speedo's only! - french campsite rules... is this normal?

[mabel1973]

i have just booked a campsite in france for this years holiday. I was reading the campsite rules last night and it states that swimming shorts are strictly forbidden in the pool. Only swimming trunks are allowed....in fact there is even a picture of a pair of shorts with a big red cross over them....is this slightly bizarre?? I can't think of any real reason for this.
DH is a bit on the lanky side....the thought of him in speedo's is well, not pretty, besides, he will flatly refuse to wear anything like that anyway.

The fact that one of the photos on the website shows two blokes sporting freddie mercury-esque 'taches with their arms round each other in the pool is really worrying DH now....

Its weird but true

Some sort of hygiene (am trying not to think about it too deeply)

Yes this was the case at our campsite in the south of france. Dh had to buy himself some trunks!

• intrigued by this. My dh would get the next plane home if he was ordered to wear speedos (also lanky)

@ hygiene.... what is that about then?

it does say that you must shower before going in the pool, so i don't see what difference it makes what you are wearing!

Not sure how DH is going to deal with this. I am assuming he is going to stick with his shorts and plead ignorance if anyone says anything....he can perfect a gallic shrug and pretend not to understand

I think DH would refuse to go if he had to wear them

You can't wear swim shorts in any public pools in France.

It's a hygiene issue but I couldn't tell you what the justification is.

I think he'd better pack some speedos to wear IN the pool and then shorts to pop over the top for lounging around afterwards.

They WILL enforce it.

They will enforce it - it is something to do with hygeine and not taking half the water out of the pool with you - we had this one year - best thing to do is to get hotpant type swimmers rather than the brief ones.

It's the same wherever you go in France. The public pools will refuse entry to shorts-wearers. Males do have to comply and wear speedos. [bleugh emoticon]

i think i better break the news gently to DH....

Make him trim or it will look like a packet pf Golden Virginia has exploded in his pants!

I agree with Madame Castafiore and would suggest he wears something like

this

yes its normal
ALTHOUGH one place said that and then it wasnt.
god what is the deal - you can get those trunk style ones too you know!

I remember this rule. English teeenage boys have particular difficulty with it...
Someone told me it is because fibres from shorts clog up the pool filters. Who knew this was a serious hazard? The more likely explanation, I think, is that it is a way of promoting the French love of speedos. Either way it is rigorously enforced.

wolf whistles!!

yes those one craigy
swoon
that what dh got

madamecastafiore - LOL at golden virginia...although feeling slightly queasy now....

I don't think Dh is going to look like james bond somehow, although i think that is a slightly more acceptable option for him (if not me )

Lucky you BarStoolCobra, my DH wears the shorts type and they just go all flappy and baggy and not at all attractive when wet.

I would think any jammers or shorts like these would be acceptable. The reasoning is that with the more normal short-like swim shorts the French assume that you are wearing them around all day as well (even if you're not) and so transfering lots of sweat and grime into the pool. The rules are often, but not always enforced.

I have just been speaking to DH and he is threatening to get some robbie williams type tiger print briefs.....trouble is I think he actually means it...going for maximum embarassment factor....yikes!

How about a Peter Stringfellow thong?

perhaps he could wear speedos underneath shorts

Lucky you don't have to wear a hat as well - it's the rule at swimming pools in Paris. Always made me chuckle to see hairy chested (and often hairy backed) men with a swimming cap on their bald heads! I think the obsessive hygiene around the swimming pool is sort of linked to general lack of showering etc at other times. Actually when I think of it like that we should be grateful really.

feeling v queasy now...

WHY did I look at Boffins link, WHY?????

sick curiosity??