Keep that paintbrush in your hand Pete, body and mind working together. Therapeutic.
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This at the bottom of the page may be a better summary.
Key points overall:
Nasty scam emails - they have no idea if you’ve visited adult sites or not but threaten you.
Your devices are unlikely to have been compromised, though it’s not impossible, ensure you are up to date software wise on all devices.
My Mac Mini does not have an attached webcam so clearly BS irrespective of anything else.
If they mention known passwords these usually come from old data breaches and credentials traded by criminals on the ‘dark web’.
Email sends can be spoofed to look as though they come from your own account which an extortionist will use to try to convince you that they have control of your computer/device. Chances are the email address was again harvested from a data breach.
If you are sent any ‘confirmatory passwords’ you may have used even long ago on defunct sites, do not re-use them.
Apologies for posting this, but I’ve never received any spam like this before and actually got 2 to separate email aliases a few days ago, not to the primary accounts.
These are the absolute sickest of e-mail scams as I believe people have taken their own lives due to the emails.
There is a different though ultimately similar type of sextortion scam whereby people exchange details/become friendly online and the scammer encourages sharing of intimate photos which they then threaten to publish online.
Hell, this kind of stuff makes me so angry. 
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I had a severe allergic reaction recently and had to do e-consult prior to getting an appointment to see a GP. I had a reaction to tree pollen which caused severe allergic conjunctivitis and blistering of the conjuctiva, so I couldn’t close my eyes. Given eye drops and Fexofenadine, as well as steroid drops for the severe times.
A bit of a lecture about eating fruit again due to oral allergy syndrome, and given two extra Epipens. First one gives you five minutes to phone the emergency services, the second to keep you out of shock.
I’ve been in Anaphylaxis twice, first time eating an apple, second from a Nectarine. Allergies didn’t start until late forties but I seem to be more sensitive each year. Bummer!
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Really sorry to hear that. A family member has a peanut allergy and that’s pretty spooky, but I know several people who have had anaphylaxis with no clear provoking allergen.
A lot of fruit is chemically treated these days, you’d have to wonder if it might be a chemical used to increase the shelf life?
As you mention, an absolute bummer that these came on in your 40s - presumably you could you eat fruits as a kid/in your younger days and had no ill effects?
And the other thing is that so many providers of services are now blocking their customer service interface with multiple layers of security .
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Thanks. I was always able to eat fruit, but it started with kiwi fruit first. I joined a controlled study into kiwi fruit allergy at Southampton hospital over 20 years ago, as there were increasing reactions to kiwi, and it was being used in baby foods. The outcome was disappointing in that they couldn’t find a specific reason for it. After that I got a slightly itchy mouth eating some fruits, tried washing the outside but same reaction. 10 years ago I got full blown anaphylaxis from the apple. It makes you wonder if something just set off a reaction in immune response and never switched it off.
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I have a severe nut allergy, which I discovered when I ended up in hospital on Boxing Day when I was 18 or 19. I’ve been caught out without my epipen and had to run to a chemist and get them to inject me there and then. Life’s rich pageant.
Fruit allergy must be such a nightmare. Some pips can make me tingly and I can’t eat close to the stone on a peach for example, but stuff like kiwis are fine. There seem to be so many allergies around.
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At least I can see what is an apple or cherry, nuts are impossible as they are used in so many food production areas.
Lentils, green peas, chickpeas and lupin seeds are what sets me off on another “blues & twos” ride to the local A&E.
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Blimey, I didn’t know you had an allergy. I love lentils and almost live on them, and as for chick peas, where would we be without houmous?!
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I prefer my allergy to yours
Yep, no Chicken Dansak, Biryani or Matar Paneer for me. I also have to watch out for “vegetable” curry or chilli (been done by both!). Green peas - a well known brand of “mexican” foods produced a jar of Guacamole containing 40% green pea. The most recent escapades have been with Lupin seeds, or most commonly Lupin flour, which seems to be increasingly used as a bulking agent.
Curiously, although lentils and green peas hit me, I am OK with suger-snap peas, mange-tout (Rodney) and all kinds of beans, and nuts. Also OK with Poppadums, even though they are made from chickpea flour.
The medics did some tests (at QAH), and gave me a list of things to which I was allergic, including, er, kitties!
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I had an allergy test once, when the docs thought it may be possible to desensitise me. Brazil nuts are the worst - the biggest circle on the skin prick measure was about 2cm, and my reaction was the size of a CD! So no desensitisation for me. I’m cooking a big pan of lentil dal at the moment; it would be awful not to be able to eat pulses. We have enough trouble avoiding nuts and minimising cheese.
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We went to language exchange meeting (English and Spanish) this morning, went shopping, and now sunbathing and sipping beers on the pool terrace of the villa we’ve been renting this winter. Today life is good! 
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Graeme, if you don’t mind me asking whereabouts did you rent the Villa from? It is something Mrs Bruss and I are contemplating for three months next year.
My approach to minimizing cheese is to buy the most expensive available and eat it very slowly.
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We rented from a local estate agent, some of who look after rentals as well. It’s very much the luck of the draw though. Most agents don’t want to talk about winter rentals until October at the earliest. It’s kind of stressful trying to secure a place.
My sister-in-law owns an apartment down here, so we got our foot in the door via that route. We have now found an apartment which we can rent for the winter for the next 5 years with an option to extend.
I would suggest coming down here for a holiday, and use the time to find a place to rent. Beware the post Brexit 90 day rule.
It’s all fairly complicated and this forum is not the place to go into details. If you genuinely want more info, I am happy for @Richard.Dane to forward my email address to you.
Many thanks Graeme. I live in France permanently with French residency so different rules apply. I will look at local agents though . If I get stuck I will perhaps ask Richard to put us in touch later. Meanwhile enjoy your winter residency.
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A friend gave me 1.7 kg of coffee fruit (he grows it):
So I’ve started the process of removing the grains:
24 hours of soaking, then drying is the next step.
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Saw my doctor yesterday, oh dear,
About eight weeks ago I got out of bed to discover I had hardly any strength in my usually good right leg,
It took 45 minutes to cross the room , I nearly had to get the house broken into to render assistance. Cutting a long story short, the upshot is a major tear in the knee, a leg still swollen and now able to walk a bout 200 metres.
The X-ray reveals two knackered knees and which one would you like doing first ?
Also offered physio therapy, she thinks my hip issues are due to my knee weaknesses .
I have a neighbour who probably has Parkinson’s and is totally reliant on me to take him shopping.
Oh yarbles
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