QueenMab

I must agree that the junctions (Upland Rd, Underhill Rd) going east across Barry Road are a liability, both as a cyclist and a car driver. Possibly it's worse for car drivers as you don't have the height advantage. I avoid taking these routes if possible. However, for goodness' sake more speed bumps cannot be the answer, they seem to encourage bad driving as you have people swerving all over the place trying to avoid them.

The Gowlett sounds like an excellent choice! See you there.

Weds 25th sounds good to me. It's in the diary! The second baby sounds like much harder work to me, mums4u. I think your first is great as everyone makes a fuss and you can allow yourself you relax and enjoy it a bit. With your second I imagine you have all the stress and hassle and hormonal upheaval to deal with, as well as a small child to accomodate. (THere was a good chapter about second children in Sheila Kitzinger's book which I flicked through this week). TO be honest my entire pregnancy has just been one mad upheaval after another and day to day living is just that: taking each day as it comes, good and bad. I keep looking at all the happy loved up couples at my NCT classes and so on and thinking how nice that must be, but I expect below the surface there are all kinds of upheavals going on there too. Well, that thought keeps me sane anyway. I hope you get some time to enjoy yourself during this time, mums4u. Why don't you come and join us on the 25th?

Lovely to see everyone at the weekend... Ruth you should have come, we were only in the pub garden, which had lots of room for rampaging monster children. Those of you that couldn't make it were missed: hope you can make the next one. LadyR, I have the opposite situation: I don't think I've had a night out with my other half in months! (He can't wait for the baby to come so he will have a legitimate excuse to stay in and avoid parties, having fun, etc). Anyway, I love a nice dinner out, so that sounds like a great plan to me. I am free that week on Monday 23rd & Weds 25th, if those dates are any good?

Good thinking Face. An afternoon of soggy sandwiches is not a great prospect. (I've just examined the Metcheck and BBC weather sites, mind, and both seem to think tomorrow's weather should be clear in the afternoon, although I guess if it rains early the ground might be a bit too damp to make a picnic an enjoyable option, unless we're going to be GI Janes and bring tarpaulins, groundsheets and the like. (Ahem, I do actually have a tarpaulin). So, 1.30 tomorrow at the Japanese Gardens, Peckham Rye Park. In event of rain/dampness underfoot the Rye pub?

I've been 3 times now and thought the food was excellent, both the pasta and the pizzas. My DP thought the prosecco and the red wines very good too. I'll be happy to go back, it's an excellent local as far as I'm concerned.

I'd double check with the council and other relevant bodies, Julia. I've reported my car "stolen" before, having phoned the council, police and so on, only to be told a week later it's been carried off and impounded on the Isle of Dogs by council officials.

I'd say Tandoori Nights consistently has the highest standards, albeit they may have the odd wobble. I'd agree about Ganapati; I've had 2 excellent meals there and one very average one, along with some dodgy service. My major bete noir is spinach paneer which is too creamy, which I think is vile and wrong. I think it's only the Surma which does a non-creamy one, although I can't be sure. You're right, joealessi, most places around ED are pretty similar really. Few places really stand out.

Do come and join the fray, Florence! I laugh every time I think about raspberry leaf tea. I used to work with quite a dim but lovely girl, and when the subject of raspberry leaf tea in pregnancy came up in a discussion, she raved about how good she thought it was, and how easy her birth was, no pain, etc...until I remembered "Hang on, didn't you have an elective epidural?"..."Oh well yes I did have that as well."

Well our NCT teacher claims that you can drink raspberry leaf tea right throughout your pregnancy without any adverse effects, and says that there is no medical evidence to the contrary. Which is somewhat controversial, as I believe that the usual advice is to start around 32 weeks and drink 1 cup a day, building up to 3 cups a day towards week 40. Either way you should be fine to start now with one cup a day, increasing the number of cups per day as you go on towards your final week. And yes, there seems to be some evidence that it can help strengthen your uterine muscles. I reckon we need all the help we can get, so it's got to be worth a go!

Ha ha Ruth, I think I love you! I have spotted that site before, it's marvellous isn't it? Lots of good blog posts about cycling and pregnancy in the Guardian too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/may/21/pregnant-cyclists (where else? :) )

I see no reason not to bring some wine along if you fancy some! I will bring my bicycle too and we can strive to look like the latest contenders for a BBC3 documentary about errant mothers-to-be. (Oooh, don't get me started on that programme!) I don't really miss drinking, oddly, considering I'm a raging beer monster when not pregnant. Possibly my body is glad of the rest. I have tried drinking since I've been pregnant but have failed to do so to excess as there's no real buzz in it when you're pregnant somehow, so I don't usually bother.

