Medusa

Oh my goodness. Makes Centerparcs look reasonable.

I can't find the prices. Am I being dim?

It's an online company with pianos stored near Homebase in Penge.

Just to say Sharon is brilliant and the group is lots of fun but in need of more children!I think it may be changing days to Mondays but contact Sharon if you're interested.

I have two children who started learning the piano last year. I was given a free piano on the forum but it turned out to be deader than a dodo...which I only found out after spending rather a lot of money having it delivered and tuned. (I have no reason to think it wasn't given away in good faith, though, and could have been damaged in transit.) As a result of this experience I played it safe when it came to replacing the piano recently. I don't play myself and it seemed too much of an imposition on my piano tuner friend's time to drag them along to every auction or private sale in town, so in the end, following a recommendation, I went here http://pianolobby.co.uk/ and bought a piano from them. It's not the cheapest way to acquire a used piano but the man who runs the company, Julian Barber, is extremely helpful, friendly and candid and the pianos are under guarantee. I would definitely recommend him and the new piano is a lovely, lovely thing.

Rabbits are less dull if they're not miserable from being cooped up all day. We have a couple who live in a hutch but come inside regularly and have housetrained themselves with 95% reliability. They are not to be trusted around my poor house plants, though, and I keep electrical cables out of reach of chewing chops. They are not cuddly like cats but they are responsive and come when I make the 'what have I got for you to eat?' noise. They sit on me if I lie on the floor and they photobomb my iPad. If you get a rabbit,save up for the biggest hutch you can get. I followed the RSPCA's guidelines on cubic feet per bunnster. Also got an insulated cover, which keep them snug and keeps flies out. Rabbits poo about 25 times an hour. Fact. (I conducted thorough research...) Final rabbity fact: avoid muesli and feed them only dried grass nuggets. A significant number of rabbits react badly to mixed food. Rabbits should really eat 90% grass and only 10% other foodstuffs. The one time our rabbits were fed muesli, one of them nearly died. Hefty vet's bills and awful, awful experience. To state the obvious, any run in the garden needs to be fox-proof. We had our first rabbit *dug out* by a fox in front of my eyes. (I was too far away to save it.) RIP Fluffy.

I wouldn't recommend kinesiology personally. If it were any quackier, it would waddle. (I trained in complementary medicine myself so am quite specific with my rudeness...) Paediatric allergy testing appointments take forever so perhaps ask your GP's opinion about whether this is the way to proceed and if so, get things in motion. I would also be inclined to remove all soft furnishings from wherever he sleeps. Cushions and cuddly toys are a haven for allergens, as are curtains and carpets. That said, you could wait until you know for certain whether this is an allergy.

I regularly haul a hefty 2.5 year old around it one. It is, to date, my favourite pushchair. Great on uneven pavements or on grass, etc. Incredibly easy to manoevre, knocks spots off the bugaboo bee. Because it tapers off at the top, there is less space for the child's head as they get taller, but it doesn't really matter. Just watch for those comedy moments when the whole thing topples over if you forget to take bags off the handlebars before lifting the child out.

I captured my reluctant reader with poetry books. There are some lovely ones out there for children. I also found mythology books and fairy tales were a big hit. One child had a series of simple nature and science books that he loved.

I have been trying to get rid of my moths with the stuff in clip-on things that you hang in wardrobes. I read that cleaning and moving things around regularly helps, as does making sure you don't leave dirty laundry lying around. So far I've reached 'improved, but not gone' in my campaign. And the little blighters always chomp on my favourite things...

Prob best to borrow a car seat. I have one you are welcome to use.

I have a background in complementary medicine and at the time I was training at college, we were pretty unequivocally taught that vaccinations cause all kinds of immune problems. This was before the Wakefield fiasco. I read everything I could get my hands on and felt that I couldn't trust the safety of vaccines and wouldn't vaccinate my own children. Fast forward several years and two things happened: first, measles arrived in SE22 and along with it at least one case of scarlet fever. Unfortunately for me, I caught the latter and was pretty ill and left with long-term health problems as a result; second, my (at that point still unvaccinated) children were all showing signs of autism. They were all formally assessed and diagnosed with Asperger's. I did review all the evidence relating to vaccine safety at some point and conclude that the only studies purporting to show a connection between vaccination and autism were those with minimal, if any, scientific validity. There was a vast amount of pseudo-scientific material (similar to the articles linked to above)which is easy to shred with even the most basic knowledge of either science, autism or both. Here's a more (IMHO) credible article: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/4/456.full I understand the scepticism and mistrust. My brother almost died within 24 hours of being vaccinated and when my mother attempted to report it, her GP refused point-blank to log it as a vaccine reaction. This sort of thing not only skews the data, but also feeds people's suspiciousness. Further, the fact that vaccine research is almost invariably funded by pharmaceutical companies tends to fuel the sceptics' fire. Of course, the fact that all oranges are fruit does not mean that all fruits are oranges; the fact that big pharma pays for the research doesn't render it invalid either. Scientifically credible research is extremely expensive to carry out, which means that few bodies are willing/able to fund it. The fact that pharmaceutical companies fund it may mean that they have a vested interest in the outcome, but if a research study is carried out double-blind, etc, it should not be possible to 'tweak' the results, whatever your own interests/bias. It does, however, *look bad* to people who don't trust multi-nationals, politicians and people in positions of power. Because of my personal history with all of these issues, I have pretty strong feelings about it. I vaccinated my children late and with a heavy heart but (mostly) resolute head. I tend to think that if dialogue about this issue were more open and with each 'side' more willing to engage, rather than dig themselves into ever more entrenched positions, it might help a little. Unfortunately there is at least some degree of misinformation from both sides of the debate and a hefty amount of claptrap that infuriates me (eg references to 'causes of autism' and 'recovery from autism' as cited in the OP's linked article) and which lowers the quality of any possible discussion about vaccination.

