Carbonara

That must be it. It looked fantastic. They took over the tannoy system on the Co-op, too. Brilliant that local businesses have supported them. They were in the dry cleaners last night! I wonder if it will be an annual thing?

I passed several groups of people watching bits of performance or theatre in the street between about 7.45 and 8pm last night. And then there was a big dance performance in the aisles of the Co-Op! Looked great. What is it? Pop up street theatre or something?

Good luck - it won't be as bad as you fear, young children generally sail through minor surgery. Do take all your usual bottles, nappies, wipes, etc, they don't provide anything, really. And take something for you to eat once your son is in the operating theatre. I find it helps with the starving them not to eat and drink in front of them, but once he is asleep you can go into the Reception area or outside and have a snack. They won't let you eat on the ward because of other children not allowed food. They will ask you to accompany your child into the theatre and hold him while they do the anaesthetic. They will wave a mask under his nose for a bit to make him a bit sleepy and then get him to breathe from the mask. This can be distressing, but the more they struggle the quicker they go to sleep because they breathe more in. It takes about 5 seconds and feels like 10 minutes. Once the procedure is done they will ask you to go into the recovery bay while he wakes up. They are very experienced and make it all very problem free for you.

I see the Head of Fairlawn is leaving to join the new Dunraven primary as Head. Best of luck to her, and lucky Streatham!

Gill, Ashbourne Grove, 07736 400658 She is very kind and has lots of fun ways to increase both confidence and skill. Very experienced and effective.

The IKEA one is best. MUCH cheaper than any others, much more sturdy and practical than the one I bought from ELC.

All I can offer is to say sorry you are going through this, and to hope that your strength in wishing to keep the impact on your children as minimal as possible pays off. It is a good priority to have. Good luck to you. No experience in the legal aspects of all this.

I would bringing it up at the next AGM of the PTA and ask if her personal views affect the way she raises and spends PTA resources. Silly woman. Small place, ED, not may schools, someone will recognise her and alert her to her public shame.

Sorry to hear that boleto. Is Peckham Academy your nearest school? Did you feel confident that you could get one of your preferences on distance or other criteria? If you live very close to the 'last distance' for Charter and Harris, you may be very very close to the top of the waiting list. Lots of places come up at Kingsdale, too, as all the acceptances and refusals come through. And remember that you can go on the waiting list for any school, not just the ones on your original list. Might you have any grounds for appeal to any of your preferred schools?

Thhings in ED will be so much cheaper once there is an Argos, Primark and Lidl in Lordship Lane. And surely one of those cafes serving very expensive home made cakes could become a McD?

Balance Bike. With stabilisers they need to ride in a way which is actually counter-productive to learning to ride a bike and steer using balance. With a balance bike they will learn to ride a bike without stabilisers extremely quickly. If you might need to carry it, I would opt for a scooter on those journeys, anyway. And carrying a bike with stabilisers is v awkward.

"Probably best to put them 1 and 2 on your form if they're your nearest community schools." Put the schools in the genuine order in which you prefer them. If you are hoping for a place in a school further away or maybe a faith schoo, as your top choice, put it top. The schools offer places according to how each application matches their criteria. If you live extremely close to Heber and / or Goodrich then you will get that place based on distance and be offered it if you miss out on your 'long shot' top choice. But if you do have the choice of Heber or Goodrich, you are probably spoilt for choice :)

Do you already have an address, or are you planning to move to the area 'in general'? Because many if not most of the schools have catchments measured in 100s of metres, so you don't get a free choice of all the schools in the area.

Charter, Harris Boys, Kingsdale, Sydenham Girls. If you want Charter as a co-ed, you will need to be very careful indeed where you move to as the catchment seems to shrink every year and many ED applicants were disappointed this year. Kingsdale admission is by random allocation (ballot) unless your child gets one of the top sports or music scholarships.

But all schools that use fair banding, with the exception of Kingsdale whihc is a lottery, use proximity within each band. So proximity is till the main test of criteria for admission.

