Sonners

A friend of the poor lady posted this on Facebook: Hi just forwarding something that happened to a friend this weekend on Saturday in East Dulwich Grove. Please be aware. ?A little warning to all my lovely south London dwelling friends...yesterday afternoon at 4.50pm while waiting for an Uber outside my flat on East Dulwich Grove I was attacked by two men dressed in dark colours on a motorbike. They drove onto the pavement, knocking me to the ground, the pillion got off the bike and tried to taser me. They were not interested in my phone or my bag, they wanted my watch. Luckily passers by came to my aid and other than being very scared I was not seriously hurt. The police told me this was part of a series of attacks by men in their 20?s trying to get people watches, jewellery etc. It was the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight and I had no reason to feel unsafe outside my home. The police said I was a attacked because I was on my own and was well dressed and clearly waiting, which made me an ideal target. Please be aware that this is going on the local area and take lots and lots of care. I don?t want to scare anyone, but I also don?t want anyone to experience what I did yesterday.?

The traffic from Sydenham to the south circular is not great at 8am - I do the opposite route to drop my daughter at school in Sydenham for 8.30am (although leaving from East Dulwich rather than west). When the traffic?s really bad it takes us half an hour to get home but from the Grove to our house is not very far whereas from that junction to the west Dulwich schools might take a bit longer. Is that the route you would take? For me it would probably come down to how well the newborn likes the car! My youngest HATED it until about 10 months so if she?d been tiny when my elder daughter started school I?d have probably taken the bus for our route... thankfully she was okay by 18 months when we started the school run. Afternoon pick up is fine both ways.

Me, 10/01/08 which was the day we moved to ED... I?ve mainly been in the Family Room for the last 5 years though. Love the EDF but am particularly grateful for the amazing friends I?ve made from 2 lots of Winter Babies threads which means I went from knowing no-one in the area to bumping into people all the time (and some good nights out)!

We?ve switched to Norfolk/Suffolk rather than Dorset/Devon since I was pregnant with our second three years ago and it is so nice to have such a shorter distance to go!

Goodrich school nursery is half days, either five mornings or afternoons.

If the weather dries up then you can get the 40/176/185 to Ruskin Park and the playground is a 5-10 minute walk from the main road so might be easier to access than Dulwich Park for you. The Peckham Plex do cinema tickets for ?5 each (so much cheaper than East Dulwich!). Peter Rabbit is currently on. The ceramics cafe by Goose Green is fantastic for that age as mentioned above. My 5 year old likes to pick books from the charity shops as well.

Are animal finger puppets any good or too small? I?ve got some if they are any use. I?ve got a few like new soft toys too.

I had this with a decorative stone I bought as a present. It completely stank of smoke when I opened the envelope, before I?d unwrapped layers of bubble wrap. I didn?t think I?d get anywhere but contacted the buyer who was amazingly apologetic and I sent it back for a refund with no problem. Good luck!

We looked at awnings but it was very expensive and so as an interim measure we bought some ?Blinds in a Box? from Amazon as our garden is west facing and the sun is particularly bad at kid?s teatime in the summer. The blinds have been great! I think it was about ?20 for 4 blinds and they clip up at the top when not in use. We?ve had them for nearly 3 years now...

Try the Health Hub in Herne Hill, we?ve had various private vaccinations there (although not those two).

Could someone please tell me what time the morning nursery sessions are at Goodrich? Is it 8.50am-11.50am?

I?ll PM you - we were in nearly the same position last year...

We pay our nanny through the scheme (she is Ofsted registered). You can also use it for holiday clubs if they are registered. We started using the scheme in April as part of the trial and the whole system is a massive headache, I?ve spent so much time on the phone sorting out problems! But the benefits are good depending on your circumstances and long term we are better off than on childcare vouchers. If you have three children then you can get up to ?6k benefit a year if you fully fund the account for each child. Your income needs to be under ?100k each as you say to qualify. You reconfirm eligibility every three months online. Both parents must work 16+ hours a week.

Jam Circus in Brockley let you hire their back room and provide some soft play items - we did this for a similar number of people/babies for a joint 2nd. For our NCT joint 1st birthday we went to Zedel Brasserie in town which was brilliant - lovely food, very child friendly and a big atrium to tag team letting the babies crawl about once they'd had enough food/sitting still. They let us take a sugar free cake in for the babies too. Easy to get to on the 176.

Sorry to hear about your failed cycle. We had a funded cycle at Kings in 2012 (and were very lucky to be successful) and then did a self-funded (unsuccessful) frozen cycle at Kings a few years later. We chose them for the self-funded cycle partly because we knew them (and our embryos were already there) but also knowing that being local helped with the appointments etc. It was a while ago now but I think that it was much cheaper than the private clinic I looked at in London Bridge when thinking about the self-funded options. If you are going to go to a private clinic then which one is best for you may depend on what your infertility factors and other considerations might be. E.g. ARGC has an excellent reputation for over 40's (but is a very intensive and expensive option). One of my friends used The Women's Clinic and rated them highly. If you aren't on it already then the Infertility Boards on Mumsnet are great for feedback on clinics and specific infertility experiences, as well as being a great support when going through a cycle. Also the HEFA website publishes information about each clinic, including success rates, although those obviously have to be viewed with statistical skepticism. Good luck with the next part of your journey.

My daughter started in Reception in September so I have no experience of the old head but I am very impressed with the school so far. Excellent communication, fantastic pastoral care and it seems a very nurturing school.

I would do a nanny personally, a nanny share might work well to keep the costs down? I think two nurseries could be confusing (and quite full on!). We found our great 2 day a week nanny on the classifieds section here. Facebook groups like SE22 Mums are also good places to advertise.

It's not reclaiming as such but some works can be charged at 5% VAT rather than 20% if certain criteria are met. But the owners ought to have dealt with that at the beginning of the project if the works qualified rather than trying to apply it to invoices retrospectively...

We have received a card for her but she was not one of the family we bought our house from so may be wrong address. Would love to forward on if anyone knows her.

Tiny Gym at Camberwell Leisure Centre and soft play at The Triangle in Crystal Palace are both good for exercising toddlears!

My husband bought me earrings with my and my elder daughter's birthstone in when I had my birthday a couple of weeks after she was born. I love them.

It stretches to at least the corner of Dunstans Road and Goodrich Road for Reception this year as a friend got a waiting list place last Friday. She's turned the place down so it will end up a bit wider than that. I think that the plan of what to do if you live at the edge of the catchment on the ED side of Lordship Lane and then subsequently don't get into Hamlets is quite important!

I've used stick on ones from mynametags for 3 years and they've never peeled off until I've wanted to. Very good! If you're starting school then some PTAs have cash back arrangements with some of the name label companies so worth checking out before buying.

Ann Dobson is excellent. She'll come to your house and snip it there and then. She has assessed both of my babies (one snipped, one not!).

The new SDLT rules have a big impact on passing ownership to minor children (IMO). There is also a loss of control issue if you give the property to the children who could sell it when they turn 18, although this can be partly dealt with by retaining an interest yourself in it. There are protection issues if the child gets married, comes under undue influences or has a bankruptcy once they turn 18. The right time to gift also depends on your personal circumstances, both income tax and inheritance tax wise. Those are also both impacted by whether there will be a mortgage on the rental property. My dad invested money inherited from grandparents in our names to be tax efficient and then used those investments to help us buy our first flats which was less admin for him for 10/15 years with good growth and income. Probably not as much growth as if he'd bought us a flat but also no worries about unlet periods etc.