eco79

Anyone know of a sloe bush around and about? I'm terrible at spotting them so if anyone has any location hints that would be great.

I gave a lot of my stuff to my midwives who said they always knew people in need of extra.

Talking of milk men and the like, when I was a kid in Liverpool my Dad would, every Christmas, leave a fiver for.... - milkman - postman - bin men - newspaper kid - pop man Does anybody do this anymore? I remember when I got my first flat thinking I should and then not knowing what to do? My paper round would bring in an easy ?30 at Christmas [massive amounts in 1993 when a trip to Anfield and a bag of chips cost ?3.30]. [please note, I'm aware I should probably write postPERSON, milkPERSON etc...but they were all male specifically to us]

There's a lot of people giving pedestrians a bit of stick in this thread. I cycle to work and back daily. However, as a pedestrian on Rye Lane, especially if walking south away from the library, you are focussing on the oncoming traffic. Nothing about the situation suggests you should do a full 180 degree turn to check for bikes because crossing a the one-way road doesn't call for you to look right at all. I'm thankful that the vast majority of cyclists are so cautious and friendly on that section. It needs painting green.

Fuschia I love it! Facts. Thank you. It would appear from table 3 on page 40 that Aptamil 1 and C&G 1 are nutritionally identical. That's ?6 a month in my pocket! I'm sure I can find an 'on offer' bottle of wine for that. I knew the forum would deliver.

Blackpool great-nan [my nan-in-law], knew we were due a boy, but presented us with lemon yellow, baby blue and white knitwear from the days of yore. Blousey, ribbons, matching bonnets and pants...the works! We took pictures of our little man in them, emailed them and then bought her a Debbie Bliss pattern book and a load of nice wool as a thank you....because we know how dear wool is. No more dodgy knits. The more pressing issue is that Blackpool has no baby shop. But it does have a good market and a lot of thrift shops. Some of the clothes we've had bought for us would have caught light from a match a mile away. Pure plastic. I haven't figured out what to do with these yet.

Monkey, I know what you mean about the C&G branding. IT's as if it is speaking to me, saying don't buy me. I have, however, bought it. And my little fella didn't bat an eyelid, which is not how things went with an emergency carton of SMA.

Maybe somebody knows more about this than me.... When our 6 months of breastfeeding ended, I switched to Aptamil formula. I can't tell you why I chose Aptamil. I didn't really think about it. But yesterday I noticed that Cow and Gate is ?1.50 cheaper. It comes in an identical shaped box, is made at the same factory [according to the addresses on packages] and has identical ingredients. Does anybody know why one is cheaper than the other?

A few years back my flatmates and I had a new year resolution to only shop in little shops. We lived in Camberwell and so would buy our meat fortnightly from WR and freeze, fruit and veg from Rye Lane or East Street market etc etc. What tipped us over the edge after 6 months though, was the cost of groceries in our local shops. We had the 'SPAR' on Vestry [it's not a spar but 1980s signage remains], SPAR petrol station on Peckham Road and Payless on Bellenden. Tins of Heinz baked beans priced at ?1.09. Peanut butter, small tubs, yet over ?2. Butter cost the earth. Nice shops, run by friendly folk, but it was impossible to actually use them as grocers. So, ocado for non-perishables. Meat, fish and fruit and veg locally. Recently started using www.kentvegbox.co.uk. They have a half price for three weeks trial on at the moment.

It baffles me how a shiny new school can bring in the punters. Have a look at Deptford Green's website. It's very difficult to find their GCSE results? Or is it just me. Last year they had 48% of students collect 5 A*-C including English and Maths, and this year....I can't find it. This was very much in the lower half of the results of Lewisham schools. In their prospectus they use the mean score of every two years GCSE results in order to deceptively show continual progress, when actually their results have been up and down for the last 8 years. This prospectus also only contains a projected result for 2012, when it's unlikely they were printed before the results came out. Their prospectus lists the last OFSTED as the subject specific OFSTED for Art, in which they got an outstanding. This isn't an OFSTED worth noting. It then glosses over their last whole school OFSTED, without mentioning the grade and directing you to OFSTED report, which points out their satisfactory status. These are the things to look for and the school is making it more difficult than it should be to find this information.

