dreamaholic

I don’t have any personal recommendation, but I have heard friends having 1-to-1 sessions with native language speakers on italki.com. Have a look. Lots of native speakers and rates are reasonable.

I completely agree with you and have signed the petition. Introducing VAT to school fees will not impact the super wealthy, but those who work hard and try to save pennies here and there to afford the school fees. Imagine if 20% of current private school students can no longer afford to go to private schools and have to go to state schools, will the state schools be able to cope with the extra students? Say currently you need to live within 1km to be within catchment of your desired state school, that could be reduced to 600m. Just THINK about the potential consequences…

I could hear helicopter flying in the area (16 March around 8.30pm) - does anyone know what's going on?

I'd highly recommend Dan Stevenson. He isn't based in ED, we do most of the communication via email or phone call but he is really good at answering queries promptly and clearly. And we met to sort out paperwork and he's efficient and well prepared. Much better than the other two advisors we used previously. [email protected]

We'd like to have our 3 bedroom house painted (approx 1000 sq ft). Would anyone have any recommendation for any painter in the area? And approx how much would it cost? Many thanks!

James, we would really appreciate if you could speak to Southern on our behalf. Currently if one of the trains get cancelled, or if a 4 carriage train turn up instead of a 8 carriage train, the trains would be jam packed. Can't see how they can reduce our timetable to just one train an hour even during peak hour. How are we going to go in the work? I got a season ticket and to be honest I can't see how they can just reduce their service just like that. That's a 75% reduction (from 4 trains an hour to just one) Many thanks in advance

Fernando helped us with some gardening tasks - our garden looks so much better now. Thanks!

We went to this one in Majorca last year. http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/spain/majorca/puerto-pollensa/apartments/aparthotel-playa-mar.html

We went to Thomson's family resort last year, there's a cr?che and the staff there have UK accreditation. There's also evening entertainment evening and my son who was around 20 months old loved it, especially Thomson the dog. We are going to another family resort this year! The resort we went to was in Majorca. With lots of water slides for kids. Would recommend!

We have asked Fernando to come and do some gardening for us and he turned our much neglected garden into a tidy garden with a new flowerbed. Would recommend and would personally ask him to come back for future gardening jobs.

Olay regenerist is great. I use their 3-point serum and day / night cream. They are often on offer too (like 3 for 2 at boots / superdrugs). I've used more expensive brands before and I prefer Olay. Much cheaper and you can feel the difference after just a week.

I have a shower valve which I suspect no longer work properly and wanted to have it replaced (the water is no longer hot enough and affects a different shower down the line). The valve looks similar to the one here but I'm not entirely sure if this is the correct one - http://www.bathstore.com/products/metro-horizontal-thermostatic-shower-bath-valve-1727.html. If you could help validate this is the correct one, and help us install, please can you send me a PM? Many thanks!

Please see map attached. Hope this helps!

We went last weekend there's a car park at imperial college that's approx 3 quid an hour but that was full when we got there at around 12. We parked our car near Gloucester Road, there are some spaces that's approx 3 quid an hour till 1.30pm then it's all free till Monday morning. It's a short walk but very good value. We prefer driving than taking a train then tube / bus too.

Another recommendation for Fernando. He came and helped us tidy our overgrown garden, he did a good job again, thanks!

Hi Fernando - I just emailed you to see if you're available to help with some gardening next week. Thanks for your good work last year.

Hi! We will be travelling to Antwerp and the surrounding area with a 19 months old. Are there any family friendly restaurant with good food that you would recommend? I had a quick look at tripadvisor, photos of the dishes look lovely but it suite hard to guess whether a certain restaurant is family friendly or not! Thanks in advance.

There's a scheme called the cherubs scheme. http://www.cherubs.uk.com/index.php From their website: "Your baby is photographed on 3 separate occasions by your local Cherubs professional photographer during his/her first 18 months and after the final photo session you will receive a beautiful presentation triple folio. It contains three 5-inch images recording the development of your child: first when they are a few months old, once they can sit up, and then when they can stand. A wonderful keepsake! You will also have the opportunity to purchase extra photographs from each sitting, under no obligation. This exclusive offer is made available to you by the Master Photographers Association. Thousands of happy Mums have had Cherubs portraits taken of their babies since the promotion was introduced." The photographer we got is Asher from rockimaging, he's brilliant. He goes to your home with his equipments for he shoot. We bought more photos after each shoot as they are really good and are not too expensive. (Nothing like Venture pricing!) http://www.rockimaging.com/

Fernando came back today to finish my front garden and start working in the back garden. He did a good job and tidied our much neglected gardens. Thank you Fernando!

I found Fernando from this forum, he came today and did a brilliant job at tidying our neglected front garden. He's punctual, pleasant, tidy and did a great job. He transformed our front garden! He will be back next week to help us tidy our back garden! I'd definitely recommend him to anyone who need some gardening done to their gardens!

Sounds fun! Will bear this in mind when my son is older! He's turning one this Sept, so won't appreciate bouncy castle yet :)

Thanks brown coffee. I've already booked another instructor before I saw your message. Will keep this in mind in case the instructor I booked doesn't work out for me. Thanks.

Any recommendation on automatic driving instructor please? Thanks in advance.

Lots of horror stories here. Oh dear!! http://www.workingmums.co.uk/search/advice.thtml?&tag=3716&refinement=Flexible%20Working&o=&search=returning%20to%20work

Thanks all for your reply. I'll have a face to face chat with him tomorrow... fingers crossed it will all work out. I'm smelling trouble though... because I haven't submitted the 4 day part time request (as I was going to first use up my annual leave so I wouldn't need that to start till 1/1/2014, so I thought I had some time! how naive....) and the tone of his email doesn't sound like he's going to approve it. Also, while I was off, instead of getting temporary cover, I think they "restructured and expanded the team" and hired 1-2 extra staff, so I have a feeling that I'm no longer wanted. Maybe I'm thinking too much, lets see how tomorrow goes.