And please keep "Tansy" away from me as I am ready to rip her into kangaroo foo foo. Help those in need....when they bite your hand....reconsider.

This mornig while enjoying my coffee, and reading the NY Times, I heard a clanging noise,, looked out to see one of my resident squirrels who tried AGAIN building a nest on my roof, but was now on the next door's roof, but she had a metal sash below the roofline and this mama was trying to get herself back on to the roof but her nails couldn't grasp the metal so the sound I heard were her nails tying to dig in. She Fell and landed on a tree below that broke that fall. I'm sure I'll see more of her tomorrow,

gyppielou, I am so glad I saved your dog from the frying pan AND the fire, but if you are going to toast me with champagne, I want my own glass, please.

I'm so glad this thread has degenerated into doggerel (excellent doggerel at that, LN) and humor. If this site weren't so funny sometimes, I wouldn't be so addicted to it.

Meanwhile, sounds like I missed a catfight. I'll have to go find it.

CAtfight??
ChatNoir said something funny on the thread on the Europe Forum :
PARIS: Available now charming flat to rent...
which is now falling apart too, I am afraid (thanks to me, the tired member of the FFamily)

Nevermind, Fodors deleted it, it was an advertisement for an apt. :)

Friday Rants & Raves are up ((F))

This forum is a spectacular resource for travel tips, recommendations, insider tips, not available anywhere else, even if you buy each and every tour guide for any destination.

That there are trolls, less than helpful - even unpleasant - participants should not discourage anyone from participating.

For sure, some "veterans" become weary of inquiries regarding shoes, weather, hotels, restaurants... But, there are usually newly enthusiastic participants to take their place.

It is positively silly to be "fearful" to add a new inquiry or post a response. Particularly in the "anonymous" environment here.

Though there are always folks with nothing better to do (day and night) than critize an inquiry - even the choice of subject - (and it's spelling, lack of capitalization or punctuation), the lack of research or forethought, along with those who delight (again, apparently with nothing better to do day and night) in criticizing and contradicting the advice of others, IF YOU PERSIST (and ignore all that which is unpleasant/irrelevant) you will be generously rewarded.

What astonishes me here is all the seasoned travelers who continue to respond and "give up" to those in search of assistance - even those, apparently, inexperienced, lazy, inept, or, it would seem, not interested to expend any effort on their own, incredibly useful information.

There is no question but that a non-silly/ridiculous Screen Name with a well stated Subject will result in more useful responses and fewer insulting ones.

Best bet is to just do the best you can, and learn from constructive suggestions, but ignore all the obvious riffraff.

To all those who respond to the obvious riffraff, you're just encouraging them to keep on posting.

Wait a minute. I'm confused. Gyppielou, is Tansy your dog or another poster? Maybe it's time to go to sleep.

long ago I thought Tansy was HUMORLESS...and a tad arrogant. Vegas might ruin anyone but she seemed particularly so.

gyppielou - I think posting advice is the same as everything in life it is always a small amount of people who give 90%. I see this in church and with social groups. I would just like to see a lot more of the people who ask for advice do trip reports to see if our advice worked.

I limit myself to Arizona, Las Vegas and the New England area and like to think that I help someones trip go smooth. Besides, if I can't be on vacation I really enjoy being involved in someone elses.

Like we say in gambling "the one good thing about losing is your still part of the action".

GoTravel, LOL! I too refer to my running shoes as Nikes, although lately I've been buying Adidas. I don't call my jeans Levis, but it makes more sense than saying I have to grab my MUDD's!

And when I what a tissue, I grab a Kleenex.

Petroleum Jelly, Vaseline,

Ibuprofen, Advil.

Cotton Swab, Q-tip.

Cellophane tape - Scotch tape.

You get the idea.

And now after this thread, each fall when we're buying school supplies and my kids insist on a new backpack, I will think PRADA!

;) ;) ;)

To reply to GoTravel's

<Someone please answer this for me. Why is it considered name dropping? Some brands are synonomous with what they are.

Like Nike for sneakers (I wore my Nikes) or Levis for jeans (I wore my Levis).>

First, these are only my observations - however clouded they may be!!

I think we've reached a point in our society where we no longer refer to running shoes as such, or jeans, jackets, and sometimes even SUVs. 90% of the population calls running shoes "NIKES" and 90% call jeans "LEVIS" but when we talk about backpacks, handbags, and luggage, the people who associate names like Prada or Tumi are a very small percentage of the population.

