Jec

Has anyone any idea what these are?  I have been told that they only come out in August, hence the name, but other than that I haven't a clue! Has anyone had any experience of these creatures and if so, are they big!!! Julie

I buy UHT Double Cream at our local SuperU.  Can't remember what it's called, but it does say 'professional' on the carton. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it!) they only sell it in litre cartons and you can find it in the Long-Life milk section.  Julie

Has anyone seen the notices that have sprung up on the Avranches to Isigny le Buat road recently?   The sign that marks Isigny as the 'Premier Canton' etc has had a sign put over it saying 'poubelle'  Julie

Many thanks to everyone for their replies, but they have now been re-homed (and not in someone's freezer!) Julie

I forgot to say.  We live near St Hilaire.

Can anyone offer a new home to two geese.  They are about 8 months old and one is white and female and the other is grey and male. Many thanks Julie

Can anyone please tell me if there has been any changes made recently to the charging of TVA at the reduced level of 5.5%.  Julie

With many thanks for your suggestions, I ought to explain that the immediate dispatch of the chicken isn't the problem.  We dispatched our first******rel about a month ago.  We drew it and plucked it immediately and then put it in the freezer.  I eventually cooked it in the slow cooker with red wine and vegetables and it was horrible!   I know the bird was over twelve months old and so therefore required a long cooking time, but I don't want to kill another bird if we can't eat it afterwards.  I was wondering if it was because we hadn't hung it to allow the blood to drain. Any suggestions? Julie  

With apologies to any vegetarians that may read this topic - Could anyone please let me know the procedure for dispatching chickens, i.e should they be hung and if so for how long?  Should they be plucked and/or drawn before hanging?  We have two old girls who have now gone well beyond the laying stage, so recipes could also be useful! Many thanks Julie      

We are still weighing up our options at the moment.  The pond is going to be for our ducks and geese and we thought that they might damage a liner. Julie

Thanks for the info Redcap - I'll do some research on Google. Julie

Could anyone tell me if there is an alternative to a liner. We have dug out to a depth of about 1 metre and although there is quite a lot of clay at the bottom, it is very rocky.  I would prefer not to use a liner if possible. Julie   

Our meter was read in the middle of August, but we haven't received any bill yet! Julie

They have it in Carrefour at Avranches - white and multi-cereal. Julie

we recently had a similar problem after booking aholiday through SNCF on the telephone. the limit on the card wasn't enough, so I phoned the bank for some advice. After establishing that SNCF would not accept anything other than a french bank card, not even a cheque, I got back to the bank and was eventually issued with a maestro card, which is apparently, much more sophisticated and has a larger limit. Costs the same as the old card and, it might be my imagination, but it does seem to go through the machines more quickly. This was at Credit Agricole. Hope this helps. Julie

Noticed on the last statement from Credit Agricole that I appear to have suddenly started being charged 1 euro for withdrawing cash from the supermarket machines. Anyone else had any new bank charges? Julie

At around about May of this year, the pound was almost hitting 1.52 euros. I phoned HIFX and got an exchange rate of just over 1.50. The amount transferred didn't make a huge difference to the exchange rate,although I suppose it would if you were exchanging hundreds of thousands of pounds, but the minimum amount that they will deal with is 5,000.00. Keeping an eye on the exchange rate on the BBC is a good idea. Hope this helps. Julie

We got our Carte Vitale last year using my husbands E121 obtained from Newcastle. I notice that the CV is due to expire in August. I have phoned Newcastle to ask if I need to obtain another E121, but they say that they last indefinitely. Do we have to go to CPAM again, or do they notify us? Julie

www.lesminutes.com charge I think 0.05 centimes a minute. We have used them for three months with no problems. The site is also in english. Julie