Honoroaky

Yes, saw it on Sunday and both 6 and 3 year olds enjoyed it! The snake is very funny...!

We moved from ED to between crofton park and ladywell (trains into Waterloo east and Cannon Street which is very handy) last year and are very happy! We had friends in this area and wanted to be able to cycle into work still, so Sydenham seemed a little too far for us but I'd be tempted to go for more space if that wasn't a consideration!

Stephen Young has also recently completed a total overhaul of our front garden (removing and old patio and dated wall and relaying a limestone path and drive and rebuilding in block and rendering the wall). It looks fantastic and we couldn't be happier with the results. He's a very hard working, honest and his attention to detail is fantastic! Please PM if you would like to see pic of the work - we really recommend him!

After several private messages from classic lofts customers, I've gotten to the bottom of who Mr Rude was!! Seems he is the old boss and after talking to neighbours, that the very long job on our road is actually a personal one for his family... So we'll be seeing much more of him in future. Which makes it all the stranger that he was so horrible. Let's just hope he was just having a bad day and that his parking technique improves...!

In this case, they've been doing a full refurb on two flats, so a bigger job but still not sure why it's taking so long... It is very disruptive along with the other multiple lots of building work on our road lately! Mugglesworth, that link doesn't work but he was white haired, clean shaven and maybe Irish...? I've seen the chap since still using the 'mount the pavement to park' method so he didn't take the slightest bit of notice of my polite request! It's so dangerous to park that way when you can't see if there are children coming along the path due to parked cars. I'll not bother with the police (I'm heavily pregnant so lacking energy!) but I think I'll make a proper complaint to classic lofts.

Yesterday while walking my young children to school, a smartly dressed middle-aged chap pulled up outside a classic lofts development that we have had on our road for the last year or so, mounting the pavement by a good half a metre in his large vehicle. When he got out and walked into the property I said to him that he really shouldn't be mounting the pavement like that when parking (especially as he was too busy looking at the house he was presumably inspecting to have noticed if there were children on the path - which they would have been about 5 seconds later) as it's not safe. He then turned around told me to "F*&k off with myself" and continued to hurl abuse at me in front of my 5 and 2 year olds. Not pleasant at all. I would complain directly to the company, but I think he is actually the boss! I don't think its unreasonable as a pedestrian to expect to be able to walk on the pavement without cars (and vans!) suddenly mounting it rather than parallel parking and given the amounts of comings and goings when building work is being done, there is a much higher chance for incidents with sloppy and rushed driving like this. But I'm not sure what the solution is if you can't even raise the issue without being verbally abused! Anyways, his behaviour was a terrible advert for the company and now I can't wait for them to finally finish up and move on!

Simon turgose at the vale practice is amazing with babies. Took both mine and still go for regular treatments myself!

Simon turgoose at the Vale practice is also excellent with little ones. Have taken both my children to see him post birth and then for sessions as toddlers for other issues. I also see him regularly myself. He's amazing.

We've been going to gymnastics at fairlawn since it started in September and the class at 1pm (preschool for 4 to 5 years) has got much bigger. I'd say around 15/20 children but they split into smaller groups and take it in turns on different activities. There doesn't seem to be too much waiting around and they do warm up and cool down all together. My son loves it!

Top floor flat, young bloke and windows wide open whatever the weather?! Ive noticed it as I passed by. Very annoying if its all the time...

We get at least a couple of bumps to the head texts a week! This week we had a variation on the theme with a knock on the chin text! His legs are black and Blue too! My son is in a reception year of 90 but they do go into the KS1 playground if they want to and I think overcrowding can be an issue. I asked the teachers if it was normal to get so many injuries and she said the boys do play rough so I've been trying to encourage sensible play away from the bigger children. ..

We've had a couple of kebabs from there and they were great! Shame about the giant 'turd lollypop' sign that theyve had installed outside!

