Pixie Toadstool

The horse's mouth didn't mention that but I think the DEFRA site says the limit is 5 per household and we have 4 (phew!).  Brittany Ferries says they have no limit except for the limit they have on total animals carried in any one crossing per boat. (Later ...) I have re-visited the DEFRA site now and can't find any mention of a limit for animals being taken from one EU country to another but another link suggests that 5 is the limit for animals coming from non-EU countries. Any comments from those in the know much appreciated!

As this is quite an old post and I had heard that the rules had changed I thought it might be a good idea to update everyone here.  I was confused with the advice given here and on the DEFRA website and so I phoned DEFRA. From the horse's mouth this is what you need to do if you want to export your pet to France and don't expect to come back to the UK: Get your animal microchippedGet your animal vaccinated against rabiesWait 21 days after vaccination (or booster vaccination if the type needs two hits)Take your animal back to the vet and ask them to issue you a Pet PassportN.B. No blood test needs to be carried out unless you intend to return to UKIf you want to return to the UK at a later date you can get a Pet Passport from French licensed vets provided you keep the rabies jab up to date and you have a blood test - the 6 month wait after blood test for re-entry into the UK will then apply.Hope this helps someone here!

Well that explains the hairy hands then Will (Jim!!). Pix[:-))]

I have just decided to try my hand at lunar gardening and so I thought I'd resurrect this thread to see how people have progressed. What are you doing at the moment - will you be planting root vegetable seeds tomorrow (Saturday) like me? What effect does the vernal equinox have on planting seeds? Pix [blink]

We had the Census form sent to England by the Mairie.  It was addressed to my husband which is a bit of a cheek since I own the house!!!! [:)] There was nothing on it about level of education or anything personal that I can remember - it was all about the house. Are there different census forms in different areas? Pix

I think it's an elephant hawk moth!  I believe it likes to live on Rose Bay Willow Herb. Pix

[quote user="odile"]definitely a stink horn and NOT a black morille! Not edlible, please don't try. by the way morilles ARE delicious but very poisonous if eaten raw. [/quote] Actually the egg stage, as I said, is edible, according to Roger Phillips' website, as follows: location: North America, Europeedibility: Inediblefungus colour: White to cream, Black or blackishnormal size: 5-15cmcap type: Otherstem type: Volva on stem, Stem much longer than cap diameterflesh: Mushroom has distinct or odd smell (non mushroomy), Mushroom slimy or stickyspore colour: Light to dark brownhabitat: Grows in woods, Grows on the ground Phallus impudicus Pers. syn. Ithyphallus impudicus (L.) Fr. Gemeine Stinkmorchel Phallus Impudique, Satyre puant, Oeuf du diable, Stinkhorn. Fruit body initially semi-submerged and covered by leaf-litter, egg-like, 3–6cm across, attached to substrate by a cord-like mycelial strand. The outer wall of the egg is white to pinkish but there is a thick gelatinous middle layer held between the membranous inner and outer layers. The egg is soon ruptured, as the white hollow stalk-like receptacle extends to 10–25cm high, the pendulous, bell-shaped head is covered by a meshwork of raised ribs covered in dark olive slime which contains the spores. This slime has a strong sickly offensive smell which attracts flies from large distances, the slime sticks to the legs of the flies and thus acts as a means of spore dispersal which takes place very rapidly, exposing the underlying mesh of the cap. Spores pale yellow, oblong, 3.5–4 x 1.5–2µ. Habitat associated with rotting wood which may be buried in the soil, in gardens and woodland. Season summer to late autumn. Very common. The egg stage, which lacks the disgusting smell, is edible though not tasty; it is said to be an aphrodisiac presumably through association with its phallic shape. Pix [;-)]

It's not a black morel but a stinkhorn and they are only edible when they are egg shaped:  i.e. before the phallic bit emerges. They do really stink though don't they?  This is to attract flies which disperse the spores. Pix [;-)]

