redjam

We are spoilt for choice round here - I spend far too much of my disposable income in Ed, so I think they'll be getting my vote. Just remember to actually post your vote on the Telegraph website or it won't count - I don't think I did the link properly last time so here goes again: Telegraph Shop Awards

I'm not sure whether the Daily Telegraph is much of an East Dulwich newspaper but Mr Redjam has been helping to set up this year's Telegraph Magazine Shop Awards, which has a big focus on local retailers. Given the number of excellent independent shops in our area this seems a good opportunity to support some of them (and your favourite chains too - Somerfield, anyone?), so if you think it's a good idea then vote online at telegraph.co.uk/shopawards - and spread the word. Some nice prizes too.

Our lot enjoyed the fair though it was rather smaller than I expected. But the kids loved joining in the fancy dress 'parade' (even though our little one was going a different direction to all the others) and the older one enjoyed the sack race (even though she was still on the first leg when everyone else had finished, bless her - thanks to the organiser who picked her up and helped 'jump' her back, otherwise we'd still be there now). The bouncy castle also went down well, of course, and we liked all the very well-behaved doggies. Fun to go to a more traditional fair for a change - thanks very much for organising!

It's worth checking with your home insurance company that employer's liability is covered - mostly it's already included in your normal household insurance, or you can add it free of charge. But you need to spell out what the circumstances are, otherwise they might think you're running a business from your house and whack up your premiums accordingly. It's basically just to cover you being sued if the nanny suffers an injury in your home - I was more concerned about this than I might otherwise have been when we first took our nanny on as we were having a loft conversion done, and I had this nightmare vision of a huge beam of wood falling on her head as she left the house one day... So worth checking you're covered! We used Nannytax which is expensive, but I found them very helpful with things like contracts etc. Also you get ?100 government rebate for filing online (which Nannytax do) so as I remember it that's 'saved' from the ?260. I wonder whether the other companies are including the rebate in their fee, if you see what I mean, otherwise it's a big discrepancy in price and I shall feel I was ripped off!

I've done two nannyshares with two different families and I'm a big fan of them, though I do think it's important that you share with another family that is generally fairly easygoing and not too rigid about how they want their baby brought up. In general I feel if you've got a decent nanny she will figure out how to cope with routines, two crying babies, activities etc - I realise it's hard work, but she's the professional and that's what she's paid to do, and at the end of the day she can hand them back to the parents and go home to get a good night's sleep (unlike parents of twins!). So although there'll undoubtably be tough days, it's certainly doable. In my previous share arrangement it was always based at the other house as it was bigger; this time our house was bigger so it's been based in ours every day. Definitely pros and cons each way (Mrs Lotte has summed up well) so the alternate weeks idea could work well if both houses are the same size. I used to worry about my child being based in the 'other' house and not at her own home each day, but of course it very quickly became a second home to her. I wouldn't worry too much now about it all going wrong - I think you have to go into it with a 'let's try to make this work' attitude and if it doesn't then you'll probably want out of the whole thing anyway. Never heard of two families falling out with each other but both still wanting to keep the nanny - when it's up and running you don't tend to see much of the other family anyway, and your relationship is much more with the nanny. One of the nanny tax agencies should be able to help you draw up a contract which will address a lot of the issues you raise, and it's a chance to think these things through then. But generally it's in everyone's interests to make things work and remember that things change constantly as kids grow older so even if certain aspects are tricky when they're babies they will get easier in time. Good luck!

Have you thought about a nannyshare? Much cheaper and you also get the benefit of regular 'socialisation' with another child of a similar age, learning to share toys, eating together etc. But even if you don't go the share route any nanny worth his/her salt should take your child out and about to groups, activities etc - even just the playground! So your baby will get the chance to meet other kids. For what it's worth I've used nannyshare arrangements for both my kids, then they started nursery at the age of two. I think my younger daughter could have gone to a nursery earlier as she's quite independent but the older one was shyer as a baby so I think she would have struggled. When they're little and can't communicate very well I do think the personal attention of a good nanny is preferable as she will really get to know your child individually, whereas even the best nursery won't be able to forge such strong personal bonds with a baby when they've got a few dozen other kids to look after at the same time. It can be daunting to employ one but if you go on gumtree or simplychildcare.com you'll see dozens of ads (or even on our own dear EDF!) or you could of course place your own ad and wait for the nannies to come to you. One of the companies such as nannytax.co.uk will help you with the tax side of things for a fairly reasonable fee. Nannies aren't cheap but speaking personally I've found them to be the option that's worked for me - and as others have mentioned you have much more flexibility in the arrangements. Good luck with your search!