My In laws live in Streatham Hill. The housing is so much cheaper than ED. If you place yourselves well you can be in reach of excellent schools - Julian's and Dunraven, or Streatham Wells and Dunraven, Dunraven are opening a new primary school, and Elmgreen is good, too. I don't like Streatham High Rd but there are some excellent cafes and restaurants, more and more opening up every month, the High Rd is actually improving a lot. There are good small parks like Hillside Gardens, eayt reach of Brockwell Park and Tooting Common. They live in a part called the ABC roads, Amesbury - Downton Avenues and then Wavertree Rd. I like Crystal palace, too. Westow Hill is brilliant, CP park, not sure what the primary schools are like, but the Harris CP is very popular.

Check on the airport website if there is a Boots airside and if the sell cartons of milk. You can take cartons unopened if you buy them once you have been through security. Have a small bottle to give on take off and landing, the swallowing helps their ears pop. The babies all start crying as soon as the descent begins :(

That mural is GORGEOUS! I wish I had a balcony or wall to paint.

re this 'they are all different' - Monkey may not have even been even trying to teach letters and 'sounding out'. She may have just been encouraging her daughter in normal 3 year old play. Many 3 year olds are like this these days, or 'differnt' because different parents get busy with the flash cards etc. If she shows an interest, encourage it, slowly and within reason. If not, I wouldn't push it.

The vast majority of 3 year olds are simply enjoying looking at books, being read to, developing their fine motor skills in messy play and messy painting and play doh. Children who have been hot housed ('oh, but she's ready, she really enjoys it') may have a bit of a head start in Reception, but children can only develop at the level of their maturity and it will all even out. Just as you can't tell the early talkers from the late talkers by the time they are all talking together at 3 or 4. Let your child enjoy learning through play, and don't let yourself be stressed out by this.

I couldn't possibly use a Lush product, people would have to move away on the tube. Occasional Body Shop products are OK - the Hemp range for hand cream, the shea butter or brazil nut body butter. But most of the scents are too unsubtle and sweet. I also can't bear to shop in there since they seem to have put assistants on commission - followed round the shop, asked to take about a loyalty card and no, I don't want to tell you my birthday and birthdate for your bloody database and don't tell me it is so I can be sent a birthday card and gift - how sad do you think I am!!! (draws breath). I buy almost all toiletries from Sainsbury's. (quite sad then :) )

It is vital for us all that inquiries and trials are carried out fairly. None of us drawing 'in theory' conclusions about this case will be on the panel charged with establishing the detailed nature of the circumstances which led to the death of this woman. However, the sad-but-true fact is that unless a public fuss is made now the results of a hospital inquiry may never see the light of day in any major public arena. The Irish abortion laws affect the lives of hundreds every single day. If there is any chance whatsoever that a misunderstanding or over-zealous adherence to those laws influenced the medical team (and their words as reported by her husband imply that they were a consideration) then the public have a right to comment, a right to make sure those questions are asked and a right to have hospital policies and the laws of the land interrogated within the context of a woman's death. It is on no-one's interest that an inquiry or trial is influenced by media frenzy or results in a trial by ordeal, but people deeply concerned with the wider issues have a right to have their questions answered. I await the outcome of this with great interest, and a sense of urgencey. The death remains deeply sad whatever the cause.

One of the swimmming teachers at JAGS? they are really skilled. ?20 for half an hour private lesson. Might have gone up now - we booked lessons there about 3 years ago.

In the UK standard practice would have been to remove the foetus once a miscarriage was underway, the cervix was open and the waters had broken, specifically because of the risk of infection and sepsis. And why did the doctors repeatedly check for a heartbeat, given that miscarriage and certain death of the foetus was underway, and only conduct the removal of the foetus once the heartbeat had stopped unless the status of the foetus was relevant to the decision to remove the contents of the uterus? And why was the husband told 'this is a catholic country', if that fact had no relevance to the decisions being taken?

Shocking and tragic. That Galway hospital is notorious for bad treatment of women. I saw something linked by Ben Goldacre - the professor of Obs and Gyn is very old, 85 I think, was educated by the Brothers, and has published a paper asserting that there is no circumstances under which it would be necessary to terminate a foetus to save the life of the mother. His name is Prof Eamonn something. Is it wholly true that in Ireland it is not legal for doctors to carry out an abortion in order to save the life of a woman? Or was this bad medical negligence prompted by or compounded by over-zealous observance of the 'no termination' laws? The woman was already miscarrying, why did they continue to check for a heartbeat before removing the foetus, in order to remove the source of infection? Poor woman. Sympathies to her devastated husband.