I had always thought that drowning was meant to be one of the least painful ways to die along with carbon monoxide inhalation (gassing yourself with your car exhaust) and hypothermia. Doing a quick scan on google I have found 3 accounts from people who nearly died drowning and it doesn't seem that bad!  Much better than being burned at the stake or staked with a nasty pointed stick or  being poisoned (can be extremely painful).  Here are 3 accounts FYI: Having nearly drowned once the little I can add is that it didn't hurt. From what I see on tv it's horrific. But when it was actually happening to me, I refused to breathe and blacked out, underwater, in the ocean. When I came to I was on the dry ground having CPR done. I do not have any memory of pain.   I almost drowned when I was a kid and I can say that was not as bad as you imagine. I remember being underwater, the peace and tranquility and I felt I didn't want anyone to get me out of the water. I almost died drowning once. I can tell you that it is very unpleasant at first, you're really panicky, obviously, and it's painful not to breath. It's not quite like any other pain, though, it's like... irritating, too, like when you try not to swallow but your body wants you to. It's achy. But after a while, you start to give up, and it stops hurting. You feel kind of at peace. Your brain has so little oxygen that you stop panicking, and you kind of relax, until you pass out. That's when I was rescued, obviously. And usually when you pass out from lack of oxygen, you start breathing even though you're unconcious, but when you're under water, you obviously can't, so you die. Pix

Whatever happened Frenchie?  Is everything all sorted out now?  I keep looking to see if you are OK now but I see you say HAPPY on your posts so I am hopeful! Pix

I think we are talking about two different things here - although both governed by hormones:  PMT (pre-menstrual syndrome) and the menopause (or really peri-menopause when you get symptoms before going into true menopause - which actually means cessation of periods).  Some of the symptoms can be the same but I don't think you'd get anyone prescribing HRT for PMT - maybe for the menopause though. In my experience re: PMT, avoidance of alcohol, sugar and saturated fat definitely make it better for a week or two prior to your period.  I know if I drink too much then I suffer many of the symptoms of PMT - including irritability and painful breasts.  Oil of evening primrose is meant to help (and maybe fish oils too) but you would need to take these all the time - not just before the onset of your period. Pix

It's no good just dusting the books - you will need to eradicate the little critters which will be inside the book's pages as well on the outside and in the binding.  Apparently a good way of doing this is to  microwave the books (I don't know for how long or the wattage but a google search may yield results).  I would also advise you to get them out of your bedroom as the allergans (usually the book mite faeces) will still be there even after a good microwaving!). I realised I had an allergy when we moved house and I had to put my husband's antique book collection back on the shelves (the movers had packed them).  I was in a very sorry state for a day or two and looking back I think I probably developed an allergy when I was sanding down yards and yards of antique pine panelling a year or two earlier (the mites live on old wood/paper - same base). Hope this helps! Pix

[quote user="Puzzled"]I woke up in the middle of the night having a streaming nose and a sneezing fit -  and it's not hayfever. This morning I noticed on a book by my bed a teeny little white mite - it was smaller than a fullstop but I noticed it was moving.[+o(] I have checked and dust mites are apparently invisible to the naked eye, so it's not them. I have dusted and used special wet cloths for wooden parquet flooring but can anyone recommend any spray or plug in thingy that will kill them please. [/quote] What you saw on the book was a book mite - I know because I am allergic to them and you certainly can see them with the naked eye - little white things as you say (not dust mites - not the same).  If I get close to old books I sneeze and if I get close to lots of them my nose runs and I get wheals all over my body.  Best to get rid of any old books you have - that works for me!  Or at least get them out of your bedroom! Pix

I doubt they are too old - they are one of the types which last for ages before going off.  Pick them, cut them through the middle to remove any insects (woodlice like to live inside) give them a quick brush up and there you go - an absolutely delicious edible mushroom!  If it smells putrid don't bother but a nice fresh mushroomy smell will tell you that it's still edible.  In fact if it's pretty dry it is unlikely to have gone off at all. Pix

Michel Thomas says that they changed from just saying hui (meaning today) to "at the day of today" because hui and oui sound the same - so for clarity of communication the aujourd'hui was used instead. Pix

Just for my 3 pen'orth.  When we bought our house in France I spoke to a couple of the moneybrokers (the normal ones) and also the Alliance and Leicester and Natwest banks where we had accounts.  NatWest DID offer me to buy ahead for a certain sum - which was actually at a better rate than the moneybrokers and MUCH MUCH BETTER than Alliance and Leicester.  So they will do it if you speak to their international departments. I don't see why anyone is worried about the UK bank charging to receive sterling - why would they?  Pix

[quote user="cooperlola"]Where did we go wrong, Pix?[:D][/quote] [;-)]

