Pirou

Meanwhile, the Sunnydale Hellmouth moves to Mar-a-Lago as a sinkhole appears following a summoning ritual using An Orb. (added: there are links in that sentence but they don't seem to show?) I liked some of the Twitter comments quoted in the first article: Social media users, meanwhile, were quick to mock the announcement of the discovery. One tweet said it was “a beautiful sinkhole. The best sinkhole ...” while others questioned whether the swamp was finally draining. He really is the gift that keeps on giving. So long as none of the gifts are nuclear. [:'(]

I expect the main attraction is great countryside, vines (so French)! and reliably better weather and its within a day's journey of Calais or the Normandy ferries. I suppose people have heard of it too which helps. Maybe not as expensive as Provence? I love Normandy but "reliable weather" is rain and mist even in August. [:P]

I am no expert on this hornet, I just had a long chat with a beekeeper. I found this article online written by the man who runs the Planete Passion website so I think is opinions are worthwhile. http://www.livingmagazine.fr/sw-france-information/wildlife-poitou-charentes/entry/sw-france-information/wildlife-poitou-charentes.html/asian-hornets-truths-france.html Perhaps you are most likely to see the asian hornets if you've got a bee hive. Or many people will mistake them for one of the more common striped insects. And around Normandy (Calvados, Manche) there are so many clumps of mistletoe in trees that a AH nest might easily pass unnoticed if you are not looking. Mairie staff and training: it seems to me that there are so many complex laws and regulations that it would take a very committed, time-rich and information retentive staff to instantly recall what's what. Or a simple desire to investigate for the answer rather than resort to the shrug and je sais pas! [:)]

Huh. [blink] At least Marine's in the right place. [:)] [url=https://postimg.org/image/uwlpg8j2n/][img]https://s3.postimg.org/sf9y8yz6b/lemonde.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://postimage.org/index.php?lang=french]téléchargement de photos[/url]

I think i wasn't very clear in my post above. The queens that overwinter are born in the late summer of each year. The queen that laid them (the eggs) dies with her nest. Only 2016 queens (applies to native hornets and wasps too) will be starting new nests in spring 2017. So it's not one queen that will have left "your" nest to hibernate through winter Hereford, it's many "new" queens already with fertilised eggs. From one nest in 2016 there is the potential for lots of nests the following year.

The queens abandon the nest in late autumn and look for somewhere sheltered and frost free for winter as do ordinary hornets and wasps. Even hibernating inside houses: our cleaner found an asian hornet in the folds of our curtains in the sun room last spring. The remaining workers in the nest die out when it gets too cold or food runs out. If your maire says that asian hornet nests are not their problem I'd talk to someone further up the chain at the prefecture, perhaps, to confirm that as fact. I don't find our mairie very well informed and they have a habit of not taking on responsibility for things that are their responsibility. If I don't get the answer I want first time, I carry on asking elsewhere.

Hereford, you are looking at an empty nest from last year. I'm told by a beekeeper that Asian hornets are like the native hornet and wasps: only the queens survive the winter ready to start a new nest in spring. They don't return to the nests they were born in. The reason we notice previous years nests in winter is that the trees lose their leaves and the nests become visible. A queen who has just woken up won't have had the time to build a full size nest so you have nothing to worry about. I like insects but I will be killing any yellow-legged hornets I see.

Andy, I'm very late in saying thank you for all your advice. I took note of all your points particularly about the bombe poison residue and decided to buy a sprayer and disposable jumpsuit (bought in England) and followed all your suggestions and precautions. We did the spraying the day before we left in autumn and moved into a b and b for the night so we weren't shut in with the fumes. Then we shut up the house the following day. The treatments seem to have worked as we have very little sign of woodworm activity but perhaps that is because they are less active in winter. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your post because it was very useful and great guidance.

Hi all, We are about to shut up our house for the winter. Is there a product (a so called bomb/bombe) which we can set off as we leave which will fumigate the house and kill bugs particularly woodworm? The woodworm has been treated this summer with a paint on product and we followed the instructions and painted it on as thoroughly as we could but 6 weeks later there is some activity again and I'm finding wood dust under the beams and from the wooden planked ceiling itself. It's oak we think. I wondered if there was a bomb product anyone has used and can recommend. We've talked to the bricolage stores but what we've been shown doesn't seem to indicate it will deal with woodworm specifically. Happy to hear any advice or opinions. Thanks.

Hi Minnie. You probably don't remember but in my question about courier deliveries to le Bourg, I said that 6 out of 8 packages failed to deliver. One of the two that did deliver was Cotton Traders. I expected a delivery to France to take about a week but it took less than 48 hours. Really surprised and pleased me. And the clothes were in the sale AND THEY FIT! [:D]

Just a ps to say thank you all for replying. I thought as a newbie I might be ignored. I'm thankful for the replies. [:)]

I think the reason I've never seen "relais" as an option is that we're not using French companies. And for the sake of a few more months, I don't want to change to a French supplier even if it is something to think about for next year. I don't know who the local delivery companies are likely to be but maybe i should find out and go and see them. I don't think bright red shutters ([:D] one of my ideas in a sea of white and pale blue shutters) or a bunch a balloons on the door handle will help because I don't believe with the failed deliveries that delivery drivers are even coming to the village. On the two occasions they phoned us on our landline, they were right outside so they had found us but on the other 6 occasions we didn't get a phone call though I know one of us was there on the likely days in question. Even when there is space for instructions on an address and I can put "green door opposite stone cross (in french) it doesn't seem to help. It is so frustrating to get a call or an email from customer services in the UK to say that the order has been returned as undeliverable. Surely as more French people order stuff online this will become a bigger problem? Or maybe they only ever order from French companies who deliver to relais.

Thank you Millie. That's a help. [:)] I know people who are like you and live in named groups of houses (lieudits?) and they get deliveries okay because there is a map in the centre of the village which details all the small group names with the roads they are on. My problem seems to be because I live in the centre of the village and le bourg covers a couple of roads and a crossroads. I think it's not the lack of road name that is a problem its that there are too many houses to guess which one is ours. I will enquire about "relais" - these are deliveries from the UK (and also occasionally Canada)  - so does your original order address have to include the relais address? Otherwise how do drivers know?

Hi there. First post from me and I have tried to search the forum to see if others have my problem but I can't find anything. We've had a holiday cottage in our small village for a few years now and our address is just our name and "le Bourg". We get ordinary mail but we've been living here since June and unlike other years, we're having various orders sent from the UK and by courier delivery. 6 out of 8 deliveries haven't been made because couriers can't deliver to what they say is an incomplete address. I can sympathise with this as there are about 30 houses and they don't have names or numbers. I"m sure courier companies don't have time to knock on every door looking for us. Our neighbours are mostly elderly and don't get courier deliveries as far as I can tell because my French is quite good and we've asked them if they have problems and they just talk about getting their post okay. We've been to the Mairie but they just say the delivery companies are lazy and we've been to the post office and they say that all their postmen and women have lists of names against houses so there is no problem to be solved. Has anyone else found a way around getting deliveries from couriers if your address is just le Bourg? I've tried sending gps coordinates to the companies with my order confirmation but I suppose these aren't passed on to the drivers. I don't know what else to try.