dulwichgirl2

One of the more open agents informed me that, while it seems prices are rocketing, actually, only a very few props are changing hands. Ie there are about five buyers around in the entire market. This is fine as there are only around five sellers too, according to him. That all means to say: the purported rises could easily go the other way as it would only take those five buyers to be absorbed elsewhere for there to be zero interest and commensurate price drops. His view not mine necessarily!

Sue, it is but it's a non sequitur...

Many thanks RD. Any other recommendations? (we have a lot of jobs that have accumulated - my husband insists this is normal but everyone else I know seems to crack on with them. Hmmm)

Would anyone advise on a builder who could quote for this, please? I think it is reasonably straightforward and just involves moving things around in quite a small bathroom to accommodate a washing machine too. We also need advice on any approvals we need to apply for so the builder needs to be conversant with building regs. Thank you.

Are you doing this now and, if so, do you have a website? Thank you.

We want to go but are thrilled here are no tickets iyswim.

Pgc, take comfort from interviews with the oldest people in British etc. they never say they ate macro biotically etc. they have all had a fry up a day for 80 years, smoked a bit and enjoyed themselves. Good genes and low stress* seem to do the trick. *actually how can this be? They lived through world wars. Better coping strategies? Pgc, ask your friends to bring some cigarettes back from holiday?

Wow! It worked! THANK YOU, Lowlander and loz.

Hug., legoland is just an example of how expensive days out are for average families. People (NOT us I stress!) seem prepared to pay 100 pounds for a family of five for a day, including lunch and snacks etc. this screams," ridiculous!" to me but maybe my children will be complaining in therapy about me next. Off to find dishwasher manual.

Lowlander and Loz, many thanks, guys/ladies. A friend said the same thing a while back but that he had tried with a similar machine to ours and couldn't change it. To our shame, we took him at his word. I am going to search now for the manual. (you get the picture: a high level of domestic chaos does operate in our small world.) Off to search in a minute. Thank you whatever happens. It was kind of you to bother.

I am not meaning to be facetious so please so not take this the wrong way- what is the meaning of "parents' social capital", please? Is it their involvement and interest in the child or is it the amounts they sometimes have to pay for state schools. (yes I know this sounds wrong but apparently you do have to pay for some state schools.)

Are nurseries allowed not to offer it? I am confused, thanks, as I know many don't.

Unfort I think one needs to go round them all or at least a cross section to get an initial feel. As others have pointed out, it is how the school manages your child that really matters eg if he or she were very artistic, presumably you would be keen to develop that strength. Things like attendance would worry me hugely, although of course the specific issue is not relevant. Attendance issues speak to the nature of the other families, their lack of support for education and general attitude. Teachers time will be wasted on chasing this sort of issue and problem families rather than getting the best out of your child.

Thank you. Theatre monkey has a comprehensive list for normal shows and I am trying to find a club that my mother insists exists run by Ambassadors. It has apparently 25pc off constantly and costs around 20 pounds to join.

Ps I think they take girls too, am I right?!

Oh goodness SW, while I understand the "shakes", simply as a function of something "new", my prediction is that you will arrive early and slightly nervous on day one and be absolutely excited, enthralled and exhilarated by morning coffee. Your problem on day 2 will be massive guilt at enjoying it so much and anger that you didn't do it sooner. By end of week, you will observe that your little one is loving his/ her minimal ration of freedom and the other ch stepping up to their new responsibilities in a way that makes you proud of them. So effectively how exciting! A new chapter begins! Ps could you do the route and go to your day 1 place a few days in advance in order to nail the journey at least? Also the reception would be familiar.

Yes, she was at Wycombe.

That is indeed interesting background, thank you. (actually I need ammunition vs my good fun Wycombe sister in law, infuriatingly at something ridiculous like 98pc, again!)

I was starting to think things weren't so bad, reading all about some deflationary examples (DVD players etc.) when I remembered the eye watering hell that is legoland's ticket policy. Also children's clothes I find very expensive. I don't mind uniforms at all as they get great wear out of them but semi formal/semi casual things I find expensive.

Separately what I really like are very expensive clothes bought in a half price post Christmas sale.... You could give money to the mother for her to do the grunt work after Xmas? I expressly do not want the actual clothes as they are joke prices now.

If you do legoland or many other days out or theatre trips etc., do check back to the fount of all knowledge (forum) and ask for advice re vouchers. For example, legoland is the most expensive day out known to man but you can get Tesco vouchers exchanged by a factor of four for it. Other offers abound. Never pay full price in a cafe rouge or pizza express again, ever!

Would be interested to see a graph from 1970 onwards but thank you very much for this taster. Brandnewguy, that is an extremely good point. I had observed that nothing seemed to last any more but had not connected it indirectly with goods inflation, which it certainly is. My parents fridge (some non existment British make) has lasted 45 years so far and they fully expect it to continue for another indefinite term. I otoh seem to buy white goods annually and my sister has a guy fixing her washing machine under contract street every six months I would estimate. (Bosch) Lastly never buy a Bosch dishwasher. If you set it off at night, it beeps at 3am seeking attention and to announce proudly that it has finished.

Loz, from the thread it seems that flights have gone up massively (zeban's era) and then down again...during my era, 400 quid did it. ????, goodness, yes. Rpi what a concept. What do borrowers actually pay these days though? My understanding is that it is a massive margin over LIBOR in most cases. So, v low base rates have not filtered through I think repeat think. Qed, rpi is actually more accurate than one noting extremrly low rates might think.

Let me add another layer to it... In all of the previous tables I had seen, Jags had come out considerably better than DC and quite a bit better than Alleyns. This fed into my positive prejudice re girls' schools. This year that situation is neutralised and reversed As we are discussing. So, you see, it isn't just a question of comparing two vg schools; it is a more interesting issue of how Alleyns' boys, I presume but am not certain, have improved. It is multifactorial which, Womanofdulwich, I appreciate you might not have realised coming at it cold.

Fuel prices account for some of it but not all. The basic point is that I used not to think about certain purchases but I now do. Part of that is being older and wiser ok but part of it is that things are relatively much dearer. Theatre tx - eye-watering these days, especially if you are taking a band of children...