No en suite?

As some of the youngsters would say "respect" !!

Yes, it is well worth a visit. I had given myself two weeks to find a house in France, meaning to look in the midi-Pyrenees, around Bagneres as I had enjoyed a walking holiday in Bareges. However, I turned left instead of right out of Touluse airport and ended up in Mirepoix in Arriege. I found a very dilapidated holiday chalet high up a mountain road in Aude, after six days and knew at once it was right for me. That left me eight days before my flight home, so I started driving down towards Barcelona, but the Pyrenees called me inland, so I drove across the Spanish side, map reading my way from village to village. It was November, and after a week of sunshine the weather closed in and I found myself alone on the pass, in whirling snow. Just a taster for my future life in France!

Greatnan I've always wanted to go to Pau. I follow cycling avidly (and potter about on a bike too) and Pau features often on the Tour de France. Not that I'm thinking I'll take my bike! Plus I like lentils, esp those chewy, meaty browny/greeny lentils from Pau.

When the lights came on in the morning, is Pau a nice place? Summer? Winter sounds a bit extreme and I don't fancy battling through blizzards at my age!!

I stayed in the Hotel Bristol in Pau - I was exhausted after battling my way through a blizzard over the pass from Spain. It was 9 pm. on a November night. I was red-eyed, hungry and cold. They had only one room left and I was warned that it was very small. I was grateful for anything. There was a shower cubicle free standing in the middle of the room, and a macerator toilet. I was too tired to go out for a meal, so the receptionist very kindly brought me a baguette, several slices of ham, and a big jug of hot chocolate. Bliss.

absentgrana "even worse when no! slippers on"

The strangest "en-suite" room we ever had was in a small seaside hotel in Singapore in the sixties, where we were staying while looking for a house to rent. The room was at the end of a jetty over the beach (water underneath at high tide - and snakes!) The facilities - a shower and toilet - were in a rather primitive enclosure next door to the room and the whole thing private only in that it was at the end of a jetty! There was a large gap under the door and one morning I was joined by a monkey which came under the door and then exited out the window! I was heavily pregnant at the time and I nearly screamed my son into the world several weeks early! DH had, from then on, to stand sentry outside the door every time I used the place! We looked at photos recently that we took while we were there and it all looks rather romantic in a fifties, oriental, black and white sort of way - but give me four stars at least these days.

Jura - don't take offence, your OH is the most courteous and well-behaved man I know! I repeat again - I was just talking about hotels.

Not bothered about the out of earshot bit - we all do it! - but I prefer en suite as I can then pee in my sleepwalk so to speak. Traipsing down a corridor wakes me up too much so I cannot get back to sleep.

You clearly know some courteous and well-trained men granjura and I hasten to add that I am not describing Mr absent or my son-in-law, but there are some shockers out there.

Must say I feel a bit offended on behalf of the men I know.

I have a very fine and light dressing gown i use when travelling and visiting, in case i have to use the loo at night.

Quite an astonishing number of grown men have hopeless aim when in the loo. It isn't nice to wade through someone else's pee in your slippers. To overcome this problem, all mothers of sons should have a loo with something to aim at so that their boys grow up getting it right. Posh version is a trompe l'oeil painting of a bee or fly in the bowl of the lavatory; cheap and cheerful version is a floating ping pong ball.

Wouldn't know. This was when I was working for the dhss they didn't run to 'posh' hotels. I just used my coat!

According to my French friends it is an English hang-up! I suppose when I was 'in the market' I thought it was unromantic. Can't claim that now, but I have found in France that many men do not have good aim and I have to clean the seat with paper before I can use it. They also seem to leave worse smells than women. We had a discussion about a school having unisex toilets and many of us thought it could be embarrassing if a girl had an unexpected period. Again, that is no longer a problem for me!
No right or wrong on this subject - I know how I feel and I will continue to avoid hotels which don't have en suite facilities.

jeni False alarms are better than real ones though

I suppose the posh hotels now provide towelling gowns so most people can grab that to cover their modesty in a nightime emergency exit.

I find it strange that some women have such an aversion re sharing with men, and not women. Are men really that much more dirty than women, or inconsiderate? Not in my experience.

trishs yes I have . Twice. Once in London and another time in Cornwall. Both times it was a false alarm.

Of course, I am assuming that he is a naturist, who does cleaning. I could be totally wrong, and he could be offering to clean naturists.

phoenix just showed that to my cleaner. She doesn't think she'll join that firm :- too cold!

Has anyone been in a hotel when the fire alarm has gone in the night? And do you, like me, always check where the nearest fire exit route is, as we're supposed to do when we first check into a room? Part of my dad's job used to be as fire officer for the M&S store in Leeds and I was a H&S rep for many years when I was a teacher so I guess I'm extra safety conscious

second one down on page 3. The mind boggles.

www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?startAt=20&keywords=cleaners&location=halwill+junction&scrambleSeed=28346616&ssm=1&showOoa=10&pageNum=3

And do housework wearing rubber gloves

Some people iron in the nude!

And more hygienic one hopes Joan. Btw You don't have to put your nightie on to go to a communal loo in a hotel.

En suite is nice, but so many of us started life in homes with outside - sometimes shared - dry lavs. At school we had 'two holers' ie a long wooden seat with two holes in so you could sit with your friend.

Therefore it is enough for me to have an indoor lav!! When we moved from the house with outside shared loo, when I was 5, to a council house with TWO loos - one just outside the back door and one upstairs, we thought we were living in the ultimate luxury. My current house is a bungalow, with a loo separate from the bathroom and easy to get to from the whole house. Oh, just remembered summat funny: we had a cat that invented toilet tennis. I was sitting there in comfort when the cat shoved biro top under the door. I kicked it back. He kicked it back to me and so on.

I know this thread was about hotel etc loos though, and I have to admit, at this age I need my privacy. For a start off, I like to sleep naked, so having to put on a nightie to go to a communal loo would be a pain!

Oh, if you need your privacy, never go to sea in a sub. On the 'A' boat where my husband served for a while, the lav was in an inadequately curtained alcove directly opposite the galley. The sailor could sit there and chat amiably with the chef. I suppose modern subs are posher in the lav department though.

I know it doesn't seem to bother most men and young people. I was married with my own house at 18 so I never did the sharing a house thing. It is only sharing with strangers that bothers me, not friends and family.