I think it's a bit weird of the orthodontist to expect any 12-year-old boy to admit to wanting 'beautiful teeth' - surely no self-respecting nearly-teenage lad would say that in any circumstances? I say shop around for someone you feel comfortable with - you'll be going back for monthly repositionings for at least a year so it needs to be someone you trust. But I do think your son needs to want to do it for himself before embarking on any treatment, or at least be convinced of its merits. I speak as a veteran of ten different braces as a teenager - I spent about three years in the buggers - and I can vouch for how miserable they were. The worst thing was that when I was about eighteen my wisdom teeth came through and knocked all my other teeth out of alignment again, so I ended up having another year of fixed braces, top and bottom, in my early thirties, as I became very self-conscious about my overlapping gnashers. I absolutely loathed having braces with a passion, but I gritted my teeth (no pun intended) as I felt the gain was worth the pain - both in cosmetic terms and also just so you have healthy teeth. So my advice would be encourage your son to do it now to get it over with, but find someone you like to do it as you'll find you'll be seeing quite a lot of them.

I pay ?7 an hour for mine.

I was always quite strict about limiting my eldest daughter's TV intake when she was small - she didn't really watch it at all till she was two and a half. However, that all went out of the window when Daughter Number 2 was born, as I used to use the telly to keep Number 1 happy while I was breastfeeding. So my younger daughter was exposed to regular TV at a much earlier age, and CBeebies is now sometimes on as 'background' for several hours at a time at the weekend. But it's interesting that it's the older one who is much more obsessed with the telly, whereas the younger one (now two herself) is really much more into toys, games, and other physical things. Maybe it doesn't hold such allure for her as she's been exposed to it earlier? Funnily enough, my hubbie and I follow the same pattern. He was brought up with telly on as constant background, and can now take it or leave it. Whereas I was brought up in a very middle-class 'half an hour a day' household, and I am now addicted to all kinds of rubbish. So as a rule I try to be fairly relaxed about telly intake; it doesn't always work out how you expect!

I'm on the lazy side on this debate, I'm afraid. My eldest daughter potty-trained at 2 years and 3 months - it only took a long weekend and she'd cracked it; we had a couple of weeks of occasional accidents then that was about it. I'm sure we could have got her to do it earlier but it was so much easier to train when she was 'ready' rather than all the endless holding over potties that the OP describes. Besides I HATE potties - cleaning them out is revolting. Whereas with disposable nappies you can just whisk it all away, roll it up, then stick it the bin so it ends up on a landfill for 1000 years. Oh. That's not good apparently. But so convenient, no?

I'm going to be contrary and disagree! I think the shop refit is much brighter and easier to navigate (especially with a buggy), the new direct pick-ups of repeat prescriptions from the docs saves me loads of time, and I've always found the staff there absolutely fine. There's also a private consultation room there (which I'd not noticed before the refit) which saved me a trip to the docs recently. And I've not missed any of the rather quirky range of stuff that has got dropped with the takeover. Just me?

I took kids and aged parents there the other week - Mum and I had the seafood salad which was absolutely delicious (with two bottles of dressings, fyi!). But their portions were weird - my dad got a teeny tiny quiche yet there was a HUGE lake of baked beans on toast for the children (on the kids' menu). The main problem was haphazard service - they didn't take our dirty plates away for ages, even after they'd brought the desserts, so we were scrabbling to find table space for our cakes and coffee in amongst the plates of leftover baked beans - I tried to take them out myself after failing to catch anyone's eye, but there seemed nowhere obvious to put them. But overall I liked the place and again would put the quibbles down to teething problems - I'd definitely go back for that crab/smoked salmon/prawn salad.

Seems to be loads on the BBC website today about organising a street party - there's some Radio 2 initiative for the bank holiday by the sounds of things: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/life-2-live/love-where-you-live/great-british-streetparty/party-tips/

Went to The Lodge for the first time on Friday (above/next door to the EDT). Thought it was fab - very cool decor, reasonable prices, friendly staff - it's my new fave venue in ED, after the Mag and the EDT. Went to the restauranty bit but had a look in the bar area which was quite lively when we were there. They were playing loads of old indie stuff in the background which was a bonus - sounded like they'd nicked my i-Pod. Not sure it's the kind of place you'd meet loads of hot young chicks, having a bit more of a laid-back feel, but seeing as I'm not (ahem) a very hot young chick any more I'm not sure I can help you find where they hang out. (Actually, the Adventure Bar probably, but do you really want to suffer watered-down cocktails and horrific not-even-funny Euro-pop just for a chance of getting it awn with the laydeez?)

