my making is 2 Euros he has saved. Well all I can say is austerity in Italy must be really biting hard.

I explained, seeing in my own mind him leaning out the bathroom window smoking a fag, that I would have a hard time explaining what all the petrol was doing in one of my baths when the house burnt down to the insurance company so the petrol is now stored outside round the corner from my garage.

So if your a Gite or B&B owner and have a reservation from some Italians keep a close eye on what they take out their boot in the middle of the night and check your Gite or bathroom (if your a B&B owner) the next day, you have been warned.

[nomoss]

That's just about as weird as the english people who phoned us late one summer evening, asking us if we could repair the refrigerator on their boat. 

They had just arrived by air with a whole frozen lamb (presumably cut up), which was already beginning to defrost.

All our staff had left for the weekend, so all I could suggest was to find a hotel, shop or restaurant that could store it in a freezer for them.

[idun]

Ah Tom Sharpe, would write a lovely funny book about all this.

[Pickles]

[quote user="Quillan"]I asked him what it was all about and why so much petrol to which he answered that a friend had told him that petrol was far more expensive in France and he should take some with him. I obviously thought that the difference must be astronomical but it turns out, compared to our local supermarket, that yes petrol is more in France, about 2 cents a litre more which to my making is 2 Euros he has saved. Well all I can say is austerity in Italy must be really biting hard.[/quote]

I don't know where he must've bought his petrol from, but during our recent tour around Europe (May this year) the price of both petrol and diesel in Italy was by far the most expensive we came across, at around 1.78€/l for diesel. High enough that we filled up whilst in Slovenia (we noticed that just before the border in Slovenia, there were BIG queues of Italian-registered cars at the first petrol station that they found in Slovenia) and drove across northern Italy without refilling (and without carrying jerrycans!). Online price comparisons still indicate Italy's prices to be higher than most other places, including France.

[Quillan]

To be honest Pickles I don't have a clue as to the price of petrol, diesel etc in Italy, its bad enough dealing with the sesaw prices locally, all I can repeat is what he told me so he is obviously a liar as well as a nutter.

Mind you this is the same chap that has a spare car battery in the rear seat foot well to power his Apple laptop which has a GPS receiver plugged in to it, a 10" by 7" mirror stuck to the dashboard so he can see his route on the laptop. He also has a small black and bright yellow camera on his dashboard as he videos every trip he makes. He has been stopped about five or six times by the Gendarmes since entering France (how they picked up on the petrol I don't know) and asked about the camera because they think it's a speed camera detector but that has not put him off using it. Not to mention his illuminated yacht compass glued to the central consul that's a big as a saucepan (the cmpass that is). He still gets lost by the way, or so his wife says.

[Loiseau]

Maybe your guest owns a petrol station, Quillan!

Actually, seriously, maybe he does. I can't think how else somebody could buy so much fuel in jerricans; wouldn't it be illegal?

Or else he's a farmer, and illegally using cheap agricultural diesel in his car...

Angela

[idun]

Interesting point Loiseau, it probably is not legal to have jerry cans full of petrol in one's home and not in the bath[:-))]

[Quillan]

No he is an IT technician at a local college. He is heavily in to these board games called 'ruins' or something where you all assume characters, roll dice around and 'fight' each other.

[nomoss]

It says something about the gendarmes that they would expect a speed camera detector to be black and bright yellow and placed in a conspicuous place on the dashboard.

They probably also check the back seat for large round black objects labelled "BOMB"

[Chancer]

[:D][:D][:D]

And with a lighted sparkler protruding from it no doubt!

[Quillan]

Hey don't laugh so much, fact can be stranger than truth. A few years ago just after the round up of the ETA suspects in Carcassonne and the discovery of a bomb factory there my afternoon siesta was interrupted by two Gendarmes who were doing the rounds to tell us to be on the lookout for ETA terrorists. I asked how I could tell them apart from all the other people visiting, their reply was something along the lines of " they will probably be carrying a case or bag with a bomb in it".

[Christine Animal]

Don't knock the gendarmes who can be extremely vigilant.

Recently an elderly man in a small town near us decided after dinner to get on his bike to go to post a letter.  On his way to the post office he was stopped by the gendarmes who made him do a breathalyzer !

 

[Mrs Trellis]

I think your guest was a nutter!  There are probably Italians who are relatively normal.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]I think your guest was a nutter!  There are probably Italians who are relatively normal.[/quote]

Well firstly I don't normally talk about my guests especially in a forum, you never know who is watching but in this instant I am in agreement with your comment. They left today and when cleaning the room I noticed paint flakes on the floor under an access panel to the pipes of the bath servicing the room next door. Why anyone would want to take the panel off and have a look I have no idea! I also noticed that the table lamps from the bedside cabinets had been placed in the wardrobe for some reason. People normally do this sort of thing when they break something but fortunately in this case everything is fine. I am afraid if they want to come back at any time we will be full (if you catch my drift). [;-)]

[NormanH]

You might like to have a look at this page and explore the many links which give much more interesting information about the life and culture of the Languedoc than the one you link to at the moment, for example about the history, language or the Cathars

http://www.midi-france.info/

[Evianers]

In Upper Wallis [Valais Haut] where we spend a great deal of our time, there are thousands upon thousands of Dutch tourists. They are know generally by the subriquet "de deur", which means in English "too dear" because in every shop in CH they are heard to be mumbling 'de deur, de deur'. And yes, they bring absolutely everything with them, but then so too do the Finns who come to their parents' house opposite us in France. Crazy world!