Moos

That's really marvellous news - and thanks for thinking to let everyone know: clear from the responses that lots of us were keeling fingers crossed for you.

I just feel so so sorry for whomever loses after this titanic effort.

So.. you're a nanny currently looking for work, but you disapprove of working mothers and think that they 'easily abandon' their children and don't love them? Or really want them? Next!

I can tell the score is 1-0 at the moment from my desk without having looked at a screen.

Thanks so much for all the friendly messages and PMs - much appreciated. It's really good to hear your feedback. Will follow up with everyone by PM or email in the next week or so. Hope to meet you all soon over the swings!

it's all gone very quiet... is everyone busy working hard this afternoon?

A hike on VAT is fairer than a hike in income tax, surely? At least you have the choice of what to spend your money on, rather than having it taken away at source.

My son and his friends must be particularly clumsy, as they seemed to be knocking their heads on fireplace corners and coffee tables for a good year!

Thanks Barry - explanation much appreciated. BTW, the clock on platform 1 at ED is still not working - it does give the train times but not the current time. Could you please kindly have a check?

Lots of good advice here. We did invest in stairgates, as our stairs are quite narrow and steep. Not so important at the crawling age, but once our son started to run around we had a few hair-raising near misses with over-excited cavorting about near the top of the stairs. Also, if you have any especially sharp corners I think that the stick-on corner pads are a good idea. New walkers are always falling over, and it's not like teaching them about dangerous things - it's just a fact of toddlerhood. A corner-padder can turn a fall from a cut to a kiss-it-better. I wouldn't bother with ordinary table corners and so on but we have a marble fireplace surround with particularly wicked sharp edges and kids' heads seemed magnetically attracted to them.

The taxes side of the budget reads as reasonable to me. I would like to find out more about the budget cutting side and the impact on unemployment, as that is more of a worry. Good to see NHS and overseas aid protected - but as Mick Mac says, schools may well lose out.

Officially, we aren't doing anything. But as most of the partners are away, we have beers in the fridge and about 4 TVs ("for the news") I venture to think the office will be quite relaxed come 3pm.

Sheet sleeping bags are ACE. Annoyingly expensive d for what they are, but very good. Blackout blind, or several, or as someone has suggested on here binbags and sticky tape! Hotels and holiday apartments seem to specialise in thin white curtains and getting up at dawn every day is no fun. Small rucksack coolbag for yomping lunch or drinks about a baby backpack with a sunshade / raincover hood - ours is from bushbaby, and we have been extremely glad of both covers! Oh, and a nice bloke to carry the heavy child around... :-) a corkscrew! and a small folding knife (Opinel) for picnics. Sigh... want to go on holiday.

Fans are a good idea if the buzzing doesn't disturb your child. Or you could try putting it on for the hour before bedtime to cool down the room. Also, if it's hot but noisy outside we sometimes leave the window shut but once Moosling is asleep open his bedroom door, so he gets the benefit of circulation within the house. Seems to help quite a lot.

3 yo in short-sleeve T shirt, light PJ bottoms and sheet sleeping bag - these last the best summer-sleeping discovery ever. Hope the heat rash dies away soon, your Grace - I'm sure little Lady Dulwich will be fine in no time.

Hi My 3 yo son will be starting at this nursery part-time soon, and I wondered whether any family room posters send their kids there, and have any good tips on settling in, or how things work there? We are transitioning from a nanny-share to nursery, so it's quite a change in childcare arrangements. I know he's going to miss his nanny very much and together with some other changes in the family I think the next few months will be a bit challenging for him. Even better if any Bright Horizons parents would be willing to meet for a playdate, that would be marvellous. I'd love for him to have the chance to meet some of his future playmates in advance so that there will be some familiar faces when he starts. He is a sociable and sweet-natured little boy, so hopefully would be a nice friend to have.

You don't need to touch in unless you're using PAYG, so you should be fine, KK. Although to my amusement I've seen people glaring at me as I get on the bendy buses and don't touch in, I think not everyone is clear on that. I'd guess that if you have your receipt with you if you have forgotten your card then that's good evidence that you do have a card, and they might let you off the fine. Of course you would still have to buy the daily travelcard to get around and get home, which you can also claim back.

Yes, I am going to do that and I hope get my daily travelcard reimbursed as well - do you happen to know if they make an admin charge?

...if you're absent-minded, that is. I forgot to bring my travelcard with me this am and got fined at London Bridge - a fair cop, but the guy told me that if I'd bought my travelcard at the station they'd have been able to check that it is valid and hence avoid the fine. I usually buy from the nice guy that runs the newsagent on the corner of Derwent Grove, as the queues are always quite big at ED, but I guess I can always buy the evening before. Or of course just check whether I have my travelcard with me before I leave the house.. duh.

I am told with all the authority of some website I found in 2 seconds of googling that it means that the yoof is showing that he's not wearing his prison ankle bracelet. LB, you're on fine form - still giggling at your last posts.

Welcome. Plenty of Peckhamites on here, too.

Left leg = definitely masons. Or American gang members, according to the internet..

So... in other words, you would get the NHS you can pay for? Convenient appointment times for the wealthy, the rest for the rest. A Cabinet Ministry awaits.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > *Same as with demonically possessed people and > those with multiple personality disorder and we > already charge them double don?t we? They generally get an entire carriage.

Masonic meeting, although disgracefully unsubtle. Secret societies these days, tch. Were they wearing or carrying aprons?