I also requested a collection online last week and it got picked up today, so no complaints there for me (apart from I'd asked to be notified by email but I got a phone call instead; though that's just nitpicking). My main problem was that they were a bit TOO efficient - you have to specify in advance exactly what you want taken away, but of course over the weekend we found another bit of rubbish we wanted to get rid of in the same batch, and despite me pinning a notice on it this morning requesting it to be included in the collection, and also despite my dad (who happened to be around at the time) confirming to the guy we wanted it removed, he wouldn't take it as it 'wasn't on the list'. Bit jobsworth if you ask me, but apparently they've had problems with removing things that shouldn't have been taken, then having to pay loads of compensation. So I guess they're damned if they do, damned if they don't...

Glad I'm not the only one to find their fairy cakes deeply joyless - even the kids wouldn't eat them after the first bite! Franklins' ones are much nicer.

Blimey, you sound even more scary than the Parktown Prawn.

Good for you - though personally I go to the pub to get away from my emails, not to have them follow me there... On a separate note, are you planning to get a coffee machine soon? I keep thinking it would be a nice place to pop in during a quiet afternoon for a coffee. Or is it a deliberate policy to keep the buggy brigade away?! Keep up the good work though - nice pub.

Ah, what a lovely happy end to that story. Can't believe your (very cute) dog waited all that time! As you say, worra dog! Though, um, not so impressed with your au pair - let's hope it's not one of your kids she forgets next time. (Not that there haven't been occasions I haven't been tempted to leave mine on the bus...)

By the way, when I say ambient music, I don't mean the rainforest/whalesong/womb-type ambient music, of course. That would just be weird.

Went in on Saturday night and really liked it (we'd earlier tried the Adventure Bar which wasn't our thing at all - goes to show, different strokes for different folks...). Thought the decor was very attractive and the staff friendly. Menu looked good though we didn't eat. My only criticism was the room felt a bit echoey/cold (in feel, not temperature) as it's got all those big windows and high ceilings - probably lovely in the summer but not exactly cosy on an autumn evening. Perhaps could do with some ambient music to help it feel more buzzy? Anyway, we'll definitely be going back - both agreed it's one of our new fave venues in ED. I imagine it's the worst time ever to open a new business, especially when it's slightly off the main drag, so hope it survives!

I'm with Gubodge - it's a nice-looking little shop, but whenever I've been there I've always been disappointed by the range. Sad to see any bookshop go, but I still think there's room for a really good independent bookshop in ED (adult and kids) that I would gladly spend my money in.

I think classes have a place, as long as you're not constantly dragging your kids from one to another every day. We've done Caterpillar Music in the past and go to Diddidance now, which my daughter loves. She still loves hopping around to music at home and bashing her tambourine, but the classes offer her the chance to socialise with other kids, learn new things, play with different instruments etc that we just don't have at home. And realistically you don't always have the energy/imagination to organise stimulating activities at home, so it's good to have a focus to the day. Some classes seem better value than others, admittedly, but I wouldn't say they're a rip-off - I don't think a fiver or so is bad for 45 minutes of entertainment. Less than a large glass of wine in some of the pubs round here!

Ho hum - just had the dreaded call from Barclays - my card has just been used in Canada too. Wouldn't be so bad, but my husband was called by his bank, HSBC, last night, to say his had been used in India. And of course we both happen to be completely out of cash and both our local banks are closed tomorrow... I mentioned to the Barclays fraud protection woman that there seems to be a lot of fraud round our way recently, and she sighed and said, 'There's a lot of fraud everywhereat the moment, Madam.' So may not just be here - maybe we're just more aware of it because of the postings on this forum. Anyway, am now completely paranoid that someone's been going through our rubbish, seeing as both my husband and my cards were both cloned at the same time. Oh, and I was always very smug about how careful I am to cover the PIN number with my hand when dinging it in, but now not convinced it makes the blindest bit of difference. Oh well, one for experience.

I've had this problem before with Somerfields too. I once bought two massive boxes of teabags as they were on a 2-for-1 special offer. Didn't notice till I got home that I'd been charged twice. Next time I was in there I showed them the receipt and pointed to the offer sign, but they said it only applied on special shrink-wrapped double packs (which needless to say were buried behind the individual boxes and couldn't be seen easily unless you were on your hands and knees). I got a bit stroppy and the guy told me if I brought both boxes back I could swap them for the special double-pack and get a refund. So after three trips I finally got my money back! Not sure it was worth the hassle given I only saved a couple of quid, but by this point I was on my moral high horse. (Sad I know...) Anyway, I always check the receipt now at the till if I've bought anything on special offer, as I'm sure there have been other times that I've been caught out with them. Not really convinced incompetence is an excuse.