iclaudia

This is the second time I've taken my car for an MOT with Ian at Blenheim Motors and I can't recommend him highly enough. There is no doubting his honest nature, and both times I have been really pleased with the service I received. He has gone above and beyond to make sure that I get the work done that is actually required and kept costs to a minimum. I don't hesitate to recommend him. (He is also non VAT registered so you save money there!)

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a kids disco party. I've read countless posts suggesting the LIttle Disco party, but they're not doing one in December (I'm hoping for a party on 12th or 13th Dec) and I'm also trying not to spend gazillions this year if possible, for around 20-30 kids. Looking for the elusive holy trinity of reasonable cost, low stress, maximum brilliance... ;) All/any suggestions gratefully received..!

Looking for a handyman to do a few jobs urgently (including fitting a cat flap!), also to do some very basic gardening (lawn mowing and tidying) this week/weekend if possible. Please contact me directly if you have availability! ;)

Found somebody now thank you :)

Thanks very much Sean, have sent you an email directly :)

Looking for a nice friendly person to help do some jobs around the house for me this week in SE15. Includes some gardening, clearing out a shed (I am pathetically scared of spiders), doing a tiny bit of painting and general bits and bobs. Any recommendations gratefully received; I know it's a busy time of year. Prob about 1.5 days work.

I went into 999 Beauty yesterday and had a manicure, pedicure, and eyebrow wax... for ?35. Bargain. And they were lovely.

Does anybody have Sem's phone number so I can contact her at all? Will send a PM but hoping to see if she's free this week :)

Thoroughly recommend it, my twins have been there for 18 months. I know it's exasperating re. people telling you to call up, but I had resigned myself to probably not getting a place at all after the manager told me she was reluctant to even take my deposit when we landed back in the country and wanted them to attend ASAP. A few months later I was prompted by someone in the playground to call and remind them, just to see, and I did - half-heartedly. I was shocked to be told that something had just come up and she called me back offering me places to start the following month. People move around a lot in London, I really don't think the wait list is as long as they say once time progresses and the original crew have started. Don't be embarrassed or think it makes you a sharp-elbowed supremo to get in touch every now and then just for an update.

Good point Pickle, although I too am a tumble drier lover... :)

Random futility room thought - WHY do people seem to think it's a good idea to have them in the lowest part of the house? I would say the best ones I've seen have had a utility space upstairs - where clothes are stored in the first place. We're in a 4 storey house and our utility is at the lowest level and carting clothes up and down three flights of stairs is a real pain. Since you have lots of space upstairs, is there any way you can allocate half a bathroom or bedroom and make it a clever little utility area? We almost bought a house with a large bathroom and half of it given over (very elegantly too) to a utility area. It was right next to the master and second bedroom and at the time I wondered why more houses don't have something similar.

The only other thing I can think of then Jesska is to try telling him you will come back in 5 minutes to check on him, can he just lie there for 5 minutes and that you will be back. Obviously you do need to go back if you say that, but at least it turns it into a bit of a 'competition' and all he has to do is make it through those 5 minutes. Poor little sausage. We have this baby monitor that I still put the music on for bedtime and the music lasts 15 minutes - I often say to them if we're having a bad bedtime that they can play for the duration of that music, or if they say they can't sleep I say I'll come back and check on them when the music has finished. Sometimes it takes two plays of the music but it's giving them timeframes in chunks that seem manageable. Best of luck.

It might be that that's a bit late - my twin girls (4 1/4) go to bed at 7-7.30 and they are shattered by that time most usually. What actually happens when you leave the room? Does he get out of bed continuously? I am so with you on needing your evenings to yourself, you must be shattered. I tend to wait next door in my room until I know that they have gone to sleep - the constant up/down the stairs drove me mad. I am also very firm with them. I had a period a few months ago where they just would NOT stay in bed. I invented a toy fairy (courtesy of the pound shop) who would come and leave them a surprise under their pillow in the morning if they were good and didn't get out of bed. Not necessarily the best tactics but it worked - to start with I worried I'd have to do it every day for years :D but after about a week they just forgot about it and had got into a new habit of staying put. Now I put them to bed, put bedtime music on, and sometimes let them read or play with a torch/toy whilst the music is playing. I tell them in advance that when the music stops they have to go to sleep and stop playing - if they don't and won't settle or stay in bed, I get strict and threaten no treats the following day!

Hi there, I went to Peryali villas in September '10 with my twin toddlers. I have to say I had mixed feelings about it - the villas were very small and relatively basic. The kids club was excellent (the best bit about the holiday although we didn't want to leave them in a kids club for that much of the time) with excellent English staff who really cared about the kids. But there were certain things about it that were just lacking - eg. the cafe by the pool was run by a bizarre British couple who thought they were running some sort of exotic greasy spoon - the food was very basic and not very appetising. With young kids I really wanted to have the option of staying by the pool sometimes but it was empty most days - nobody stayed around the pool because the food was terrible. I also found the surrounding area a bit uninspiring and despite managing to find a decent foodie restaurant in the main town a few miles away, most places were pretty average. Had a far superior (and actually I think quite a lot cheaper!) holiday the following summer at Ammos Hotel in Crete!

I came onto this thread to recommend Ammos hotel in Crete and see someone beat me to it! We had a fabulous two week holiday there a couple of years ago. The rooms were lovely, I thought the whole place was excellent value for money, and Chania was surprisingly pretty and cultured when we ventured in. We went with 2 year old twins so it was important to me for a holiday to be as little stress as possible - it's only 1/2 hour cab journey from the airport and the hotel is right on the beach, so you really could chill out.

