insidethebox

Any recommendations?

I'm reviewing my son's pocket money/allowance. Woud anyone like to share what they're paying their teenagers (and what it's meant to cover)?

Another shout-out for Andy. This time I called him in to assemble my IKEA wardrobe. We discovered some screws missing, so he had to come back to finish it, and he was very uncomplaining about it. Thanks Andy!

Another strong recommendation for Ray Murray! I?m very happy with the two rooms he decorated for me including some wallpapering. Experienced, professional, tidy, easy communications. 07927 239023.

Any suggestions for getting curtains altered?

I don't think it's unreasonable to introduce this charge. Most Southwark residents don't have the privilege of a garden. I'm lucky enough to have one and don't mind paying.

Colin chased various cables and switches into the wall for me that were previously surface mounted. It turns out my walls are hard as nails, but he stuck with it, staying on to the evening to finish the job and clean up after. He brought in a plasterer Patrick who did the making good, so it was all done in a day. Thorough, prompt, good communications. 07956 215163

Another shout-out for Andy - he did a tidy job installing my curtain pole, good comms too.

Please send more info, thanks.

Shout out for Greg! He did a great job painting several rooms and fitting new door hardware. Very reliable, organised and easy to communicate with. I'll be asking him back to do some more.

A green thumbs up for Mehmet! Just sorted out my untended garden and gave useful advice.

The questionnaire was designed by a number of us in DYC. It had to be done rapidly (in under two weeks), since we wanted to distribute it before the private schools broke up for summer. We road-tested it with a dozen or so parents and made adjustments based on their feedback. No one raised your point, which is a good one. I know that kids riding on the pavements have problems avoiding pedestrians, for example. However the focus of the questions was purposefully on the non-cyclists: to discover what are the existing barriers to cycling to school, and whether parents would switch their kids to cycling if some of these could be removed - in particular infrastructure improvements, which is what this bid for Mayoral funds is all about. We have an open-ended question at the end of the questionnaire which is giving us a lot of useful anecdotal information about kids who are cycling.