Hereford

Thanks for thoughts AnOther. My virus checker did not get a chance to detect it as I use webmail and don't download. At least I think that is the explanation... I have done a full scan from my (business version via son-in-law who works for a software company) antivirus program and no sign of any problems. He will be visiting us next month so will do a real trawl.  Barclays (and the other bank we use in the UK) use card readers which give a one time code to use to log in so are pretty fireproof - not so sure about French accounts though where security seems non existent.  In any case we check all our accounts daily (sad really but now I feel vindicated) so will immediately spot anything untoward. I am confident that we have got away this time but just shows we should all be alert!  NACHA seem to be in the US and our private email address is "hosted", if that is the right word, in the US and is from a domain name owned by a member of the family- we do not use an ISP address.  Mrs H

In case anyone else gets an email apparently from NACHA (processing of electronic payments): We just made an online payment and immediately got an email saying it had been cancelled and "to find out why click on the link to open a file"... As we had just made a payment I was not at first suspicious but the file would not open (internet speed not fast!) so I stopped and looked at our bank account and it was clear that the payment had not been cancelled. If you "google" NACHA there is a report on spam emails.  Just delete the email as always. I have asked my bank (Barclays) how these scammers knew I had made an online payment.  I tried to forward the email but it was undelivered as a virus was found! Mrs H

I wanted to make a 5,00 pound transfer to HiFX by Debit Card but could not as our address is not in the UK. Hence the BACS (at least free) transfer. Mrs H

Having done two transfer in the last few days the answer seems to be:  1,000 limit for "faster payments:, 1001 up to 5,000 goes by BACS (but is free and takes 2 to 4 days) over that it needs a transfer done by them and costs 25 pounds. Hope this helps Mrs H

Sorry to post this rather late in the thread but locked out by an update! It will be interesting to see the reaction of doctors/hospitals in the UK to the UK EHIC held by us pensioners living in Europe - I have taken a copy of the reply I received from Newcastle asking about this and keep it with our cards. Mrs H

Thanks for extra info.  We do not need anything for heating - our electric radiators are wonderful but some "cooling" would be brilliant upstairs in the summer (at least when it is hot) as our upstairs "ceilings" are the roof (boarded of course and lots of insulation) so it gets very hot as no "loft" as such.  We love our "pointy" ceilings except when weather very hot. Will do some research. H.

Silly question probably but never seen one of these machines. Do they just plug in like a heater or have to be vented through a wall? H.

My English recipe says 2 teaspoons baking powder to 8 oz SR flour (Yes agree Francine Gateau is fine). I then use egg and milk and roll out as I would have done in Uk and they are fine and do not taste of baking powder. Made some this morning. A tip I read on the BBC food site recently site says put them close together on a tin - so that they rise vertically and  flour the cutter between each one cut for the same reason. Mrs H

Re:  "it's a pain entering the code and then the number"   - we programmed the code (coucoutel) into one of the memory buttons, we just press that and then dial the number or another stored memory. Easy.

Rabec Demenagements near Granville were excellent when my parents used them to store some furniture before moving into their new house. They obviously do removals too!  All contents stored and sealed in wooden containers and opened in your presence when you have moved. Telephone number is 0800 19 05 48 and they have a website - google: Rabec demenagements Lots of others under "demenagements" in Pages Jaunes but we can thoroughly recommend Rabec. Mrs H

Quillan" My daughter  has a Miele dishwasher which has a drawer at the top instead of a basket - it is brilliant and holds a lot more cutlery without it getting so mixed together that it does not get clean.  She is in Germany so dishwasher bought there. Mrs H

Not sure what you want to use it for or on but I find that "Oust 3 in 1" (made by Johnson but writing so small you would hardly notice the make) is brilliant.  I buy it in Carrefour. An aerosol spray which says it  will  (sorry no accents) "elimine les mauvaises odeurs", "Tue 99.9% des bacteries" sur Les surfaces, Les tissus d'ameublement.  About 9 inches high and  a "chunky" size round (not like hair spray for example) with a green lid. You will find it near other cleaners and the javel - which I don't normally use as we have a "fosse".  Spray it on and wipe around - no need to rinse. It cleans and smells "clean". The only thing that occasionally comes into my head is that the 0.1% of germs are probably the killers! Mrs H

When I make "custard" for a trifle I make it as follows: It is very thick and sets well.  I was taught to do it at a "patisserie" course some years ago. 1/2 pint milk 1 oz sugar 2 level tablespoons cornflour 2 egg yolks Put a little milk in a jug and dissolve sugar and cornflour Put remainder of the milk in a pan and heat to scalding point Pour hot milk into jug, stir quickly, put back into pan and add egg yolks. Whisk as you do it.  Custard will thicken almost immediately, take off heat. I use this recipe too when I want a thick custard to whip with mascarpone for a tiramisu. Just leave to cool with cling film on the surface to stop skin forming. Mrs H.