When I was 15 I went to school in Twickenham which was one of the centres of a drink and drugs culture then (anyone heard of Eel Pie Island?).  I went to a very good school (at the time the best girls grammar in the area) but girls were pushing drugs there anyway.  You could stay on and hang around in town after school and your parents would think you were at your friends whereas my friend and I were smoking pot at a local squat in the vicinity.  Taking the bus home later my father would have had no idea what I had been up to.  I went to parties with boys who drank and drove and went round roundabouts on 2 wheels, throwing us all over the place.  I drank neat gin at a party and threw up all the way home.  I collapsed on New Year's Eve on the way to meet my father picking me up because I was so Pi$$€d.  I woke up one night at an orgy [+o(] (I was 16) and realised that things were going too far (luckily I wasn't participating in it but had fallen asleep because I was so stoned!).  So I dragged myself up by my bootstraps for a while at least!  Amazingly I survived!! My point is that these things can happen on your doorstep - not just on the other side of the world.  Parents must keep their eyes and ears open to check their children aren't falling into bad ways.  I could go on and on about the things I got up to in the early 70s but I won't because some of it is very shocking and yet here I am now - an apparently respectable middle class 50 year old with a degree, a family and the ability to earn plenty of money if I so wished.  So what went right I wonder?  Perhaps the morals that I was brought up with  - I think they won out in the end plus (as I said) that good old guardian angel! Pix

Thanks Rose!  I have now booked him with Flybe from Rennes but it costs about £85 single all in!!  Would have been nice to get him on the ferry to Portsmouth for £20-30 or whatever which is so close to the main line station!  I am happier about him navigating the trains in the UK than in France which is why I chose this route as opposed to getting him to CDG from Basse Normandie (which would actually have been much cheaper with the Tesco vouchers!). Interesting that this idea is being mirrored in the other thread about Scarlett - who was also 15.  When I think what I got up to when I was 15 and my dad never knew!!  Maybe he should have wrapped me up in cotton wool - I certainly put myself in great danger but somehow my guardian angel must have protected me!  I hope I have taught my son to use his intuition - something I very much believe in.  If it doesn't feel right then it probably isn't!! Pix

It seems he CAN fly - with BA from CDG Paris to Heathrow and we have Tesco Clubcard vouchers which would pay for this.  So there is at least one possibility.  I suppose it's easier to fall off a boat than an aeroplane - do you think that's how they'd justify it? [blink] I know Cooperlola - we could do most things when we were young and generally learned how to be streetwise at a very young age! Pix

My son wants to come back on his own from France next month.  He is a very independent 15 year old and I am quite happy that he is up to the journey etc.  However, I can't find any way of getting him back as all routes seem to put a lower age limit of 16 to travel alone. Does anyone have any ideas or experience or is anyone I know out there travelling back to the UK on about 11th April, so that he can be accompanied? Thanks in anticipation! Pix