So yes, we probably shouldn't associate names that are not entirely commonplace to everyone.

Then there's the other side of the coin which says "Prada??? Tumi??? What's that??? Must be some "Putting on the Ritz" syndrome (sorry folks but it really can be misconstrued) and the replies become as aggressive as the driving is on the freeways.

I don't mean to flame anyone but it is how I happen to see certain "comments" that are made - sometimes nicely - sometimes not so nicely.

Whatever happened to Tansy? Is she disguised in another moniker?

I LOVE my Fodors Family! I'm a travel JUNKIE and can always get a fix from you! :) Thanks for always being there! ;)

Similar to what's being discussed in another current thread, you 'get' me. Not everyone does. People who live to travel are often misunderstood. Who cares. This is a wonderful place to relax and unwind, reminisce about past trips while helping others, and anticipate future trips.

It's important to remember however, that this forum is just another microcosm of society. So sift through the threads, take what you want and leave the rest behind. If only the REST of life could be as easy!

My brother PakePorkChop just went to China and discovered that the (real) Chinese are materialistic and status conscious now. So he headed straight for the flea market and now has a fake Rolex and a fake Montblanc pen to hold in his shirt pocket. While there, he bought me a fake Prada, while buying his daughters fake Gucci, fake Burberry, etc.

Love it! We are Chinese American but thanks to PPC's trip to the flea market, we can now look like "real" Chinese!

Okay, my last posting on this subject.

As OO will probably agree, there is something about the Prada Backpack that takes on a life of its own. It becomes almost petlike for some stupid reason. "Where's thepradabag? Put this in thepradabag. Don't forget thepradabag. Is the kitchen sink in thepradabag?"

As far as SUVs, my husband has a rather large one and it is referred to as 'the truck'.

Maybe I should go check out a Prada backpack, maybe I should.

GoTravel: I have no issue w/your prada bag, or anyone else's bags, be they be grocery bags or any other kind of bag. I have my own bags. You have your bags and I have mine, a differnet kind. So what. I have gotten good advice from you. So put that in your bag and wear it proudly, and thank you very much!

You guys are just too funny. We are such a slice of America. Just laugh the differences off for the most part, and enjoy the travels.

And just one more thing (as RosannasRosannaDanna would say): The opposit of this is when you get slammed for your elitist attitude because someone thinks it is a sin to want to hire a guide for a day or get a car instead of taking a bus. It happens on here, yes it does- more on the other boards other than U.S. Some think you can't experince a destination if you don't ride the bus w/the locals. I've ridden the bus w/the locals and chickens, and I've gotten a rent car, and I've hired a guide, and you now what? It's all good and has nothing to do with good or evil or morality. I think we could benefit from diversity training for travelers.

Isn't it just reverse snobbery when one is proudly announcing wearing hobnail boots and 20 year old jeans and bashing someone for taking a car or wearing a namebrand whatever?

Would a person who could afford something, not buy it , because someone else cannot afford it?
Do I expect everyone to put away their Mercedes and all drive a lesser German car like mine :D
sheesh.. The only thing I envy these days is that some people get to travel far and wide every month or so and we have been stuck at home for 4 months!
I don't give a hoot what kind of bag someone carries but I do wish they would take me along on their next trip!!
(stomping my foot emoticon)

I don't get thew focus on the Prada bags. I have three and a few other designer ones. I have a thing for bags. So what. I donate alot of it to women going back into the work force from shelters, lucky for them , my weight fluctuates. We have left our home to habitat, our bodies to science and my books to libraries and friends, I doubt God will be angry with me for my bag hobbie.

FAHRFENUEGEN!!!

I can't spell.

<)

GoTravel, should I say Gesundheit?

:)

Or- take a pill :)

You know-on another thread, someone is talking about a late Fodorite who had a website that everyone enjoyed. We lost Wes Fowler, Ani had a baby, one of the Dan's got married recently, mothers are posting about their kids getting into colleges, grandchildren..etc.
This IS a Family!

with some, a dysfunctional one!

Scarlett,

I wasn't around here much at the end of 2002 and most of 03 because my own dear mom fell ill and passed away. This was the first time I'd heard about Wes--do you mean "lost" as in passed away? If so, that makes me very sad.

