It is August isn't it???

[debk]

Sometimes I wish guests brought their own guestbook so we could rate their performance!

Here, here!

Maybe I'll have my husband, the writer, start a guestbook of our guests. Like everyone here, we tell guest-tales until the tears of laughter roll...

For instance, yesterday I found out that this season's most hysterical guest (from our side, not hers... she was totally TOTALLY clueless... so much for survival of the fittest) is the daughter of a former US president and the husband is a US senator. Icing on the cake. Our season's best story is complete!

So maybe we'll tie all these stories up into some type of a renter's guestbook as Paolo suggests. A momento for our old age.

[vrooje]

Perhaps we should start a sticky thread in "Managing your Guests" to cover this ownerbook?

[paolo]

the daughter of a former US president and the husband is a US senator.

That narrows it down - I think a daughter of Nixon married a grandson of Eisenhower - good trivia knowledge if you ever find yourself in a pub quiz in the US.

[debk]

ummm.... think Texas president, not a Bush

[vrooje]

Wasn't Ike from Texas?

Otherwise the only person I can think of is Johnson.

[debk]

Bing!

[tansy]

Ahhh - we were going down the route of Jimmy Carter...

[debk]

It all started with me waiting for a family from Virginia (where dad, I now know, is a senator). I guessed they might be high-maintenance based upon the non-stop email flurries arriving since booking so I wandered out to the street to wait for their taxi to arrive. Figured their driver would want me to run interference there at the end. Which he certainly did.

But when the matriarch emerged, larger than life, from the taxi in a shiny, BRIGHT turquoise shirt and black velvet cowboy hat ... did I mention velvet? ... I knew we weren't in Virginny anymore, Toto.

Thankfully, Lady Bird can be very proud of her two adult granddaughters, who are generally quite tolerant of their mother's more unique qualities.

[Thomas BC]

I had not noticed this thread before .... and now this has happened to me this week. I must admit though it is a bit colder this week in northern Normandy - maybe more wet than cold.

I had my wood in a nearby shed - covered over with plastic, 6 bags of cement and various bags of bark chipping and potting soil. I have to say this was just making use of space rather than hiding the wood from wood-be theives (sorry for that one but thought I wood keep up with Susan). Not only did my guests help themselves - but the bags of cement etc were just thrown aside and left in the rain!!!

Like Clexane I am not sure about this one - as I feel its not clear that the wood is off limits, and this is the start of a two week stay and as I am on site I really did not want to put up with anything worse. But I AM annoyed that the bags of cement mixture which were covered in plastic were just thrown aside and were getting wet.

Yesterday I happened to have a discussion with them and one of them "oh I really love the fire. I just love having fires." I am planning on making the shed lockable - until then I allow myself to be surprised by the way some people behave. This is the worse I have had to put up with all season though so I figure I am not doing too badly.