Ant

We have a small garden about 5m by 5m. I need a gardener who can design and plant up a bed 5m x 1m, including perhaps a small tree, plus a few large pots also.

HI, thanks for the suggestions everyone - the booze has gone to a local charity raffle.

Bit of an unusual request but here goes... I need to offload some free samples received during the course of work - mostly beer but there are a couple of bottle of spirits as well. I'd like it to go somewhere useful, but food banks won't take it. Does anyone have any idea where I can donate it? Ideally somewhere it can be sold to raise funds for charity if poss.

It was total chaos down there this morning: cars rushing through against green pedestrian lights, cyclists and pedestrians crossing/passing everywhere, huge queues of cars with drivers getting frustrated. It's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt if you ask me. It's even worse trying to negotiate all of this safely if you have impaired mobility.

Collecting all your online IDs and passwords so they can be passed on to your heir... sounds like that's been thought up by someone well-meaning but a bit clueless!

Here's the part of their website that outlines how to claim compensation: http://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/3018.htm

This looks great, thanks OP. Another site with lots of walks accessible from London via public transport is http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/ - you can download the routes to use yourself, no need to join the organised club walks if you don't want to.

intexasatthe moment Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I expect I'm missing something ,but how do we know > that this vehicle belongs to the butcher up at the > Plough ? I don't know if we do for sure. I *think* I've seen him driving it. But that's far from certain, obviously. I could be mistaken.

Am I imagining it or is this van something to do with the butcher's up by the library?

I have no real idea how on earth we managed to pay for all that childcare, or how we survived the period while they were all under 5. I mean literally. No real memory. I suspect I was too tired. Now that they're older I'm noticing less immediate things, for instance how family tickets for things are almost always set up for 2+2. Holidays get very expensive very quickly. Meals out too. Everything it just... more. Managing the calendar can be challenging at times but it's not usually too bad. Swimming with all three becomes impossible for a while (wrong ratio of adults to kids under whatever-age-it-is). As others have said there's never-ending noise, clutter, laundry... The house is too small and we can't afford to move without going much further away than we'd like. But despite all this I'm glad we went for number three. Wouldn't have felt finished otherwise, if that makes sense.

Our eldest did LAMDA at primary school. She really enjoyed it and now has a couple of exams under he belt where she did very well. She's at secondary now, where they don't offer LAMDA any more and, according to her at least, the drama classes aren't all that good. Can anyone recommend a place for her to carry on with LAMDA courses privately? We like LAMDA as it has recognised certifications that should help her if she decides to take her acting studies on further at a later stage. But if anyone has an alternative to offer that can give similar benefits I would be interested to hear about those too.

We've just had ours done. ?3.5k does sound a lot but after having quotes from The London Door Co, Voysey & Jones, Crown Joinery and another local joinery it does seem to be the going rate. We went with The London Door Co in the end and are very happy with the result.

Personally I'd rather get the bus out then run back - avoids having to sit there all sweaty.

Just had an email from them stating it will open on Friday 20 March.

Really awful, I do hope he recovers soon. Any word on how long before the road reopens?

DMC has been shit since long before 2009. I'm sure too many patients is a large part of the problem, but I'd be surprised if it was purely down to that.

I use categories and archive folders for each calendar year. It's far from ideal but it's just about good enough. I think this just isn't outlook's strong point compared to e.g. gmail. But like you I'm stuck with it because of company policy so I have to balance managing the emails on the one hand and my expectations on the other. :)

> 50% of the time they taste like dishwater to me I have the same problem but mostly find it's down to dirty pipes and pubs not knowing/caring how to store their beer properly rather than the beer itself.* Not that I'm down the pub that much these days, alas. * Not to discount the possibility that you just don't like it of course, in which case fair enough!

Hi James, For the last three weeks my small brown bin has been thrown into my flower bed after being emptied rather than being placed back with the other bins. It's not a very big problem, I know, but still not really acceptable behaviour. I've tried looking for a complaints form on the council website but haven't found it. Are you able to have a quick word with someone?

They're open today. I just popped in: haircut and beard trim for ?17 (incl. tip), and am happy with the result. Friendly service too. Looks to be a welcome addition to the Upper East Side. (Are we still calling it that?)

Just had Alan around to sweep my chimney again, third year running now, and am happy to recommend him as ever. He's punctual, tidy, quick and very reasonably priced. Excellent service!

Hi Kim, Have you tried parkrun? Free, timed 5ks 9am every Saturday in parks across the UK. Local parkruns are in Dulwich, Peckham Rye and Brockwell parks. If you want to try running with a club, Dulwich Park Runners have a beginner's course that's also open to people returning to running - next one begins in September I believe. Or you can turn up on Tuesday nights and try a run to see if you like the club. You can do three runs for free with no commitment. You don't need to be super-speedy, but seeing as you can (or could once) do a sub-50 10k then I don't think you need to worry about that anyway! Meet at Trevor Bailey Sports Club just off the South Circular, 7.30pm Tuesdays.

Plus ?a change...