I have had a look at the website you recommended, Flittle.  I would say Dr. Golomb gave more reasoned advice than the second doctor (Dr. Graveline).  Bear in mind also that these doctors are talking about their perspective in the USA and it has certainly been my opinion that drug companies are a lot more influential and powerful in the USA than they are in the UK.  Another thing to bear in mind though in the USA is that, as most people's health care is provided by their insurance companies, the insurance companies (who hold the purse-strings) won't be keen on people being over-prescribed a drug which doesn't work - it does not tie up with basic economics - they are not going to be happy to give their money to the pharmaceutical companies without good financial reason.  However, I don't know how many companies give back handers to insurance companies to recommend that only their product be used.  I think this does happen but it won't mean that more people will be prescribed statins.  I believe that the pharmaceutical industry in the UK is much more closely regulated, so this conspiracy theory is less likely here (though I agree, not impossible). The question about whether statins cause side effects and particularly amnesia (which Dr Graveline talked about) is a difficult one.  The only way to find out whether the statins do cause these problems is to carry out a large study with half the patients on placebo and the other half on statins with neither the doctor nor patient knowing which is being taken.  This is the only way to rule out the placebo effect.  A large consideration is that people taking statins tend to be more middle aged and I think most people and doctors agree that our cognitive abilities start to decline, probably around the age of about 50.  For myself and my cohort of friends who are in our 40s and 50s - most of us agree that we are not quite as bright as we used to be and that we ache more when we get up, especially after a bit of exercise and that we just can't grasp things like we used to.  We are more forgetful too!  Now had we been on statins we would have attributed those effects to statins but we aren't so we can't - we must look for another cause!  For me, the muscle aching came on very quickly when I gave up smoking when I was 41 and the forgetfulness really started to set in last year (I was 50 last September).  Another thing is that heart disease has multiple causes which when put together have more than an additive effect.  So it makes even more sense to reduce as many causes as you can.  Cholesterol IS necessary for the body but we only need so much of it.  Too much cholesterol (bad LDL cholesterol) gets laid down in our arteries.  However, there is good cholesterol too (HDL) which moves round the arteries literally mopping up the bad cholesterol and taking it out of the system.  Cholesterol which is laid down and is not removed eventually forms a hard lump called a plaque - this is the bit that can break off and lodge in your coronary artery and cause a myocardial infarction (heart attack) or a pulmonary embolism or a certain type of stroke.  There are also things like twitchy arteries which can make it more likely that a plaque breaks off.  Inflammation can contribute to the process.  Then you have to add other things like stress, family history, other toxins floating around the body to the equation.  High triglycerides are another blood fat which are increasingly being considered important.  Diabetics typically have very high levels of these as do alcoholics and people who have a high carbohydrate (particularly sugar) diet - so it is also a good idea to limit your intake of refined sugars as well as refined fats and for goodness sake lay off the hydrogenated fat - that is a real killer! By the way, Ezetrol is not recommended as a first line treatment for lowering cholesterol since there are not enough trials to convince the authorities of its safety or efficacy - so it is only used as an add-in therapy to statins for patients whose cholesterol is still too high.  Niaspan is nicotinic acid by another name - which is actually very effective at reducing cholesterol - particularly the bad (LDL) cholesterol but it causes unpleasant side effects of hot facial flushing which put most people off taking it.  I think it has a number of other unpleasant side effects too althouth I don't believe any of them are dangerous.  Fibrates are the old type of drug (used for years) but which aren't anywhere near as effective as statins at lowering your cholesterol. Here endeth another sermon! Pix

I don't think statins have much effect on triglycerides - one of the best things for that is fish oil.  I used to sell a product called Maxepa which was essentially fish oils (eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids).  Triglycerides are raised considerably by a high sugar diet and alcohol consumption usually pushes them up too. HDL/LDL ratio is VERY important - much more than the absolute cholesterol level. I think the reasons statins are given rather than diet is that (as for obesity) it is very difficult for most people to change their lifestyle.  You deserve congratulations for being able to make the change through diet alone (5-element). Genetic factors are very important.  My husband lives almost exclusively on cream, butter, alcohol, red meat and the odd vegetable and he has a very low cholesterol level and a very good HDL/LDL ratio.  A good idea is to look at your parents medical history to work out your chances of suffering from heart disease.  My husband's parents were/are long lived and so were his grandparents. As someone else said, there are complex causative factors for heart disease and there is much more interest in inflammatory causes at the moment.  There are some big trials going on out there looking at this - and by the way - who is funding it?  Why the pharmaceutical industry mostly!! Pix

Placebo effect is bizarre - I know.  Looking at those figures and if you count the differences between them, overall it seems to me you are more likely to get side effects with a placebo than with simvastatin!!  However, looking at the bases - there were 10 times as many in the simvastatin group than placebo so we can't really compare the two groups. Another weird thing is that the placebo is more likely to cause asthenia (which includes myasthenia - muscle aches, pains and lethargy - a known statin side effect) than simvastatin. Pix

"Adverse reactions are seen by about one person in 20,000. That means that 19,999 get a benefit. You need to stop and actually think about those numbers for a moment." Er where did you get this information Dick?  It is patently untrue - adverse reactions or side effects are much, much more common than that -and depending on the drug can be extremely high.  Here is a table showing the adverse events of Zocor (simvastatin) in one study as follows: Also even people getting side effects usually get a benefit from treatment (as measured by efficacy). Pix http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/simva_ad.htm   ZOCOR (N = 1,583) % Placebo (N = 157) % Body as a Whole     Abdominal pain 3.2 3.2   Asthenia 1.6 2.5 Gastrointestinal     Constipation 2.3 1.3   Diarrhea 1.9 2.5   Dyspepsia 1.1 —   Flatulence 1.9 1.3   Nausea 1.3 1.9 Nervous System/ Psychiatric     Headache 3.5 5.1 Respiratory     Upper respiratory infection 2.1 1.9