bawdy-nan

I use rye lane and don't mind it really - I just go really slowly for a bit - mostly because I'm sharing the road with pedestrians ...

re cubs and scouts - they meet in "the school" but this means that only catholics are allowed to join ....

mine haven't had them for ages -actually miss it oddly -something very satisfying about a job well do e-like a Xmas jigsaw or a self-assembly set of shelves

comb, comb, comb, with a nitty gritty comb, every 2 days until you see no eggs or nits then comb and comb again

I asked the author if he'd approached the deli in question (I know which it is as I walked past the sign in may thinking it was a bit cheeky to sell it) but he said he'd only heard about it and not seen evidence. Mild twitter searching led me to their own proud posting about their wares, with pic. I can't imagine they'd have sold or advertised it in the way they did if they'd known it was "theft". Probably would have been helpful for someone to have talked to them about it.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/21/where-foraging%E2%80%99s-concerned-there%E2%80%99s-no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch/

our eldest is in year 5 and we've been introducing independent travel with the lengthening days. She'll walk home on her own perhaps 2 or 3 times a week.

Hello reluctant to post details on here but I would wholeheartedly agree with Helena. However "good" a school appears to be don't exclude the fact that it might be that environment that is causing or exacerbating the "problem". We had an absolutely horrific experience over a number of years at one particular school. One that I couldn't bear for another child or family to go through and, if asked, I would urge any family with a child with any "unusual" qualities at all absolutely not to attend the school. We moved to a different school and the changes were astonishing. Same child. Same difficulties. Utterly different attitude and approach and a transformation of all our lives. We've done all manner of tests and assessments and diagnoses given and reversed. Our child is still the same child. Just getting older (and lovlier) and wiser and better at being in the world. As a parent you need to have a partnership with the people supposedly qualified to educate your children but they aren't always right. Its hard to know this when you're in the middle of it all mostly because it would be insane to assume you always know best. We were lucky to have wise and persistent CAMHS and Ed Psych support who helped us keep a steady course through the whole horror. I listened to them because they seemed informed and thoughtful and backed up their conclusions with evidence rather than posturing "I reckon", blind assertion and moral panic. In terms of what we do at home - we're clear in our instructions, stick to our guns, keep a tight bedtime routine, have slowly taught strategies for recognising and managing potentially difficult over-excitedness, love and let them know we love (and like). Broad theme: things can get better.

biff

We've been at the same property for 9 1/2 years. One of my children was born here. Our rent is low ish for the area but has just gone up by 15%. It's a private landlord. We tend not to bother them nor they us. They're tardy about repairs other than major ones. This past winter is the first we haven't had to move out for a few days because the old boiler didn't pack up. Its miserable because we have no security of tenure so at any point we could be given 2months notice to leave. We'd like to have a longer tenancy but that isn't how it's done in the private sector. I assume our rent will go up and up and I just hope we can stay for the sake of our kids. I can't imagine that we will ever be able to buy anywhere and if our landlord ever decided to sell up or ask us to leave we're screwed.

The youth hostel just outside Stratford is absolutely lovely too and YHA places are very child friendly

I'm going with the family for my 40th ...:)

I'd like to see cycle paths linking all the schools thereby establishing a network that would cover most of the area

I don't think the story is that the brightest are being held back actually. The rhetoric around the radical school reform we're in the midst of is predicated on the idea that British schools are failing. This "fact" is often cited by those who say that, compared to international standards, British schools are doing badly. What's clear from this - and is worth shouting about- is that British state primary schools (on which these stats are based rather than anything resulting from gove's dismantling and rebooting and restating of the curriculum and attacks on "failing" teachers) is that British primary schools are doing very, very well on international measures. Certainly the dip at secondary level is troubling but it's not the only part of the story and indeed the current governmental focus on "5 good gcses" has been cited as a reason for the tailing off of the brightest children- ie if you can get 5 at c why bother trying for more. Lots of clever children intbe state sector encouraged to take gcses early (ie without having studied to their full potential). So, no, it's not ideal but the big story has been largely ignored- ie bloody big hurrah due to the state primary sector.

just a small cheer for uk state primary schools who, despite the doom mongering and mr gove's determination to have them all privatised, today were shown to be on a par mathswise with schools I. Hong Kong etc (which are usually cited as top notch)

am in the middle of week 3 and have lost 6lbs (sometimes more but seems steady around 6lb loss). Am exercising more (not every day) and finding the fast days ok. Plenty of tea and water. No breakfast, soup lunch, mostly veg for dinner (had a turkey stir fry last night with a stock/soy/rice vinegar / ginger / chilli sauce). Finding it easier and less annoying and obsessive than calorie counting and am really enjoying the taste of food a c be oming reacquainted with my appetite.

I've been doing this (5 days eating normally 2 days "fasting") and have found it great. On the fast days I tend not to eat until about 2pm and then have had a miso soup or some sushi or a prepared salad then a huge plate of steamed vegetables for dinner. I find that I'm not especially hungry and when I do eat the food tastes incredibly delicious. I find, oddly, that I'm not so hungry on the days that I'm eating normally so am not gorging but eating what I fancy and when I fancy it.

As I said - I've no objection to a mass invasion of a bus by children - on the contrary - I relish it! I like the chat and hubbub and the disruption of the normal atmosphere. Seemed rather like an inhibition of normal chatty social behaviour (the adult making the children sing) actually and, no, I don't think it's a good idea to pretend a bus is a school - especially when the children's instinct was to behave like they should on a bus. It was just after 9. Correct bus ettiquette is surely consideration of your fellow travellers? The children did this naturally, didn't seem restless or bored by the journey - as I said, their behaviour was exemplary and any parents / school should be proud of them - they were lovely. I'm guessing that the adult (I've no idea if it was a teacher or not) was nervous about the children starting to get bored etc and wanted to offset any restlessness - we could have a whole other conversation about that - but I couldn't see that at all (and, boy, do I know the signs). ,

They were singing something about a spider and then the wheels on the bus led by an adult - all 30 of them. The thing is - I do think its great that schools use public transport and I like sharing my journey to work with a school trip and this group were very well behaved - it was just very annoying (an a terrible example pf how one behaves on a bus!).

wish they had. Much as I like to see schools on public transport Goose Green's adult led, mass sing off on the top deck of the 176 was more than I could bear. I'm sure the intention was good but they seemed just fine -chatting, looking out of the window - excellent behaviour in fact.

you certainly can remove it from the car. Main problem was my not locking it ...duh

hello - if you get offered a satnav for sale which, on start up, displays a picture of a middle aged woman and two children with the caption: "We're driving into nothing!" you're being offered mine which was stolen from my car last night.

mine watch the news sometimes (and we have r4 on mostly so they hear that too) 10 and 8. We talked about it afterwards. How its a horrible news story, how awful and unusual a situation it is,- about how in the us anyone who wants one can have a gun (trying to distinguish from here). I waited until they came across the story themselves. thought they prob would hear it somehow but wanted to be able to answer any questions and acknowledge the horrible was of it.

There's something splendid and something ghastly about the groups - all kinds. When you're toddler stage it's often all there is and the vehement bonding and rules make for an appealing and unwelcoming experience especially if you (or your child) are any way outside of the norm. I sympathise. It continues at the school gates (which can be both marvellous and terrifying; supportive and ostrascising) but as your children get older its less consuming. When mine were small I tried a few groups and found them impenetrable. We played in parks and at home mostly.

Pippi Longstocking might do as its broken up into discrete stories.