JessKat

Hi there I've just started driving again after a 9 year break since passing (!). So I was a bit like a beginner too. Silvano Bozza, based in Crystal Palace, but teaches round Dulwich - is excellent. Really observant, patient and thorough. I am driving alone now in London - did NOT think that would ever happen - he really built my confidence and pointed out the bits I needed to work on. Thoroughly nice man and I would recommend. http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%28silvano%29_270165.htm

thank you so much for this. I live near the duelling men and saw it going up. Love looking at the giganticness of it every day.

Sounds absolutely wonderful! What age range would it suit? Have family staying of various ages and this might be perfect for Sunday.

Soooo good!!! Love this. More please.

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Aiden Gillen (Carcetti in The Wire) waiting for his fish and chips in The Sea Cow

CivilServant, I have just come back from a nightmare voyage to Co-op to buy in some water bottles. On way back, thought I'd fiddle with the tap outside, and when I got in, (laden with bottles), the water was back on! Don't know if it was the latent plumber in me, or just coincidence. This happened last year with our Dickensian pipes. The solution from the plumber was to get an extension cord and hairdryer the pipes, both external and internal - and it worked! Needless to say, first thing I did was flush the loo...

Hello - we're on Goose Green and haven't got water. Mmm, lovely greasy hair, crockery piling up in the sink....

Dear pebbles, sillywoman, Moi23 and newmother - Your lovely comments have made me go pink! Thank you! x

Argh!!! I am an only child. Ok, I'm 28, but still no brothers or sisters on the horizon, and none hidden in the closet. I came late in my parents' life, dad was 39 and mum was 38 - and they'd been together for years, so I think I was a happy accident... There are good points and bad points about being an only child, dependent entirely on personality and your relationship with your parents, of course. Let me elucidate here. That man's comment about us not having the facility to fantasise or use our imaginations as children, because we don't have siblings, completely baffled me - and annoyed me slightly, I have to admit. My imaginative world was incredibly rich - and still is - now I'm an actor and a writer. And guess what? Being an actor means I have to interact with people, and wow! I don't find it difficult at all! How amazing. My mum and dad made sure that I was very well-socialised, and I always had lots of friends round to play, took friends with us on holidays, went on holidays with friends....and yes, you are more used to just talking to adults when you're at home, but the three of us are very lucky that we got on very well, and still do, and my mother has the spirit of a girl trapped in an OAP's body these days. Also, being confident with adults means you're pretty good at dealing with teachers, bosses etc... I never thought about siblings, cos how can you miss what you've never had? All my friends loved coming round where it was peaceful, no one pulled their hair, broke their toys, nicked their mates.... they were always happy to find ice-cream in the freezer I remember. My father was one of three brothers and they never really saw each other in adulthood except for long-distance phonecalls. The mutual support came from his wife, my mum. Through his middle brother, I met his daughter (my cousin) who is exactly my age and an only too, and we now get on famously. BUT: The way you are spoilt as an only, is not through materialistic ways. The amount of times I asked for that Sindy doll because Jenny Hickling had it, and my mum said absolutely not wait for your birthday?. However, as an only child you are listened to more intently at the dinner table, and you don?t have to fight to be heard. As you are more used to always being heard, you are not ready for the push and shove of real life. It is not the only child who yells to be heard in a group of kids, or who reaches for the first slice of pizza in the box at a sleepover, the poor thing thinks it will just have to patiently wait its turn and the pizza will come. This is a problem. As an only, I hate confrontations, and get really upset if someone has misunderstood me. I have never had to tackle the rough and tumble of fraternal fighting, or fight to be heard, or grab that slice of pizza, so when I perceive a hurt to me, it can cut deep until my boyfriend reminds me that I have a tendency to take things too seriously. Your attachments to people you like can be intense, and the object of your admiration might not get that if they have shared their lives with siblings near to them in age. Only children are incredibly loyal and can be oversensitive, and as a result can get hurt! But we love a crowd, paradoxically... Now that the sibling hair-pulling days are over, sometimes I get scared about being the only one there to deal with my (still very healthy in their 60s) parents, in their old age. But I have friends I know I can rely on - although it will be me at the frontline, of course. And I can't worry too much about that - I owe it to my parents for being, well, fantastic carers when I was little, and who still are now. I get what one lady was saying about her friend feeling lonely, having two only children parents and no siblings or cousins. I have cousins around my age...and honestly I don't know how I'd feel if my (future) child had no siblings AND no cousins. I guess I'd make sure they had plenty of friends. Overall, I would say to the OP, that if you do end up only having one, really please don't worry too much. There is so much psycho-social tripe and myth about only children, when actually they'll only turn out really weird if you lock them in a cupboard for the whole of their childhoods. Sorry this is soooo long but naturally it's something close to my heart. Jess x