The Chateau Diaries #11 Shat o shenanigans

[Jeeves]

I initially was drawn to and life at the Lalande. I liked the idea of daily life, the renovations, sewing, cooking and initially the mix of characters. I never warmed to MPK however and as we were introduced the Trotters, my dislike of the whole bunch of them intensified. Sadly, I think SJ became a victim of her own success and the series has become a parody of the earlier videos.
That is not to say that as we hear more about life behind the scenes, that it is clear that all was not as it appeared. I couldn't ever understand the fervour of the superfans and it is apparent that there are some very desperate, middle aged ladies out there who are seeking to live their days vicariously through SJ, Te Trotters and their various hanger on.
The pleasure. that I initially had is disappearing though - and I find Nicky Storey (Positano Diaries) and other vloggers (not necessarily chateau owners) more satisfyiing. I am enjoying watching a hardworking young couple converting two shipping containers into a family home and another couple building a log cabin in the mountains of Utah. I've started to feel that the Tattlers are more interesting than the vlogs.

 

[Incognito Chatelaine]

Seem to be a few newbies who are a bit too ready to jump to the Queen of the Bedchamber's defence ..or am I getting paranoid?

I think they are trying to derail the thread. Also, I have noticed some ad hominem attacks.

What is starting to really upset me now though is what may have happened in the past (with this revelation about Bernard and Mummy). If manipulation comes so easily to them and they behave in an unconscionable way - what kind of misery was inflicted on the elderly in that home?

 

[Incognito Chatelaine]

At least we now get to see what she gets and she might have to display them. If she stops vlogging Cadeaux presents will still roll in but the ugly stuff will be thrown away

I think if SSB is ever investigated by the tax man, she will have a problem. I am not sure what the gift tax threshold is in France, but I am pretty sure she is over it. Moreover, I doubt very much if she is paying sufficient tax on her Patreon or YT income. I'm tired of the claims about the foundation, I don't see how they can pull that off... one needs to have a charitable purpose or be doing something for the common good to qualify.

She is also not allowed use Workaway volunteers for a business, and Selmar's situation with one client is illegal - he should have at least three clients.

As someone said earlier, SSB needs to watch out that she does not end up like Al Capone.

 

[chillijam]

It does seem that he has been messed around regarding his work on that design, no idea about the legalities but I understand him feeling bitter. But would that have been enough for Angel to fire him and Sadie, and get the Pethericks dropped from the tv show? Seems a bit extreme to me.

And as for haters etc, not much actual hate here unlike the vitriol from his dear sister.

 

[morferg]

Did anyone else notice SJ looked different on the latest CATC? At first I thought she had something stuck in her teeth as she kept making odd mouth/facial movements but then I wondered if maybe she had some work or botox in the last few days.

Wait.....
Anyone here cashing checks?

 

[MojoDublin]

@Heathcliffe

Ha that walk yield results

Sir trotter is .... beyond questions now

He’s been called away .. atm says Ma Petherick

Screenshots of chats - patron canceled the monies off patron are for him to have a living income whilst making vlogs

No videos ... no income
Night

 

[Espe]

Agree, she thinks she is so much better than she is at floristry, but I don’t rate her. The little town with the cheap rent and local customer; does it exist, particularly in this pandemic. And what if the locals discover she’s scrounging money through her online activitie?

Did anyome else find Marie very irritating when giving her little self-congratulatory speech at the end of the cooking competition? She was patting herself on the back for coming up with the idea and she suggested people could do that at home during lockdown to spread more positivity, I think with that and her little pep talks, Goddess Worshops, etc., she is the sort who latches on to self-help and positive thinking ideas but clearly they don't seem to have worked very well on her as she can be very passive-agressive and is not often happy. It's good that she is going but will she be back when she's spent all the gifted money and needs to be more in the public eye again, to replenish it?

Two gift grabs this week, then. Interesting that SJ thought PP was laughing at her for saying that a type of tea was her favourite "because you think I always say that" and then insisited it was her favourite!

SJ looked really pale and pathetic in the last Come Dine Me vlog and why would someone as scrawny as her indulge in intermittant fasting? Maybe she has even deeper problems than we think. Despite acting like a middle-aged child, she can sometimes look more like 60 or 70 when she wears certain clothes and puts her hair up, like a fragile elderly lady. I don't think she will age as well as her mother. It seemed also that she was treating Selmar as if he was really simple, telling him to display his plate as it showed how much he was liked. Mabe she was just trying to be nice but it sounded very patronising. Selmar also does react oddly, rather like a child, when he feels he has achieved something such as when he made the desserts and when he managed to trim the stone slabs. He is a lovely chap but rather "innocent" and childlike but in a different way from the childish LOTL.

 

[chillijam]

Anyone like to guess how long before MPK releases his next vlog.....

Who knows. I do feel quite sorry for him, he obviously is struggling. But if you want a public profile you have to be able to cope with critics, good and bad. Just like any other artist, actor, writer, musician etc. So, either he figures out a way to cope, because it's not going to change whether it's this forum or other avenues, or he'll have to walk away. I hope he finds a way to make it work. But I think he needs to stand on his own, that's the thing.

 

[Incognito Chatelaine]

Fun fact for the newbies who are defending SSB: Gift tax is 60% between non-family members. You better hope that she gets charity status or all of those plastic earings and mummy aprons are going to cost a fortune.

 

[NotAChatelaine]

Stephanie would do well to remember, as indeed would the Trotter Tribe, that without Dick and Angela (sucha ridiculous affectation to call herself Angel) and the success of their initial programme there would be no ETTCDIY. Nothing, zilch, zero, zip would be known of any of the chateaux featured. Lalande, in particular, would have tottered on, the fabric of the building lurching towards decrepitude while superficial, unnecessary, grandiose papering-over-the-cracks attempts at "restoration" were carried out in a slapdash, scattergun and hamfisted way.

