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!

A great option for an island is on butlers online - great size and good quality. Granite top (could be awapped to another if that doesn't fit), but worth a look!

Bribery worked here, but yes a chocolate button or gold coin and lots of whooping and high-5s for sitting on the loo and then anything produced. Also would phone grandparents and daddy and talk-up all the activity. Gradually ditched the incentives. I felt the bribes were great for maintaining interest, we had a little resistance byt it made it all very positivr.

An bhfuil aon duine amach anseo? Agus an bfhuil sibh ag iarrai playdate le cheile , ma ta? August playdate I would suggest Dulwich Park or Peckham Rye, just msg or post below and I can keep you posted!

We've have solid oak floor (from Lordship Lane Carpets), engineered wood (from Wood4Floors Forest Hill, a bit more reasonable), and even laminate (Ikea) in a bathroom. We also now have engineered Bamboo, which has a much thicker top layer than oak (?18 v ?50 a sq m for thick oak). Bamboo has taken me a while to get used to, but does have a very nice warmth, so worth getting a sample sent to you so you can see what you think (Simply Bamboo online). So while the laminate won't last as long, it is cheaper (as a carpenter described it, it's like having a photocopy of wood on the top), so depends on your priorities ultimately.

My 3 year old son had it for a skin infection. Now that you say it (I thought it was poor brushing on our part) his teeth were grimy but it did come off after a vigorous brushing session or two. I feel bad now - I blamed my husband for not doing a good job (!), but maybe it was the medicine. Hopefully will work for your daughter and nothing permanent either.

Thanks for sharing. And so sorry tp hear what ypu have been through. Maybe they are waiting for your lawyer to make contact, and in the meantime keeping a low profile. I approached them and I am glad they never followed up with a quote when I hear all this. I am surprised though given how long the company has been established and the small community they service. I I hope you get a refund pronto, (worth also seeing if they are members of any trade bodies as their membership could be revoked).

We went for British Standard, range oven with induction hob, and that saved somewhat. We also decided we wanted an island (just storage and for chatting over) and we are delighted with the one we got from Butlers (butlers online if you google, it is actually a German company), matches.the rest of the kitchen, comes with granite worktop and a pull out table., and very reasonable. Their biggest London store doesnt have it on show, but we visited it to check the quality overall and we bought it based on that - a great way of getting an island without having to buy 4-6 units, separate worktop.etc.

Diddy Dino's is the old One O'Clock club in cp park and they hire the space to birthday parties on Sundays only. Just thinking it could be a good option, no idea how much!

My daughter was 3 months old when she first started this, definitely made it harder for grandparents and friends to bond with her, it did make life tricky. She is now 3 and hasn't changed that much. I haven't gone back to work so we are barely apart, so the next challenge will be starting pre-school, she is rejecting the idea completely at the moment! Hopefully your little one will ease up on the anxiety sooner, I think most kids do, it's really down to circumstances in our case!

King, Otta, these are the only ones worth eating, my kind of royalty (though I will take the kids to Tayto-land next Summer if I can!).