So our saga continues! The council maintenance team agreed that the water tanks in our loft were redundant and difficult to maintain and we agreed to pay half the estimated bill of over ?1000 to have them removed. It took just over 4 hours to do this yesterday. Expensive but a means to an end to then be able to purchase the loft space. As soon as the workmen left we had an email from Southwark saying that they have changed their policy and due to estate management system difficulties (even though we are a street property), they have decided not to sell any more loft spaces! Unbelievable when we had been led to believe that this was the way through. Is anyone else attempting this at the moment or managed it recently? The team dealing with it claim they haven't sold a loft space for ages and ages.

Forest hill rd group practice is brilliant. No complaints at all and can always see a doc or nurse the same dsy if needed.

For us I had to go down to one feed a day before I fell pregnant again. By that time my son was 21 months. I carried on feeding at bedtime for another few months (ouchie!) Until he self weaned just around 25 months. Currently feeding baby girl who's 19 months about 5/6 times a day so I don't think there's any danger of a baby #3 for us yet!

We were in a very similar position and almost moved in a panic to try and get closer to a school catchment. In the end we did just get in to goodrich so I'm very glad we didn't manage it (our flat didn't sell in time). I think each year is very different and with Harris next year the distances will be changing again. I'd be tempted to sit tight unless there are other reasons you want to move. Harris was our back up and by 2015 they'll be moving into their brand new school!

Mr ben, our downstairs neighbour is a council tenant so no way to buy freehold Unfortunately. Peterpepper - can I ask whether you had any issues around water tanks and also roughly how long the process took please?

My son has been in goodrich nursery this year and we've been really impressed at how much he's developed. The nursery staff are very caring and he's really enjoyed it. It's nicely separated from the main school too. One thing about school nurseries is the short session times - some private nurseries do the 15 hours over two full days which might suit you better. Also in his class there are 24 children which he found quite hard to begin with, but has hopefully prepared him well for starting reception in Sept!

How are others getting on with this? We finally heard back from the council today and it's a big fat 'no' with no way to challenge or negotiate apparently... I'm wondering how many people have managed to get through the process.

Well, we have thought very long and hard this weekend and have decided to accept our place at Goodrich over Harris. I'm still sad that we will be missing out on a fabulous opportunity for our child to be part of something quite special and new but for us the logistics of getting to the permanent site when it moves and then onto work will be much trickier for us than Goodrich which is just around the corner. As we're right on the furthest distance, any other year and I don't think we would have got a place at Goodrich this early on, so we are grateful for that. And I'm not concerned about the criticism of the Head - I'll be able to form my own opinion come September I guess! Good luck to everyone who has decided to go for Harris, I'm sure all our children will be happy and settled at good schools by this time next year.

We are in the same lucky position of deciding between harris and goodrich where my son is in nursery (initially we weren't offered any of our 6 preferences but were top of the waiting list and were offered (and as you say automatically accepted as it was our first preference) goodrich the following day. But having met the head of Harris and really liking his attitude I am concerned that I have less of a feel for goodrich, despite going there everyday! I also worry that such a big school might struggle to really respond to pupils as individuals. Any parents happy to share their views would be appreciated!

I emailed Southwark today to find out where we were on the waiting list for our first choice school and they emailed straight back to say that we should have been offered a place there as we are first on the list and another family pulled out a few weeks ago. ..! Slightly confused. Also wondering if we would have known if I hadn't queried! So do check!!

We got St Mary magdalen too and had never heard of it. Certainly didn't visit it along with all others just beyond the nearest 6. The ofsted report from 2009 says it's outstanding but can't find more up to date information. Think we'll probably still go with Harris as it's nearer to us (for now).

Thanks Caroline s, that's good to know. We are happy with the Harris place and think it's a great opportunity for our son to go to a very small school where we can have lots of input. I was just worrying that we had been done over by the system!

Mrs c - we didn't get any of our 6 (nearest) choices either. But we do have a place at the new free school also. I have to say though that I am surprised at some of our friends who have got into our/their first choice school when we didn't. I wonder if Southwark didn't bother trying with the people who they knew would have a Harris place. The letters do make a fuss about all of the reciprocal arrangements. ..