Fairygirl, I had a similar experience in the mountains above Banff in the Canadian Rockies - beautiful warm weather, but once you reached higher altitudes the midges were waiting for you! Up until then I naively thought, the Rockies, the Great Outdoors, fresh air, a break from working in smelly old London - it was all of that, but I wish somebody had warned me about the midges! Drape yourself in net curtains if you go there in summer!
Pentillie, you have entirely put me off Arabia and the Rockies. That's two countries off the list! It is getting shorter by the minute. The list,that is!
G/G there is always Scotland again it appears to get washed clean whilst you are there ready for me to go enjoy the sunshine. At Cawdor Castle my daughter came looking for me and found an Englishman a German and a Frenchman having an animated conversation sitting in glorious sunshine in the Gardens, it turned out we were all ex soldiers and as she said they were going for a walk around an American joined us it was a blissful hour although I got a burnt forehead. Tell me if you are going I will give it a miss.
Parts of France are beautiful, but the public loos leave a lot to be desired - if you can find one. They are gradually changing them from holes in the ground to proper loos. Rare to find loo paper. French people always have a roll of pink loo paper in their cars. The French are much less inhibited than the English and don't mind men and women sharing loos. They look on the human body as a normal thing that everyone has - which I think is quite sensible. The public loos in my local town, Périgueux, are now those self cleaning stainless steel ones, push a button to enter - but they are often out of order!
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
In France, I read that those steel loos fill with water in two minutes after you flush them and thought it meant the entire cubicle. I was in quite a rush to get out of there!
Splutterring tea everywhere...great start to my day GG.
Reminds me of the first self cleaning loo I came across with a clock installed, an automatic wanring 'you have 10 minutes to vacate this facility' a warning poster about the door locking and police being invovled and the clock counted down...witha loud tick. Even more surreal as it was situated in a cemetery on the outskirts of Shrewsbury!
North of Mombasa the "ladies" walking on the roadside with parcels on their heads just stood still, splayed their legs and let go! In case you're wondering how I know all this, OH and I did an overland trip in our Landrover in 1976/77 via Turkey, Middle East, India to Kenya by cargo ship and down to South Africa. Back to UK on the last mail ship from SA, LR as baggage. I shall never forget the great time we had. Sadly, thanks to all the strife going on everywhere, this would now be impossible.
What a marvellous adventure, Swiss Sue! No chance of anything like that for us. My OH refused to travel on anything but dry land for most of our lives, which limits the possible destinations! For his sixtieth birthday, I persuaded him to go on holiday to Cyprus. He had the psalms on tape and listened to them all the way there and all the way back!
Now, after all these years, he likes flying and loves to go away. Too late - income reduced by retirement and grandchildren, so its an occasional treat. So we're still touring this country in a caravan. Which we love, actually. Off soon, unless it is still freezing.
Cilmeri, That really is surreal! I've seen those notices in France but never here.
To come back to the subject of France, what also boggles my mind a bit is where they choose to put their loos. They seem to specialise in putting them in full view of a pavement cafe as part of the entertainment and then using glass doors. Also, why do you have to go through the men's urinals to get to the women's cubicles?
Posts
Pentillie, you have entirely put me off Arabia and the Rockies.
That's two countries off the list! It is getting shorter by the minute. The list,that is!
G/G there is always Scotland again it appears to get washed clean whilst you are there ready for me to go enjoy the sunshine.
At Cawdor Castle my daughter came looking for me and found an Englishman a German and a Frenchman having an animated conversation sitting in glorious sunshine in the Gardens, it turned out we were all ex soldiers and as she said they were going for a walk around an American joined us it was a blissful hour although I got a burnt forehead. Tell me if you are going I will give it a miss.
Frank.
Parts of France are beautiful, but the public loos leave a lot to be desired - if you can find one. They are gradually changing them from holes in the ground to proper loos. Rare to find loo paper. French people always have a roll of pink loo paper in their cars. The French are much less inhibited than the English and don't mind men and women sharing loos. They look on the human body as a normal thing that everyone has - which I think is quite sensible. The public loos in my local town, Périgueux, are now those self cleaning stainless steel ones, push a button to enter - but they are often out of order!
In France, I read that those steel loos fill with water in two minutes after you flush them and thought it meant the entire cubicle. I was in quite a rush to get out of there!
Reminds me of the first self cleaning loo I came across with a clock installed, an automatic wanring 'you have 10 minutes to vacate this facility' a warning poster about the door locking and police being invovled and the clock counted down...witha loud tick. Even more surreal as it was situated in a cemetery on the outskirts of Shrewsbury!
North of Mombasa the "ladies" walking on the roadside with parcels on their heads just stood still, splayed their legs and let go!
In case you're wondering how I know all this, OH and I did an overland trip in our Landrover in 1976/77 via Turkey, Middle East, India to Kenya by cargo ship and down to South Africa. Back to UK on the last mail ship from SA, LR as baggage. I shall never forget the great time we had. Sadly, thanks to all the strife going on everywhere, this would now be impossible.
What a marvellous adventure, Swiss Sue!
No chance of anything like that for us. My OH refused to travel on anything but dry land for most of our lives, which limits the possible destinations! For his sixtieth birthday, I persuaded him to go on holiday to Cyprus. He had the psalms on tape and listened to them all the way there and all the way back!
Now, after all these years, he likes flying and loves to go away. Too late - income reduced by retirement and grandchildren, so its an occasional treat. So we're still touring this country in a caravan. Which we love, actually. Off soon, unless it is still freezing.
Cilmeri,
That really is surreal! I've seen those notices in France but never here.
To come back to the subject of France, what also boggles my mind a bit is where they choose to put their loos. They seem to specialise in putting them in full view of a pavement cafe as part of the entertainment and then using glass doors. Also, why do you have to go through the men's urinals to get to the women's cubicles?