missd

We use an agency called Sitters. It's really good and not unreasonable (well I don't think so). You pay ?12 a quarter to teh agency. Then ?5-75 or so an hour direct to the sitter whenever you use her. It's worth checking out. We've used them a few times now and have been really happy with them. They are nationwide too so if you're staying somewhere else in the country you can book a sitter local to wherever you are.

I found GF useful - not so that I could follow it to the letter but it was good at giving me a rough idea of what the day should look like. I did not wait 4 hours to feed him - I fed him on demand. However the benefit was that I was able to read the signs that my own baby was giving me as to whether he was tired, hungry etc. I think I may have taken a lot longer to get in tune with him if I hadn't seen GF. As a first time parent I had no idea what an average day would look like so the book was useful in that respect. It also allowed me to see where things should change ie one month, two months and then when food is introduced etcc You can be totally over the top and follow it to the letter but I would have found that restrictive. I dont want to have to always put my baby down in a darkened room -sometimes when mummy is at lunch having a few glasses of wine he needs to sleep in the pram! Routines (of some sort) do benefit both mother and child (in my humble opinion). I know what is to be done roughly when, and so does my son -he is content and knows what is coming and that after bath book bottle etc it's bedtime. It helps us both. I think to call people who use GF a disgrace is rude, judgemental and dangerous - jojobaby, you don't have the right to judge people on how they are choosing to look after their baby. Each person is different and while I personally wouldn't follow GF to the letter I certainly wouldn't make such statements about people who choose to follow her.

Just off Bellenden Road and we don't have any water either. Annoying

Just off Bellenden Road and we don't have any water either. Annoying

Hi nikki73, there are lots of things on in the local area - Power pramming in Peckham Rye and Dulwich Park, Monkey Music on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings, Baby sensory in Honor Oak Park on Wednesday afternoons, the Jelly Babies swim sessions almost every day at Peckham Puse, Baby Massage on Fridays I think above Soup Dragon, Whippersnappers music group in Dulwich Park (not sure what days). Sorry I can't give more details on each one but if you google some of them the details should come up. Good luck!

Babington House - beautiful and you can get family rooms so your kids are in there too they have their own room downstairs while parents have a lovely big room upstairs). There is a creche where you can leave your kids for 2 hours in morning and 2 hours in afternoon for free. Babysitters available so you can eat in the restaurant in the evenings. The Cowshed spa is amazing and the swimming pool is good (with 3 hours in morning and 3 hours in afternoon when kids can go in) Not cheap at all but I would highly recommend it as a place to go with kids, while still feeling as though you're having a lovely lovely time as adults.

Brilliant - thank you all!

It is really annoying though - I was walking along the other day with my son in his buggy and when i got home I realised that the wheels were covered in dog poo. I found myself wiping down the wheels and thinking 'what on earth am i doing?' PICK UP YOUR DOG'S POO - whoever you are

Hi does anyone know of any free classes for under 1's ie Sure Start etc? Thanks

We also have the little life one - brilliant. light and easy to put up. the mattress is a touch on the thin side however we put a blanket underneath and it's fine

The space needs to be made more comfortable -agreed on the warmer colours. Maybe something similar to Ottolenghi in Islington -which is excellent. Nice platters of salads etc at the front, cakes and pastries. Tables at the back for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Good luck -looking forward to seeing the changes.

nice! i like it. might try it on that little tw*t that appeared at my door last night

These guys were back in force tonight -one knocked on my door (I'm just off Bellenden Road) and was quite rude when I said I wasn't interested. He started making weird noises at me once I'd closed the door just because I said I didn't want to buy anything. They REALLY annoy me

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It must have been said already, but after this > morning... > > Feckin kids playing mobile phone music on the > bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :X Too right. This just really annoys me. It ruins my journey and i get so angry. If the kid issmaller than me I'll say something like "why don't you have headphones?" or "why do you think the whole carriage wants to listen to your music". If i put on a stern enough face they normally turn it off or get out their headphones (!!). If the kid is bigger than me (not hard at my amazing height of 5 ft 2) i'll normally move carriages but get really annoyed that I have to move because some little sh** thinks he has the right to sit there listening to his music really loudly and that everyone else on the carriage should hear it too.

totally agree Rhinestone Cowboy. Are you a pedestrian or a vehicle?! It really annoys me.

you're very welcome moss - i think that using Professor Higgins' library is a template is a grand idea. Perfect. WHW can of course be in the corner eating tea cakes as long as we can also eat them when we want to. yes that would be my concern that you could bring in chunks of essays etc. it would all have to be monitored, i guess in the same way that calculators are - in some of my maths exams, they'd re-set everyone's calculator before you sat down. i guess they could do that, as long as it didnt delete all the books! but then it would also delete some valuable notes which should be allowed in the exam. hmm think would be very difficult to monitor.

more than welcome moos. bring your books and we can fill the library up even more quickly i can see how it might (prob will) catch on with kids and people who are studying maybe. but how would it work for exams etc? we were allwoed to take our books in for some english lit exams. how would 'they' be able to monitor what has been added to the book in the form on annotations (if you are able to annotate, i'm not even sure).

i love books and love seeing all my books on shelves. i cant give away my books and like the fact that they're all part of me so to speak. I also look at other people's bookshelves when i'm round, i always do it! it tells you a lot about a person! i accept that they take a lot of space, but one day hopefully i'll have a whole room or two with wall to wall floor to ceiling bookshelves and then i can go read in my library in a lovely comfy chair under a beautiful lamp with a cup of tea or a gin. i'm not going to get that if i start reading books electronically! so not for me

Of course Walworth road is dodgy! Which 'muppet' doesn't think it is?! Are you seriously saying that you'd be more than happy to walk around there, of an evening? rather than rushing through it on the bus and not getting off?? Not to mention the recent shooting just a couple of weeks ago in the Costcutter on the Walworth Road. I know it happens in other places in London too but still... I used to live near the Bricklayers Arms roundabout and this meant that i would find myself on the Walworth Road - for M&S, or a particular shop that i needed. It most certainly was dodgy. It's one of the worst parts of London for me. I go through it on the bus sometimes and every single time i do, it just confirms it to me.

Agree with most of the names suggested here -the palmerston (defo prefer the back room too), franklins and rosendale for local ones, along with Babur and Caravaggio's. Definitely chez bruce for somewhere outside of the area -one of my favourite restaurants. Another one I like is Trinity in Clapham. Really lovely and very well priced. would highly recommend.

http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2008/08/19/detective-work-by-juror-halts-death-trial-61634-21556524/

a house on our street was sold within about 3 weeks of the board going up which i was pretty impressed with. am keen to see what price it went for when it finally comes up on houseprice.co.uk

that was a great post on parenthood. loved it. and who wears tights that aren't sparkly?!

execution only services are for people who want to manage their own investments. ie say i'm massively wealthy and have a good understanding of the financial markets. so my advisor (at a private bank - ie barclays wealth) will be the one i call to say buy this or sell that, or i want to do this etc. they arent providing me with advice as i know what i'm doing. they are literally there to execute the services that i require. as far as i'm aware advisory services are for those who arent as financially savvy - so would require a bit more explanation etc. so the advisor is the one who is giving advice to the client and then the client can choose what they want to do.

havent been in there yet but this will definitely tempt me. LOVE Jimmy Choo