The opportunities afforded by Patreon, which has been stratospherically successful, was a golden opportunity to create a proper plan for Lalande's renaissance, starting with the bricks and mortar externally and internally. Investigate grants which might be available for insulation and also upgrading the heating system which is clearly hopelessly inadequate (there seem to be government schemes which apply, perhaps not covering 100% of the costs but a proportion).

La Jarvis professes to love Lalande. Fine. Make the effort to concentrate on the important elements before it reaches the point that frills and fripperies are embellsihing a crumbled shell. And forget about the bloody lake for the time being!

 

[Princess and the Pea]

Back to the concerns re heating. I volunteer for the UK National Trust ( oversees and runs heritage buildings) The house i volunteer in was built in 1642 and it is darned cold for most of the year. It has central heating installed but this is controlled not by temperature but by humidity. This is to protect the wood in the house - beams, floorboards, furniture etc. If the humidity is wrong the the wood either expands or contracts. As previous contributor said you can't heat an old property to standards expected in more modern houses. As volunteers we accept this and wear more clothes. The trick is thin layers, sometimes I have 5 layers on.

Are you are not missing the point? There has been no attempt by SJ to do anything to protect or enhance the fabric of the building. The initial heating system put in at the start & then nothing. If you look at the rooms in the chateau they are not overly large are they. I think only one door has been replaced with secondary glazed one. Yes, it is understandable that it is not cost effective to heat rooms when they are not being occupied but over the years there has been little or no effort put into protecting that building which she apparently so loves. If you were really intent on preserving it perhaps you might get a job to fund the restoration, or perhaps rent your London pad out for a proper rental & forgo it being your holiday pad, or stop going on expensive holidays & buying champagne?

 

[Moderator]

Me too. I didn't say anything particularly controversial, but the whole conversation was a bit loopy loo, so fair enough that it's been removed.

When a troll gets removed so do the replies to them, otherwise it encourages more. That is all. It's for the good of the thread. If you have any concerns post in forum business, otherwise it derails the thread and gives the trolls what they want.

Report anyone disruptive / new and dodgy and a moderator will look into it.

And if there's bile here or someone oversteps the mark, report it and let us deal with it. Don't take it on yourself as attempting to moderate or control what people chat about on tattle is against the rules.

You can add people to your ignore list or dip out of the threads if you want.

Nothing makes the threads more boring and dull than posts complaining how boring and dull the thread is compared to the good old days. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. So let's keep it on topic!


Back to the Chateau

The Rules Of Tattle

Rules are boring I know, but hopefully the below will explain the rules we have at tattle as having and understanding them are important for a good community. Don't attempt to moderate, tone police or tell people what they can post I don't think anyone should talk about XXX here I'm all for...

tattle.life

 

[Clara Burnett]

How's this for being elusive, Nic Larkin. Very much into the action. Sorry, couldn't resist when I saw this. He might have the morals to withstand SJ, but by acting elusive he's only turning himself into one of her enablers.

 

[Jeeves]

Hi Brenda G

So calling MP out for failing to deliver his vlogs, constant begging, in common with others, suspecting that he may abuse substances, and so on, leads you to the conclusion that I am Brenda -someone you claimed at the start to have first hand knowledge of? Just shot yourself in the foot there, mate!

JE SUIS BRENDA!

 

[ggyahoo]

Well that was obviously very painful for Michael to make, and excruciating to watch. I do feel for him, as temperamentally he isn't up to exposing himself and his life on a public forum. But it was too much of a pity party. He says tattle is 99% lies. But it is not false for us to say the cottage works have been a complete bodge all the way through. It is not false for us to call out his mother for erasing all negative comments in YouTube and Facebook. I am astounded by the number of people who are supporting him in the comments and think his videos are worth watching, let alone the patrons funding him.

 

[Krypgal]

When you compare it with the photo of young Gerry, yes, there's resemblance.

Could Gerry be Derek's love child! OMG! The puzzle is starting to fit together!!

 

[Sandton]

Someone defended sj. And saying how she is frugal and have clothes for many years. Yeah right. Most people don’t have designer clothes like sj have. And even if she do buy it charity shops it still won’t be charity shop prices. And would be worth a bit. She could have sold that rather than give the impression to people that she and the chato won’t survive because of covid and the b&b not operating.

so they basically bought a chato. Did minimum work and haven’t done much for16 years yet she has been able to fly to london most months and probably had at least four holidays abroad on top of that.

really wish there’s a way to get those patron people to see the situation for what it really is.

 

[Working class girl]

Back to the concerns re heating. I volunteer for the UK National Trust ( oversees and runs heritage buildings) The house i volunteer in was built in 1642 and it is darned cold for most of the year. It has central heating installed but this is controlled not by temperature but by humidity. This is to protect the wood in the house - beams, floorboards, furniture etc. If the humidity is wrong the the wood either expands or contracts. As previous contributor said you can't heat an old property to standards expected in more modern houses. As volunteers we accept this and wear more clothes. The trick is thin layers, sometimes I have 5 layers on.

 

[ggyahoo]

.Thread suggestion

The Chateau Diaries #13 - Too much grifting, not enough grafting

 

[arwensgal1975]

Just took a look at Marie's website, she has a link to buy me a coffee and if she hits a certain goal she'll buy a car???? WTF Do none of these people know how to save or work hard and save??? I guess she sees Stephanie begging for money every month so she might as well do it to. So pathetic.