Yes, Jayne. Wes died about a year ago. A sad day for Fodorites everywhere.

He and his wife had a very informative site and her heart was no longer in it when he died. There's a recent post on him on the Europe forum.

How very sad. I had no idea.

I think there was also a recent thread about the twenj.net website had disappeared (Travels with Ed and Julie) as Ed had also passed away a couple of years ago.

Yes, Clifton, there is a thread currently on Europes forum about Ed and Julie and their site, which is no longer available.
Wes Fowler never had a web site for us but his information and postings were wonderful, and he is missed here every day, I am sure.
We were honored that his son wrote to us when Wes was unable to and that we were informed by his son when Wes passed away.
((F))

I did not know Wes when he was posting on here, but after seeing Scarlett's posts about him, I looked back at some of his posts on the Europe board. Wow. Incredible info and style. Class act. And very inspiring.

Just returned from a month-long trip to Asia and came back to Fodors tonight - it's like a homecoming all over again!

Lots of humor (squirrels wearing Prada - what next?)and the best travel advice on the web. This forum has the best, the cleverest, and the most intelligent people all giving excellent travel advice - for free! Who cares about the grumps and the foofooheads?

My last stop was Hong Kong where every name hotel had its own shopping mall with at least a dozen famous names: Gucci, Ferragamo, YSL, Max Mara, etc. etc.

Once, on a rainy day, I rounded a corner and gasped involuntarily: before me was a huge black wall, about a half a block long and two stories high. In the center was the familiar intertwined "YSL". Nothing else. Very, very dramatic. No YSL store in Paris has this spectacular a display. I'm willing to bet there are more name brand stores in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world.

If you can't afford a name brand? Have no fear. Just go a few blocks to an open air market and you can get a knockoff for just a few dollars.

One of the maids in the hotel we were staying in was sporting a Gucci bag - was it a fake or was it a real one that some guest had left behind?

The next time I go to HongKong, remind me to bring my squirrels along. Their Ferragamos are beginning to look a bit worn at the heels. :)

The best backpack was the one my brother-in-law left me - a Rick Steves black bag that weighed next to nothing and was sturdy as steel. Wish Fodors would make travel gear like this! I'd rather be sporting the Fodor's name!!!

easytraveler

HyacinthBucket, Didn't the squirrels enjoy their riparian entertainments?

I'm not sure if I heard of Prada before arriving at Fodor's a few years ago. I doubt I'd recognize it if I saw it. I once was stopped and asked about a handbag because it had a waterbottle holder included. Actually, it was for baby bottles, but I was able to adapt. It was a brand I had never heard of, but great for carrying around in the hot NC summer.

If you feel the need to name drop to virtual strangers, be prepared to be slammed.

I've enjoyed reading about wildlife at home and recipes. It localizes us and even makes us more well-rounded (especially if we eat all the cookies, cakes, cobblers, etc. we now have recipes for)

Welcome back, Easy Traveler! I thought you were conspicuously absent the past few weeks. Didn't they have internet cafes in Asia? Couldn't you spare a few minutes for your fodors friends? :-D

Seriously, I do agree with you about HK. It seems to me the last time I was there it was developing into wall-to-wall designer shops. And the prices are no less than in New York or Paris.

Looking forward to your trip report!

Meanwhile, I just had to share with my fodors family our busy little squirrels in the woods north of San Francisco. Warning: this is an x-rated photo.

http://www.worldisround.com/articles/55288/photo1.html

So, Marilyn, it would seem that the adjective my sweetie applies to those squirrels, when he sees them in our garden, is quite correct! :)

LOL Meesthare! Ab-so-f-ing-lutely! When are you going to make it out here to visit your fellow SF Borg members?

(gyppielou, the title of this post is SO liberating. I feel like it's impossible to hijack a thread called "Fodors Family.")

Marilyn, Well shut my mouth!! I am shocked! I am flabbergasted!!
You mean squirrels do it that way? LOL
In the Berkshires last summer we saw them in a tree, sharing a cigarette, so I thought they used the nest , like the rest of us ~

OMG, Marilyn! I thought you were kidding about the XXX rating!:o

Those are SF area squirrels, baby! They belong to the Squirrel Exhibitionist Club (SEC) and for all I know they were being filmed for Real Sex.