Tanza

Hello Barry - I know Denmark Hill isn't your remit...but I wondered if you might be able to advise me on behalf of some friends coming to London. They asked me to advise on travel cards, but the TFL/south eastern websites have left me baffled. I have friends coming for a week to London with four kids 8,9, 10, 12. Can you kindly tell me what the best travel cards would be for them to buy so they can use Denmark Hill or East Dulwich to travel into central London? Travel is free for the under 11s apart from on the South Eastern trains commute, so would I be right to think a pay-as-you-go Oyster card for the little ones would be best to cover them for this leg of the journey, during their week's stay? Is there a child fare for this? For the 12 year old, I guess he would be best off buying a weekly Oyster travel card, plus applying for a photocard? Thankyou for any advice

Hello they offered us ten pounds off our bill...

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'd have to say that my experience with Virgin is > that problems are few and far between.I couldn't > justify calling their service as rubbish. Well that's good to hear there are some satisfied customers but I reckon the I'm going to take the advice of an earlier poster and email the chief exec. Out of interest Narnia are you an Se22 postcode ? Every time I've called virgin they say it's a fault in the se22 area .

Anyone having any joy from Virgin - we've been without TV and the internet (honestly it's like the 1950s - we've had to TALK to each other) since Friday afternoon. Am logging on from relative's house to post this, but I really wish I'd read this extensive thread about how rubbish Virgin's service is as we would never have swapped from BT. My husband is freelance and while we are sort of enjoying the break from 20th Century communication, by next week it won't be so funny. All Virgin say is there's a fault in the SE22 area. This happens on an all too regular basis - so heads up to anyone thinking of signing up to Virgin - really not a good service at all.

Curmudgeon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What annoys me about them is that they are only > there when the private schools are open! > what is that about Sorry that simply isn't the case. They are there every single day of the Heber term - in fact they always check with us about inset days and end of term dates. My six year old and I are so grateful for their help that my 6-year old insisted on us giving them a small xmas present and card at Xmas.

It's a very sweet smell, a cross between mild cat pee (we don't have a cat) and the smell you get in a vase when the flowers have been in too long. I bought the tree on a snowy day, so perhaps it's rotting. Anyway, I'll dump it outside, Xmas is over now anyway, bah humbug. Thank you Fabricio and Computed Shorty for your replies.

We usually have a plastic tree but this year bought a real one from Lordship Lane. It started off with a pleasant small of pine but it's gradually turned into sickly-sweet smell that's verging on the unpleasant. Is this par for the course with a real tree? Or have we just bought a dud one?

As an outsider it seems very simple. In your heart you prefer Fairlawn. The only thing holding you back are your fears for your son settling in/not knowing the teacher/the kids. But after day 1 at Fairlawn, he will know all these things. And he'll be at the school for a very long time so you might as well plump for the school you really want.

How interesting, I have often noticed that gas smell exactly at that point in Lordship Lane. Glad to hear it's nothing serious but it is seriously unpleasant.

Agree it's hardly a 'hideous crime' but to answer you Curmudgeon and Kapt Kopter We only had four sets of trick or treaters and my small son spent the evening peeping out of the windows hoping someone would come. Unlike the others, this group didn't come straight to the door, but rustled about treading on the cardboard packaging in front of my windows, before they got round to ringing the bell. The other three groups (who I also know) rushed straight up the path.

If you are the middle-class dad who thought it was alright for his young teenage kids to spray orange juice* over my window sills in Melbourne Grove last night feel free to come round and wipe it off it off. You stood there, chatted to us in a friendly manner and then let your kids accept chocolate (what bit of trick OR treat don't you get?)from us. And then this is what we find in the morning, on a working morning when we could do without it. *edited to add "possibly not even organic" (OK, know I am having a sense of humour failure, but am really irritated)

Hello - not the usual thread and feel slightly daft posting on here, but so the Forum has never let me down before thought I would give it a shot. Does anyone have a copy of the Economist from September 25 2010 please that I could have/borrow please? Since my post I have managed to lay my hands on a copy, thanks to the forumites who kindly looked though!

That's reassuring that your son still reads a lot despite the distractions of high tech gadgets. Thanks Fuschia.

My 6-year old is desperate for one of these for Xmas. I gulped at the price and he said I wasn't to worry because he'd ask Father Xmas for one. Mmmm. My question is are these worth the money? Are they more trouble than they are worth (do you find you are having to restrict their use?) or are they, a bit like TV, something that unless a kid is glued to it from morning to night is basically ok and some of it is even educational? Does anyone actually regret introducing these into family life?

Sorry, slightly off topic, as it's a mouse, not a rat, but I was on the top deck of a bus heading to work a couple of weeks back and a mouse dropped from the ceiling and fell onto the shoulder of a woman sitting two seats in front of me and then it scampered down onto the floor. I saw the mouse fall but I couldn't make out where it had come from. We were all peering at the ceiling, there were a couple of tiny vents near the window.