We've also just found out my twin girls have been offered a place at Lyndhurst for September. I'm very excited, really didn't think we stood a chance on distance although it's a very local school for us - so much so that I didn't even bother to go and look around. I'm feeling extremely fortunate and grateful that we have been offered a local school that was on our list. It has always had a good reputation in the area, or at least for the time I've been living here (10 years now). Looking forward to finding out more in the coming months and getting to know other parents :)

I find it next to impossible to believe that 79% of parents in Southwark attain their first preference. Out of the eight Southwark parents I have spoken to so far about their allocated place, only one received their first choice. I received my second choice and frankly find that a miracle and am delighted. Two of the eight fell into the 6% not allocated one of their six choices and are devastated by the school they have been offered.

Another recommendation for Saied from me. He came to spend a couple of days clearing my jungle of a garden into a semblance of spring loveliness ready for summer. He has done a great job. I found him to be reliable and helpful, with an extremely gentle manner. Looking forward to working with him in the future.

I've had these guys round a few times (Lyndhurst Grove SE15) and have to say I LOATHE it when I open the door and see it's them. I bought from them the first time, and afterwards thought it may have been a 'scam' in the sense that they weren't *really* part of a big scheme to help unemployed people get back to work blah blah. My guy's sales pitch included telling me things like if he sold just one eensy weensy more item then he'd win a prize of something to do with meeting Jamie Oliver (??). The last time they were round I was on my own with two small children, trying to give them dinner. When I said 'thanks but no thanks, am in the middle of feeding my twin toddlers' and smiled at him, he swore at me and accused me of laughing at him. We had a slight argument at the door as I just couldn't believe how aggressive he became when I said no and I have to say that afterwards I felt a bit vulnerable. I am not the wussy kind but opening your door to someone who goes on to verbally abuse you, and who happens to be a 6 foot something big bloke claiming to be homeless and/or unemployed... not exactly what one wants of a Tuesday evening, is it?

Hi there, not sure if I got this completely wrong but I went down to All Saints this morning and as far as I could tell the place was deserted. Have just moved into the area with 2 yr old twins and very keen to get them into some regular activities. I'll take a look at the EDTots site but are there any good old favourites that would suit toddlers of that age? Thanks in advance!

Congrats on expecting twins :) I bf mine for 6 months, never thought I'd manage it and probably spent more time Googling about that during pregnancy than anything else (well, maybe double buggies...). I was lucky in that I gave birth to mine in Switzerland where the care and breastfeeding support is excellent. I can't recommend enough making sure you have easy access to someone who is expert and gently encouraging. In hospital I felt a bit bullied by all the nurses to get the hang of tandem feeding - found it a nightmare to start with although got to grips with it at home and that's what worked for me, for the first few months at least. We used bottles from the start too and never had a problem with nipple confusion - not sure if I was lucky there but it did mean I never had to go through what is often an excruciating period where they won't take a bottle and you're trying to either cut down or stop breastfeeding. I also pumped from the start using a pump rented from the hospital - found anything other than a high-grade one utterly useless.

I've been doing a search on this forum on the subject of esph and I have been quite disturbed by how many people have dismissed it because of the price. Having moved here from SW London, I'm probably one of the irritating poshos that several people like to smugly refer to when dismissing new ventures like this in ED. I've now lived here for 3 years and was overjoyed to finally have a decent gym open up - at *shock* yes, it's true - competitive prices for the service. I have been a member of Holmes Place gyms (now Virgin Active), on and off, for over ten years. At the end I was paying ?81 a month to be a member of Virgin Active on the Strand. Since moving here I've definitely bemoaned the lack of a decent place to go and work out - at the very least, somewhere where you don't have to turn up with a towel, toiletries, and a pair of flip flops to prevent you from getting a hairball of unknown provenance stuck between your toes when you're in the shower. I've joined JAGS and thought the gym was laughable, with a school-age and disinterested "trainer" to show you around. Great pool but ridiculously archaic service levels and not really geared towards the customer at all. I joined Fusion - better gym but trainers with pretty basic knowledge. The person who inducted me gave me nutritional advice which included such gems as "try having brown bread instead of white" (oh yes - I must write that one down!). Terrible changing facilities which I always dreaded using. Unless it has escaped my notice that we live in a communist state, it is entirely justifiable for certain businesses to exist that *again, SHOCK!* not everyone can afford to make use of. While I can afford to pay circa ?80 a month for gym membership, I certainly can't afford to have 1-to-1 pilates lessons. But it doesn't bother me that other people CAN afford to do that. I don't get all huffy and insist that those lessons shouldn't be offered. There are cheaper options in the area if you want to join a gym - and may I politely suggest that those people who have delighted in criticising ESPH do just that. You should all be grateful that a local business is staying in the area - and that ED hasn't had to endure yet another utterly soulless Virgin Active, which would be more expensive again than the local Fusion, but (in my experience) not be buzzing with highly-qualified and motivated staff either. A note to ESPH - I went to look around your LL premises yesterday - and despite being a regular at Franklin's didn't even know you existed until then! I was extremely impressed with the services you offer and will be joining just as soon as I can disentangle myself from my Fusion membership. I was paying ?40 a month for that, and never enjoyed going there (see aforementioned hairball sentence). One question - on the forum it says there is a 10% discount for members - is that a 10% discount for every month that you're a member? When I was there yesterday Rebecca, who showed me around, said that the first month's membership was half-price..? Can't decide which offer is better! Or do both apply?? ;)