Brilliant Pachpapa - will look on the cheese counter! Many thanks, and to wooly for his contribution... Mrs H

Good afternoon In a French magazine I found a recipe: Tartelettes citronnees a la brousse  (sorry no accents). My French/English dictionary gives "la brousse" as the bush - as in lost in the bush. Can anyone tell me what brousse is in relation to food please?  The recipe calls for 200g which is to be crushed with a fork and then added to the lemon and egg mixture. Many thanks Mrs H

Or use a coucoutel access number first, then 0044845xxx  See www.coucoutel.fr It works brilliantly - wait a few seconds after dialling 845 number before connection - dead silence but then gets there.

Loiseau:  In theory we could do this but it would be very very difficult. The majority of the garden is fenced as I described (did not want to write an essay!) but at one point a neighbours's broken down barn is the boundary and in lots of places bushes and trees are along the fence. I think we would have to do it from the field side. Thanks for the info Catalpa re shotguns - we thought it could not be right that one could go about shooting animals unless one was a proper qualifiued person! H. Catalpa:  See PM re a totally different subject!

Thanks Catalpa, this is the first time we have had any in over 10 years. Odd isn't it.   We are sure it is lack of foxes! The rabbittrap looked amazing but not cheap especially I would think to send to France.  It seemed to trap them alive - presumably leaving one to kill them! Er - not for us perhaps.  Even with strawberries and veg that would be a bit "overkill" I think. We were offered a "shotgun and pellets" by a fellow Brit today - but we are not convinced it would be legal for us to go around firing pellets at anything. Anyone know?  Thanks again everyone H.

Thanks for replies. There are some feral cats around, although we have not seen them in the last few weeks. Can't have a dog or cat ourselves due to severe allergy problems. We could ask the Maire certainly, but no friends with small fierce dogs!   Not sure about an electric fence - clearly we would have to keep gates shut all the time which would be a pain - and is a fence like that OK for sheep?  Mind you we had one sheep with it's head stuck through our fence the other day, and when released by us it came back a bit later and did it again. The fence is what we would call "pig" fencing. Will consider options. H.

We are immediately surrounded by fields, used by sheep not crops.  We have seen 2 adult and four small rabbits in the garden and fields recently. We see them in the garden a lot! Any thoughts of how to discourage them? We are sure that our vegetable plants and especially the strawberry plants are at risk...although today they bare just eating grass.  They also scrub at the grass and leave droppings all over the place. We have had the house since 1995 and this is the first year we have seen rabbits - perhaps the foxes have all decamped? Any suggestions gratefully received (and "no" we don't have a gun although we do like rabbit to eat...) Thanks H.

Mortain tax office had a notice up, as they did last year, and they are saying 1.148.

Interesting thread.  We are registered to vote in the UK by using a proxy vote, but had not been able to find out whether it included the referendum.  If some of you have had postal forms it seems that our vote will be used. So now need to make sure proxy will vote as we wish! We even emailed the Electoral commission but got no reply - if they are not involved they could have replied to that effect. We are registered to vote here in France too for local elections and we did vote when the last one was on.

Well: unscrewed cable from back of box and then  turned on tv etc as  usual. TV came up with "searching for an update" presumably because there was no signal.  Previously nothing had come up on TV. So: screwed cable back in and voila (sorry no accent). All seems well.   Very odd but saves a visit to shop so very many thanks martin963 for your input. Have just turned off TV for now and will try changing channels etc later. H.

Martin963: The box we have is a TNT SAT Tekcomm TCT 1400 We will take the cable out of the back and see what happens. When we have had odd happenings with it before we have removed the card and re-inserted it and that has worked, but not this time.  I have checked that the card is the right way round! Will post again later. Thanks for help H.

Hi We have TNT par satellite for French TV plus free-to-air other programs - in practice the only useful English one is BBC World. We do not have UK TV. The box seems to have a problem, we unplug box and TV except when we are watching (every little helps with electricity consumption). Yesterday when we turned it all on the box seemed to freeze at the point where normally it says "Menu" and then goes quickly to whichever program was last watched. It never got past "menu" and the zapper would not even turn it off then though the zapper worked to activate in the first place. Just to be sure we have changed zapper batteries but this makes no difference. Same thing today (we lived in hope that it would right itself...) We have checked cable and TV connection to the box and all seems OK. Any ideas please before we go to the shop and look stupid because it is something simple! We don't know anyone  else who has TNT this way so can't ask around.  All the "English" we know have UK tv. Many thanks, we miss the weather lady. H.