Pfft. Some 12 years ago my friend who lived on Barry Road used to rely on the P13 to get her to work in Streatham. Even then we used to refer to it as the Marie Celeste, so elusive was it. I have tried to use it more recently to get to Surrey Quays, which turned out to be frustrating and time consuming. As others have suggested, I now ride a bicycle for such journeys, much simpler, quicker, cheaper and less stressful. I'm sure you could get a saxophone into a pannier even in a hard case, although if this turns out to be tricky, surely your son doesn't need to take it to and from school with him every day? Maybe he could just take the bus when he needs to transport bulky items.

I found Dulwich Tandoori to be deeply average. Tandoori Nights is above average, but still variable. Ganapati is brilliant, but have had some odd staff experiences there. Surma do great takeaways, somehow. Not been to Curry Cabin in years.

I feel like I've been pregnant for a while, it's true, but am quite happy to stay that way for the moment. I'm more concerned about the bit that comes afterwards (you know, giving birth, then the rest of your life, being solely responsible for a child, etc.). I won't be bringing my partner, due to aforementioned reasons (mardy sociopath liable to alienate the entire group within minutes of arriving), but I don't mind if others want to bring theirs, who presumably do not fit this description. Looking forward to it!

Nothing I have ever heard about Fuxtons inspires me to want anything to do with them. My experience as a buyer was that I was only once contacted by them with a completely inappropriately priced property which was about ?100k more than I was looking to spend. When the agent insisted, I asked, what, so you think the seller will be prepared to drop the asking price by ?100k? And he said, well, yes. Which made me lose all faith in their credibility as an agent. I bought my place through Pedder Wates in ED, and they were absolutely marvellous, extremely professional, particularly in the face of utterly twattish vendors. A friend of mine also had a very good experience with Ludlow Thompson a couple of years ago: intelligent, polite and helpful staff and an excellent range of properties.

Hi Kimberley, and welcome! Anja, get those classes organised NOW! I would love to do pilates. I did try one class in East Dulwich some weeks ago, but the teacher failed to inspire me. I've been doing yoga, but would like to do as much as possible before birth, so as to ensure I'm reasonably fit/physically aware, and pilates sounds great. I can't do the 7th, but could do the 8th... Should we set up a voting system?! QMx

Great discussion. Anyway, let's get back to supporting the RIGHTS of the bloated minority of able-bodied pinheads to park their cars wherever they like...within a 50m radius of a superstore, FFS. We're not talking about asking people to scale Kilimanjaro here.

I used to work in a "women only" shop. We were always getting chippy tossers trying to come in and tell us we were "discriminating" against them. On being invited to call the police, the disgruntled were told that our store was private property and they had no "right" to enter the premises at all.

Yes what lovely weather! I have been cycling around, gathering disapproving or concerned looks from onlookers, who clearly feel that cycling when pregnant is wrong and irresponsible, and who knows what. I have been doing pregnancy yoga at Brockwell Lido. Previously I did the sunday drop-in class at 4pm, which is nice, but the 3pm sitaram one I did this afternoon was much better in terms of how precise the teacher was about what we were supposed to be doing. Think I will also try and make it to the King's class which also sounds good (I block booked a few Sitaram classes to encourage me to attend regularly). Good luck with your monster baby Audrey. I suppose they just make a fairly wild guess initially based on possible conception dates, but they still can't be sure, and we're all different.

Quaverflava did make me laugh, but somehow the debate got shifted so much that people seemed to be defending the right of the stupid, lazy and ignorant to park wherever they please, whilst berating as stupid, lazy and ignorant those who might actually have a more legitimate claim to park closer to the store. As for the "I am not sure of the exact legal position but I believe..." post, Sainsbury's is private property. They can therefore impose their own rules on it. If you don't like their rules, you could go somewhere else.

Yes it was lovely to meet everyone. Good luck with your midwife Audrey. Are you at King's or St Thomas's? My midwife experience at King's has been variable to say the least.

Sorry you can't make it Princess. We'll have an orange juice for you. Good luck with the housing situation.

2pm?

Yes I'm still game! I've just realised the Recreation Ground is a venue and not a municipal outdoor facility: http://recreationground.co.uk. So I can leave my raincoat at home.