I bought one of these at Boots in Peckham. http://www.boots.com/en/4little1-Baby-Nose-Clear-Nasal-Aspirator_118420/ Revolting and yet strangely satisfying all at the same time. Saline drops ten minutes before to loosen and then suck away.

Just to be clear, there are two DMCs. The branch on Chadwick Road seems [so far] unaffected by being too busy.

DMC on Chadwick Road in Peckham may be a bit far, but they have four permanent female GPs who are all lovely. Dr Chung and Dr Henderson particularly. I've never been kept waiting long for appts, good same day appointments and will try their best to squeeze your kids in if there's a need.

Signed. We were quite lucky in that my son could, technically, breastfeed. But due to the exhaustion it caused him, he never fed for more than 10 minutes at a time, insanely regularly. Hospital kept saying it was fine because he could latch on. I did my 6 months, and I'm so relieved he's now on a bottle. Great petition.

Go to Meat Liquor. Sounds like a terribly dodgy soho joint but is actually the best burgers of your entire life right behind Debenhams! http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/jan/20/london-tourist-sights-restaurants-cafes Took our 7 monmth old and there were plenty of other children.

Busting low batties...

However, give teenagers credit. There's some excellent, well thought out, slang being used. All things rubbish are 'next', as in during an interview, if you're rubbish they would shout next. This translates as 'some next lesson'. 'Onions' was probably my favourite. Why would you call someone 'onions'? Because their face made me cry. It took all my will power to stifle that giggle.

This grated me for a while as well. I teach in a secondary school were 'aks' is standard chat. So then, as explained to me by a parent, it's roots are in the way afro-carribean people learnt English. It was easier to say 'aks' in some particular language transitions and so people did. Now passed down through generations, it's becoming part of speech for all London teenagers.

There's Fusion leisure centre stuff.... http://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/centres/Camberwell_Leisure_Centre/news/001_Free_sports_holiday_programme_in_Southwark Plus, the council run loads of stuff but I'm on maternity leave from being a teacher and haven't seen the usual adverts. They organise it from here though... Bellenden Old School 165 Bellenden Road Peckham London SE15 4DG Fax: 020 7635 2668 So contact them? They also run Duke of Edinburgh all year round from Bellenden Old School. Loads of stuff basically.

From a teachers point of view [a secondary teacher that is...], there are a few ways to encourage homework. I agree with you that homework at 8 is a bit daft, but it's possible that your personal attitude to the homework may be rubbing off on him. Be extremely positive about it. Don't say things like 'I know it's not fun, but you have to'. I'm sure you use reward systems in other aspects, but try it with homework. Try a different tact though, maybe a reward for not complaining about homework and doing it without being asked? Take the focus off the actual homework. In terms of presentation, it's just a bit of a boy thing. But you can encourage neatness by 'judging work', not in terms of academic ability but on how nice it looks. Praise praise praise.

If you're travelling at weekends there's always the ?15 first class upgrade, payable onboard, as there's more space there. You could use it as a last resort if no wheelchair space.

Anthroposophism. Anthropomorphism is giving non-humans, human characteristics. Anthroposophy is an investigation of the spiritual world, aiming to be like scientists as they explore the physical world...........

Much as I don't know much about Steiner schools....you can't put a quote from the school website as evidence that your school is x, y and z. Who decided that students have a reputation for being well-rounded? Who are you quoting?

Dip chunks in flour, then beaten egg, then roll in breadcrumbs and bake. Served with some kind of dipping sauce or in a sandwich with tartare sauce. Mackerel fish finger style....

Wow, I've always used these...http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heavy-Strong-Cupcake-12-Cup/dp/B003YUNNTI/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1342209802&sr=1-3 ...but that re-usable number from ASDA looks a full winner.