RoLo1

Great advice. Thank you so much to you all! Guarantees and deposit will be worked into the party wall award, all going well. Thank you!

Anyone had experience of a neighbour piling foundations, not for a superstructure, just for a two storey extension? Or know much about piling and the vibration risks to existing buildings (1.5 from ours)? Other than speed, piling doesn't make much sense to me (ok, clay soil and the varying degrees of subsidence across SE London, but still, seems a little extreme). As part of the process the neighbouring couple say they could underpin our house (or possibly just our wall on that side, though then again if we opt for this they may decide to go for traditional foundations...)? Has anyone gone through this or have insider info?

Should the UK stay in, I hope the ridiculous situation of protest voting for anti- EU MEPs will come to an end. How can the UK influence from the inside, when its MEPs refuse to engage. ..

And drill mouse mesh up against airbricks - sold on Amazon etc, here is a link with info (turn volume off though!) http://www.mousemesh.co.uk/

Great info here. Thanks all - and so good to read roic found a role that suits. I am not sure how often employers cave in to the 4 day week, or even compressed hours, but heartening to read.

Has anyone used a company to remove asbestos? We would do it ourselves (I mean wrap it and then get the council to collect through a third-party), but these are massive sheets of roofing in our neighbours garden, not bothering him, but they are in an area we need to access to fix flooding problems. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Thank you so much! :)

A friend of mine was getting a little concerned about her children's diet and asked her nanny to use the Change4Life website, it has great recipes for kids (and parents). It all went so well that the nanny then told me all about the amazing meals she was preparing (lots of slow-cooking so she could it fit in with their busy schedule), and I now cook a few of their recipes. They have a recipe App, or you can just print them out, and I think they do a monthly recipe plan too so you could get involved.

Anyone knowledgeable on probiotics? I have a (nearly) 4 year old with allergies and eczema, and I am trying to research the best ones to choose. Lactobacillus rhamnosus seems to have worked in a recent study, helping kids overcome peanut allergy, but seems impossible to find a brand with that strain, so I think I must be missing something. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/28/peanut-allergy-researchers-say-they-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure Up to now he has a probiotic kids actimel, topped up with 1/4 tsp of Kidzhealth probiotic powder I bought at the local chemist (as opposed to one specifically for his needs). If anyone has any pointers that would be great.

As we were told when we put engineered wood in our kitchen by the guys at Wood4Floors (based in SE23, worth a look), "it depends on how you use your kitchen". So yes if for example you like to use lots of water on the floor, to mop for instance, definitely avoid. Ours managed 5 years with no problems, except when I left a cotton bag with just washed but not dried clothes out overnight on the floor. This didn't stop is choosing bamboo in our new kitchen though, but obviously we wouldn't leave anything wet lying on the floor again. On a slight tangent though, we had walnut engineered wood in the kitchen, which looked lovely initially, photographed beautifully, but I gradually hated it for all the light it took from the room - so all I would say is try to choose a light colour of wood so it doesn't sap colour. If you do choose bamboo, my experience a few months in, is that it darkens slightly from underfloor heating, so I would probably choose Oak if I had the chance again (though I am going to take up with the supplier, as there was no warning that this could happen).

I have been looking through a catalogue by these people thinking I might stock up on some great things in packs of 4 and 8 (scratch frames, and make and do stuff). http://crafts.yellowmoon.org.uk/search?p=Q&asug=&w=frame http://www.yellowmoon.org.uk/ I definitely agree that one nice thing alongside something kids will love, like a mini bag of Haribo, is more than enough.

Yes, I know a 5 year old who had terrible IBS, started this and not only is the IBS under control, but he has started growing (his parents are both tall, yet he looked 3/4 years old). He is able to take spelt and tiny bits of wheat (eg. in a Kinder type bar), but cutting out all the wheat and apples etc has made a huge difference to him.

It might not look like the considered option for a veggie child, but Nutella? We have it once or twice a week, and funnily enough the dietician advised me (no really!) to give it to my peanut allergic son. Or cashew nut spread might be nice, or even mix the two together for a protein hit.

It does sound like a shame to lose the beautiful stained glass. I know my neighbour retained his stained glass when he got double-glazing, so definitely worth looking for wooden sash window company that would remove and integrate what you already have. I say partly as a good friend of mine replaced all her wooden sash windows with brand new ones, but single-glazed - she hadn't realised she could have had new wooden sash windows that came double-glazed/ She was gutted as you can imagine, so thought I would mention in case you weren't aware, wasn't sure from the original post.

I used this company - and yes, it was Elaine for me too. She drummed everything into me, got me onto dual carriageways etc (eek!) and basically turned me around when I really needed the push. I had previously had three or four instructors over the years and hadn't driven for 5 years. I would highly recommend her, not so much for the small-talk iykwim but for getting even people like me to pass their test. I honestly feel I could have piddled about for another few years, it was so worth just doing it more intensively (and actually I had small kids so had to 3 hours on a Saturday and Sunday, over 3 weeks or so). I think she is pretty amazing!