cupatea

Having done Sydenham - Dulwich (far end of Dulwich Cillage, Chaeter area), a lot over the years, I can tell you that the later you go, the worse the traffic. I leave the house at 7.30am and on a good day can be at the far end of Dulwich village by 7.50 bit if there are any issues on the south circular this can take up to 30 mins. The closer you get to 8am the worse it gets. I reckon if I left at 7.45am it would always take 30 mins and if I left at 8am I wouldn't get there until 8.40/8.45 (indeed o used to leave at this time when my youngest was a newborn - she used to fall asleep it took us so long!) It can get really backed up going up Kirkdale. If you are going later it's probably slightly quicker to go up Westwood Hill, down College Road and up Croxted Road after the Gypsy Hill roundabout especially as you are heading to West Dulwich.

The water was on at Wells Park on Sydenham on Monday.

My six year old daughter is really enjoying the Betsey Biggalow and Girl Wonder series of books by Malorie Blackman.

Thank you.

I have the balloons already, just need to fill them with helium. Is there anywhere in ED or surrounding area I can do this? Thank you. Edited to add: only need to fill two balloons so would rather not buy canister from s'bury's.

We went camping in Mersea a couple of weeks ago. I love it - second time there. Quiet beaches (some sandy some muddy) wonderful seafood, and some lovely walks. Thoroughly recommend Fen Farm campsite in East Mersea - very family friendly. Second the Company Shed. A highlight was the mini ferry (16 seater!)from East Mersea to Brightlingsea, a little town with colourful beach huts, an open air swimming pool, a pretty marina and some decent cafes. Also Frinton on Sea but much busier. Sadly didn't make it to the vineyard...next time.

Have a look at http://hopscotch-online.com/ They do a newsletter once a week of things to do with children each weekend in London.

Would definitely recommend the island of Bornholm which is actually south of Sweden but Danish. Even in August (last year) it was pretty quiet (lots of Danes holiday there but relatively few people from other countries). The beaches are lovely and quiet and it's a easy island to get round by bus or bike (the most popular form of transport). I think you can fly to somewhere in southern Sweden (cant remeember where as we cane from Germany) and ferry over or you can definitely fly to Copenhagen then bus and ferry.

We have just had our chimney swept by Alan from 1.2.3 Chimney Sweeps. He was extremely punctual, professional and efficient and we will definitely use him again.

Have a look at the Scottish Youth Hostels website www.syha.org.uk They have hostels with family rooms in some beautiful areas of Scotland. If you want to go up a notch my family and I stayed at a lovely hotel on Loch Awe a couple of years ago called, I think, Portsonachon Lodge. It's right on the loch side.

I agree with Taper that you should be ok as long as you start fairly sharpish. When I got my place a few years ago I was only doing the odd jog and during the November I upped it to about 3 x 45 minute runs per week. Then I started the official marathon training programme (which was in the magazine that was sent to us) and followed it religiously for the 17 or so weeks that it ran for. My advice is : buy very good shoes. Try run and become near st James park tube. They are excellent. Mix up your runs with some slow jogs, some runs over mix of terrain, some interval runs (fast for 2 mins, slow for 2 mins etc), some hill sprints (sprint up jog down) and a long run once a week increasing your distance each week until 3 weeks before. I trained mostly by myself but laterally joined an Adidas group and ran with them in Hyde park which was fun. Also post marathon joined the Serpentine running club which is also great. Good luck with your training. I loved running London so much I signed up for New York and ran it 7 mOnths later!

It's a bit further away, but the National Army museum next to the Chelsea Pensioners Home off the Kings Road is great. There are lots of exhibits plus a fab soft play zone in the basement which my 2 year old daughter loves. Free entry to the museum plus only ?2.50 or so for an hour in the soft play. Cafe isn't too bad either!

I have a feeling the entrance to the shopping centre/waitrose car park is on the side street off putney high street directly opposite the soft play (and next to a lovely cafe called moomba)

Just to add that I am a member of the Nunhead choir too and it's fab. Swannieboy is a fantastic choir master and his arrangements are great :-)

Will second Montenegro. Went there on honeymoon. We booked a cottage through someone like Owners Direct. Def go early July tho. We went in August and it was as busy as anywhere in Europe. Fly into Dubrovnik and hire a car as I think car hire is also cheaper plus greater choice of flights. Dubrovnik is def worth a visit too tho busy all year round. Other off the beaten track places in early July - northern Portugal, parts of Corsica or Sardinia, smaller Greek islands, Swedish archipeligo (sp?), or other lakeside places like Slovenia?