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John Marx recently fitted our kitchen and I?d like to add my recommendation to the many that are already on this forum! John takes great pride in his work ? he wants to do a great job for the customer and make sure they?re happy. John concentrates on the kitchen fitting, so if other trades are needed, you have to organise these. I found this quite daunting at the beginning, but John?s wife, Gabi, is on hand to outline the process and provide a list of recommended tradespeople. This was a great help and I now have names of electricians / builders / plumbers etc that I can call on! We had some supply issues which really threw John off schedule, but he was able to use his contacts with the suppliers and ensure we got everything we needed so that a workable kitchen was ready in the timeframe specified. Also, John came back faithfully for any snagging issues. And he?s great at timekeeping! All this, and John & Gabi are genuinely nice and honest people to work with. 0755 7907 729 or [email protected]

Many thanks to those who recommended Berdec decorators on this forum. We recently employed them to decorate the exterior of our house and they did a fantastic job. Dave was great at co-ordinating the work, advising on the best approach to our home renovations generally (in a way that was objective and helpful rather than seeking extra work) and bringing in others to complete other work when needed. He was great at communicating and had a sensible and fair approach to payments. Like others have commented above, Paul our decorator and his colleagues were very committed to doing a thorough job. They are really excellent decorators - the quality of their work was very high. When other work came up that needed doing (e.g. replacing soffits and repairing a broken wall) - Dave was able to bring in another member of his team, Joe, to quickly and cost-effectively carry out the work. We are really pleased with our experience of working with them and would wouldn't hesitate to work with them again.

Oh yes, and keep nails short!

My son has had eczema for ages. I've even made my own laundry gloop because I think usual washing detergents and softeners are triggers. Obviously all the central heating doesn't help. I do use steroid cream but sparingly. A few other tips: - natural clothing - cotton, bamboo. Avoid man-made and scratchy materials. Avoid tight clothing. - Moisturise at least twice a day. Moisten skin before moisturising. If using something from a tub, use a spoon to get it out rather than bare hands, to keep the emollient clean. Unfortunately, they took Aveeno off the list of prescribed medicines for us. However, it actually wasn't strong enough to keep my son's skin hydrated anyhow, and we are on Hydromol. - I've had conflicting advice regarding steroid cream. One doc told me to start with the lowest dosage then work way up. Another nurse told me to start with higher dosage then work way down. In either case, gradually tail off use rather than stop suddenly. Also they both told me that a weekly thin application on likely flare up areas helps keep eczema at bay as a preventative measure. Hope it helps.

Babies ears can really hurt in planes due to change in air pressure. Sucking or drinking really helps. (Lollipops are a must for us!)

The Magic Garden is brilliant. A really lovely imaginative space for the kids to play in. We enjoyed our time so much we ended up getting a year's membership to the Royal Palaces (also includes Tower of London, Kensington Palace etc.). Sometimes they hold special events like Horrible Histories, or have actors playing Henry VIII. They also have an app for Digital Missions which helps you wander around the palace answering questions. Great if the weather is not so good! I think there may be other paper trails you can do.

I would also like to add to the recommendations for Hussein. He and his colleague painted our hallway and staircase incredibly fast and at a very competitive rate. Hussein was really easy to have around, very helpful and polite. We thought it would be a big, difficult job, but Hussein took it all in his stride.

Rick Riordan obviously making money out of both of us then! Do check our Skulduggery Pleasant (by Derek Landy) though - it's really quite hard to get my son into a new book series so I was surprised when he read these so eagerly. Also: Discworld series (Terry Pratchett) Bromeliad Trilogy (Terry Pratchett) Lemony Snickett Artemis Fowl Earthsea series (Ursula le Guin) Foundation series (Arthur C Clarke) Itch series (Simon Mayo)

My son is 10 too and reads so quickly! Percy Jackson also has offshoots: Magnus Chase, Trials of Apollo, the Red Pyramid, also Percy Jackson's guide to Greek Gods/ Heroes. He has recently finished the Skulduggery Pleasant book set from the Book People, and really enjoyed it. Also the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones (again Book People) If your son liked Curious Incident, he may like the London Eye Mystery (Siobhan o'Dowd). Also there is the Chaos Walking trilogy (Patrick Ness), and always the Hunger Games...

Can I suggest Project X reading series: https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?productId=509685&catalogId=10051&searchTerm=planet+x https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?productId=613008&catalogId=10051&searchTerm=planet+x My elder son raced through these and my younger son (7) has finished the first set. They are graded Oxford Tree reading bands and it's good value from The Book People. Also Dav Pilkey is brilliant and my younger son re-reads the whole Captain Underpants/Dogman series over and over!

Hi I make my own laundry gloop - google it and you can find recipes. It's basically cooking up grated unscented soap and soda crystals. It's pretty quick to do and I think has made a real difference with my elder son's eczema. I also don't use softener - I use vinegar instead. The downside is that the gloop does not get things quite as clean as a normal detergent. Also there's no scent (though you can add lavender oil). Actually, now when I smell softener on other people's laundry, it really smells strongly of chemicals to me. One other thing, the gloop has to be used all the time as otherwise normal detergent just stays in the pipes of the washing machine. A lot of detergents, shampoos etc. contain sodium lauryl sulphate which may be an irritant. I thought this was interesting reading: https://www.itchybaby.co.uk/pages/laundry-clothing-and-eczema I don't know if this is relevant to your baby. I hope you can find the trigger. I know every case is different but my younger son had (wet) eczema when he was a baby and he did grow out of it completely after about 6 months.

Another recommendation here. We had a long standing problem with a leaking tap. We only needed a short term solution and Aria was very helpful in suggesting various options. Later Dan came round to sort the tap out and it was all done super fast! It's my second time using AFE and it's great to have a reliable and trustworthy plumber to contact.

Thanks for the advice here. I haven't seen him this past week and think he may have slightly adjusted his timing earlier to avoid us (since the incident I make it really obvious to him we are moving out of his way and tell my kids in a loud voice to watch out for the (mean) cyclist). So if I do see him again I will contact 101. Videoing would have to be very surreptitious - he's quite a well built bloke and not one to mess around with.

I am happy to add my recommendation for AFE Plumbing. Aria sent Mark to sort out a leaking stopcock. What was supposed to be a simple job turned out to be more complicated by awkward placement of the tap, but Mark worked patiently and efficiently. Problem was all solved within two hours of arrival and I would definitely use their service again.

The other week whilst walking my two young kids to school (one on each hand) a cyclist coming the other way on the pavement told us to 'f****** move over'. (To which I told him he shouldn't be cycling on the pavement. Of course - long out of earshot by then). He is one I see regularly on the pavement and comes at full speed, expecting everyone to jump out of his way. I usually spot him in advance and make way, but with the sun in my eyes and talking with the kids, didn't spot him until very late. Wondering if I should report him, but then think the police probably have many other things to deal with than this.