I believe the law has just changed and I suspect you wouldn't qualify under the new terms. 'Exceptional', I think, would cover things like funerals, emergencies, etc, not events of (in your case massive) personal significance. What *some people* do in your situation is find that their child comes down with a tummy bug. I hope you find a solution and congratulations on your five-year anniversary!

I can. PM if you still need it.

Oh, I wasn't responding to your post. My comments were general.

Gosh, these discussions become so polarised so quickly. I think there is a middle ground. In my birth family, most of us grew up in a Mediterranean country. It's true that children are generally regarded with more affection and tolerance, but that's not the same thing as total indulgence. It seems to me that children elsewhere in Europe learn social skills by being better integrated into a wider social network that most children here. Having brought up (well still in the process) four children in the UK, I think there is a slightly contradictory attitude to children. They seem to be simultaneously sentimentalised and over-indulged, judged and disliked. The same goes for how parents, esp mothers, are regarded, come to think of it. I think some adults regard children as little more than human mosquitos: irritants to be swatted out of the way. There are others who sail blithely through the streets (and shops) of SE22 with their children on scooters, regardless of how crowded the area, leaving everyone else to step aside. There's a middle ground between the two. Children have every right to be present in most places at most times. Within that, they need to learn, at an age-appropriate rate, how to be a social animal, how to behave generally and also in public. Parents who allow their children to run amok aren't doing them any favours. Equally, everyone could do with taking a deep breath before jumping to conclusions and passing judgements on parents' and children's behaviour. Are you sure the 'unruly' child you see doesn't have ADHD? When you glare at my child for swearing, does it cross your mind that he might have Tourette's? (Yes, he does.)

I am sceptical. The phone fiasco may have gone from bad to worse, but other issues (such as my repeated botched referrals) predate the practice manager leaving by eighteen months. If this person's work was the cause of *all* these problems, then they should have been sacked for incompetence long ago.

I was with DMC for about ten years. They have a brilliant physio there and some of the doctors are fantastic. Over the course of the last few years, however, things have really taken a nose-dive. I have had two referrals go astray and a third one was sent to the wrong fax no twice...and that was for an urgent brain scan. Last Tuesday I tried for the last time to make an appointment. I spent half an hour trying to get through. On my 103rd attempt (my mobile listed the number of calls) I got through to an automated message telling me there were nine people ahead of me in the queue. That afternoon I registered with another practice. I will be writing to DMC's practice manager outlining the reasons I have left. I am reluctant to make assumptions about the reasons why things are this shambolic, but it's just not good enough.

I think my oldest had the Mary Berry main one at that age or even younger. It has loads of idiot-proof recipes, both savoury and sweet.

http://touchdonttouch.wordpress.com/ This is the start of a blog about living with OCD and Tourette's. I thought it might be of interest to some parents/children/professionals.

I spent 25 mins calling this morning. 103 times, I called before getting through, only to find myself tenth in the queue. I like the individual GPs there a lot on the whole but enough's enough.

I have a Texta I was going to sell. It doesn't perform quite as many tricks as the packaging suggested but it was v.popular when my children were about six. PM me if you're interested.

There's one obvious lesson in this: if it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. I *knew* the prices quoted were far too low.

I had the same stuff reserved as two other people. I appreciate that the organisers can't be held responsible for the actions of individuals and really appreciate the goodwill shown in offering to refund the entrance fee. I don't want it, but do suggest that you have a conversation amongst regular sellers, agreeing a code of practice of sorts, so that people aren't misled in this way again.

Same here. I messaged 'Melissa' and supposedly had stuff reserved and kept under the table. Left my children at home, turned up and hey presto, no 'Melissa'.