That's a very good suggestion, because if the climbing frame failed to wear them out there is also the adventure playground just over the road. And the food is always good there too. Thank you

Thank you Redjam, like the sound of the Nutfield Priory. Looks good online so have just emailed them asking for a guide price and sounding them out about a private room. Our party will include some rather, er boisterous little boys (not my own little darling of course) so somewhere for them to run and let off steam would be good. Is there direct access from the private room to the gardens? It does all look very posh, trust the gardens are not full of guest wafting around in towelling robes expecting peace and quiet? I imagine your party was full of rather charmingly behaved little girls?

My husband's mother is going to be 90 and we are looking for a restaurant/pub/hotel where a group of about 20 people could have lunch, ideally where there is a playground or big garden to keep the numerous great-grand-children amused. I did think of Locale in East Dulwich, but feel the food there isn't really special enough for this occasion. We would be very grateful for any recommendations/ideas for either London, Sussex, or Surrey

EDmummy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My mother would vacuum outside our bedroom door. > Always worked. Ha Ha - my mother would hoover right inside the room, banging about as much as possible. I snoozed through it quite comfortably. My mum would also regularly say in despairing tones, "Well it's a shame you can't get a job watching television.". But quite brilliantly I did get a job in my twenties in TV, where all those 'wasted' teenage years turned out to be very useful research.

These are great suggestions, thank you. Like the look of the Time Travelling one in particular. I've also found something that looks good for the 6/7 year old range -Brilliant Brits : Henry VIII by Richard Brassey. There's also one on Elizabeth 1. All well illustrated and quite easy looking, bite-sized chunks of info. Doesn't look too off putting for an unconfident reader. Appreciated!

I need to find a book for my 7-year old god daughter whose parents says is interested in the Tudors. They also say she isn't a very keen reader so I think the brief is I am to find a book on the Tudors, that's interesting enough for a 7 year old, but not too hard going. Hmmmm. And also it can't be from the Horrid History series as she has that already. Oh and a necklace, but luckily I've found one online. Any recommendations please as have left it v late and need to order quickly on Amazon to make her birthday in time. Are any of the following which I have found on Amazon suitable for a 7-year old - Tudor Stories for Girls - Alison Price or Elizabeth (My Royal Story), a Tudor Princess's diary byt Kathryn Lasky? There's no reviews on Amazon to say what age they are for, and I don't want to risk sending a Tudor romp by accident.

Hello - Anyone travelling from East Dulwich or Denmark Hill has to pay for kids because the train operating companies aren't part of London Transport. The service going through Forest Hill is, as CivilServant points out part of London Overground which is either run by or is part of London Transport (and therefore is free for kids) - this is the new-tube-like service, which isn't scheduled to pass through Denmark Hill or Peckham Rye until 2012 according to the TFL website. So presume we will have free travel for kids by 2012 at Denmark Hill/Peckham Rye, although East Dulwich will presumably remain a paying-for-kids station as this new service won't run through it. I reckon we should definitely march on somewhere with our Bugaboos, waving our organic vegetables. civilservant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > no, ludoscotts, it's not you that's the problem at > all! > I was confused myself until I found this web page > http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes > /15359.aspx > > so Forest Hill is served by the Overground, but > East Dulwich is not. And according to the map on > the above link, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill are > also on the Overground. > > However, I think that Overground refers to to the > train operator and not the station, so that some > trains through Forest Hill, Peckham Rye etc. may > be Overground (and hence free to kids), but not > others... > Sorry, my head's beginning to hurt now! You can > see why I just trust to my Oystercard to work it > out for me

Thanks civilservant - I hadn't thought/realised you could get an Oyster card for a child. That's a good idea. Also thanks to Ludoscotts for the Overground advice at Forest Hill. I always forget it goes through there, will investigate for good days out using that route.

Travel is free on tubes for the under 11s according to London Transport Website below. I guess my irritation stems from the fact that getting anywhere from South London often takes multiple public transport links including the non-free-for-kids trains. Now that Oyster cards have made it to South London, the inconvenience of having to stop and buy a kid's ticket instead of sailing through quickly with a swipe-card through is more obvious. London Transport for 5- to 10-year-olds Children aged five to 10 can travel free at any time on buses, Tube, DLR, trams and London Overground as long as they travel with an adult who has a valid ticket. Up to four children can travel free with one adult. Children aged 5 to 10 who are travelling unaccompanied on the Tube, DLR or London Overground will need a 5-10 Oyster photocard to travel free. Find out more about 5-10 Oyster photocardon the Transport for London website. London Transport for 11- to 15-year olds Children aged 11 to 15 years can travel free on buses and trams and at child rate on Tube, DLR and London Overground services, provided they have an 11-15 Oyster photocard.

Are people aware that you are supposed to buy tickets on the train for your child once they are five? I was stopped at London Bridge yesterday and made to pay. (fortunately I wasn't fined). I hadn't realised this was the case, as travel is free for kids on tubes and buses. Turns out that the train operating companies aren't part of London Transport so free travel doesn't apply once a child is five on trains. I paid up, but felt fed up. Oyster cards have finally made it south of the river, but free travel for kids - seemingly not.