oh, you are so naughty… i knew the south of france would be warm, the people lovely, the wine cheap and the bread delicious… but you never mentioned the FLIES!
my dog, he husband and me now driven insane… we found a whole AISLE in auchan dedicated to the erradication of les mouches… bit what to do? one is sitting on my keyboard as i type - on the number 3, and frankie, is sitting on my screen, cleaning his front legs, a la jeff goldblum…
merci suzanne… turns out after 40 something years on this earth i have no buddhist in me at all… i have flowers on the windows, 2 red top things in the post, along with a blue electricutor thing… i’ve sprayed all entrances with some deadly chemical from brico (not green now either) i have swats in all rooms (loo too) a dog who will eat struggling flies (one tap pretenders) on command, oh, and i’ve learnt some humility too - there is one on my laptop screen now - cleaning its legs/arms? but, i think it’s the last one in the house - so, good luck to her… tx
Ah I’m sure I have moaned about les mouches Teresa, it was one of the first words my 2 year old learnt to say…Daddeeee Mouche and he prances about with fly squat in hand (make sure you do a double whack as they pretend to play dead with the first whack).
Oh yes we have lots of them, you need to invest in flyscreens pretty darn quick before they lay all their little horrid egg spots all over your walls and you’re completely infested.
When we first moved down here we thought it was because there used to be horses in our cellar (like 30 years ago!) but then quickly realised they just love it down here & are our pesky neighbours.
The bar has been known to close ‘unload a bombe of fly killer’ then reopen an hour later!
We hate mouches with a vengance…get yourself armed in every manner possible, sprays, squats, flowery stickers but most of all - fly screens (moustiquaires).
Not very green but I don’t want to share my greens with those black horrid pests and sometimes no matter how hard you try to whack em, they just keep coming back, its the mediterranean diet that does it!
Suz
We have a major fly problem in our conservatory which attracts them in huge numbers some days (we’re also in cattle/sheep farming country). We find that the “fleurs anti-mouches”, the patches shaped like flowers that you stick on the windows, work pretty well. They don’t smell, aren’t sticky and don’t look too ugly. But you may have to sweep up the flies in the morning as happens to us! Mosquito nets on all the windows were also an early investment and it does mean that you can open the windows.
yes, thinking about a mossie screen for one window - the study where the computers are on all the tome and generating a ton of heat… I too am a magnet for mossies - but no sign o.f them as yet… i still have my enormous mosquito net i had made in thailand a good few years ago - so that may still go up!
Hoooray, it’s raining today and the flies have disappeared.
We are in the Clunysois where they raise Charollais cattle and this year the flies have been worse than usual. We had mosquito screens installed in the main bedrooms, expensive but worth it as I seem to be their main target. We also have an insecicutor in the kitchen, but it really works better at night.
I have to agree with Andrew- opening the windows just lets in the heat and the flies! The red-top things are vile but effective we use 2 at the kitchen end of the house and put them in trees, so they are kind of hidden. Hope you find a solution that suits you
yes… i think we were so giddy when we got here last week and it was so warm outside we practically threw open the windows… the house is very cool - cold in some rooms, and outside it is roasting! it’s a new way of life for us to get used to… in the uk a warm day was such a bonus… still, our dog has never been happier or more tired - chasing and eating flies is a cracking game, plus my eye hand co-ordination is good, verging on excellent…
Depends where you live - never had a problem in Aix-en-Provence (no livestock for miles) or St Brieuc (everything came from the sea) but in rural southern France… well let’s be honest it’s more like Africa. You sort of get used to it after a few years - my other half didn’t understand what the fuss was about until i took her to the uk and there weren’t any flies anywhere! we just keep a “tapette”, no I’m not being rude!, in each room and you never open the windows - except at night, too hot to open them in the day and let out the precious cool air + the shutters are closed anyway and at nigt ot get some cooler air in and there aren’t any flies at night…works most of the time but you do end up living like a prisoner… that’s the south for you! (can’t be as bad as where I used to live with a cattle barn next to us - we could regularly count 50 odd kills in an after diner fly-swatting session!)
oh god… noooo! husband says red top things are fab but disgusting… your insecticutor looks very erm butchers!!! i’ve been standing in brico lusting after the products in the video at the counter - spray it on and for 10 euros all flies are gone… it cannot be true. does the insecticuor work?
Ha! I posted about this on the SFN FB page on May 25 - yes it is a nightmare. We have an ‘insecticutor’ as used in small scale pig units (!) but the red top things are fab too.
