To Aire' or not to Aire' ?

 Well, we have done it at last and spent two nights on these Aire's that a lot of people rave about to try to cover more miles to move south quicker. Our first Aire' was by a canal in a small town with very basic facilities. We were joined overnight by several other motorhomes and had a fairly quiet night wild camping ready for the next push south.
Our second Aire' was described as above average with electric hookups toilets and showers!. Also the book said 'arrive early to avoid disappointment' so we arrived just after lunch with plenty of pitches to choose from and a nice electric hookup beside a lovely canal in a pretty location. From about 4pm onwards motorhomes started arriving one after the other, quickly filling up spaces sometimes within a few feet of each other and taking the last remaining electric hookups. We then saw what we can only describe as the best entertainment we had seen for some time for the next few hours. First along came the 'spotters' - these were the men or couples that wandered around looking and comparing other motorhomes and 'outfits'. One man even had a camera and even Piccolo had his photo taken on his trailer. Then there was the race for the electric hook ups of which there were more pitches than hook ups. This was a definite challenge for the male species and the weaker man would definitely loose and limp off to some other Aire'. There were electric cables everywhere (No health & safety then) even across the main road outside!. Who cares as long as you were plugged in!. Our hookup claimed some hours earlier was pretty safe as a German couple beside us put their dog on guard (not a towel!) to protect the area. The Germans it seemed won this challenge hands down even when the local warden turned up to try to act as referee!. The camp site then turned into Battersea dogs home where dogs were tied up outside motorhomes barking at everything that came within 10 feet of them. Considering we are all packed in tightly that became quite noisy, even Bradley was grumbling at a few but soon retreated seeing the size of some of the German Shepherd and other large breeds jumping out of the huge German motorhomes.
At 8pm peace seemed to finally fall on this pandemonium and we had had the best nights entertainment so far!. We went for a walk only to find a lovely quiet campsite with only a hand full of well behaved campers on it!.. Typical!. We finally turned off the lights and settled into bed when suddenly we were awoken by what sounded like the charge of the Light Brigade!. The French refuse service decided to turn up at the Aire' at 23:45hrs to empty all the large waste bins. What a racket!. Still, a few minutes later all was quiet till the morning when we packed up and set off on the next leg of our journey south.
So, do we use these Aire's again?.. the jury is still out but we are open minded!