rachel9985

We employ a nanny in ED and she has been at home now for 2 weeks as we figured under social distancing she wouldn?t be able to work. We have 2 children under 3 and my husband is now working from home (I am still on maternity leave thankfully). We still have our jobs and so will continue to pay her, although under the government scheme as a PAYE employer I understand we are entitled to furlough her and claim back some wages if we deem this necessary. Speaking to her I have been very surprised at the number of her friends who are nannies who are still continuing to work for either 1 or 2 families under these circumstances! In the same vein I know a lot of neighbours / friends who are continuing to pay e.g. cleaners etc who aren?t able to work for them right now, if they can afford it, as they will be under a lot more pressure financially.

If you encourage foxes they can be a real nuisance; we are having a nightmare with them in our garden most evenings and defecating all over to mark their territory. They can also be aggressive so you have to be careful especially as it gets towards spring / summer if you want to leave patio doors etc open. I would have words now to try to nip it in the bud, perhaps also recruiting your fellow neighbours into the discussion if they share your concerns. Bit odd to do this in such a way that is causing such a mess outside their own property!

I subsequently used Kevin at Moore Flooring to fit some Amtico parquet floor in a new extension, off the back of the recommendation above. Kevin did a great job for us, he was very responsive and helpful from start to finish, flexible with dates and kept us informed of how things were going throughout. His quote was also much more reasonable than other flooring companies, but the standard of work very high. Would recommend.

Another recommendation for Stephen Tozer - he just carpeted most of our house after a renovation project. Very helpful and responsive from start to finish, from recommending carpet to supplying / storing and finally fitting; he was flexible on dates to accommodate our final building works and came back multiple times to sort out issues after the carpet was fitted (which weren?t his fault), even replacing some carpet for us with spare he had leftover when something got spilled as a result of ongoing works... top customer service! Incredibly responsive and nice to deal with throughout - I would thoroughly recommend.

Another recommendation for the Dulwich Handymen. Henry & Ollie did some work on my house, various bits including redecoration, some odd jobs in our bathroom and building furniture. They did a huge amount of work in just 1.5 days and we were very happy with the result. They were both extremely hardworking, polite and left the house looking immaculate once they'd finished. Would definitely recommend and plan to use again!

I do this exact commute, however I travel early so get the first train (6:02 from ED) and then the bus to Moorgate (goes from just outside the station so I find quicker than going underground), but when the trains are cancelled / delayed there are lots of options. I usually hop on whichever bus comes first and do either of the following: - 185 to Oval then Northern Line to Moorgate (this is usually quickest, can take 35 mins) - 176 to Elephant & Castle, then either bus to Moorgate (133) or Northern Line - 40 to London Bridge then change on to one of the many buses which goes to Liv St / Moorgate Admittedly the buses might take longer in rush hour. Coming home during peak times I nearly always go Northern Line to LB then train to ED, if you time it right and no delays this takes 40-45 minutes. I was nervous about moving to the area with the commute but actually there are lots of options and I've been amazed how well connected it is with buses too, other options as those mention above are Thameslink to Denmark Hill / Overground from Shoreditch to Peckham or Forest Hill...

My daughter was born 6 weeks ago and my birthday also fell a couple of weeks afterwards! My husband bought me a beautiful ring which he gave me when she was born and on my actual birthday (when she was 3 weeks old) he arranged for a chef to come to our house and cook us a 3 course meal which was a complete surprise! He chose a menu of my favourite things and bought a nice bottle of wine etc... amazingly our newborn cooperated and slept through the whole meal as well! It was a lovely surprise and I would definitely recommend it as you might not be ready to leave the house alone by that point. He found the chef on http://chefscompliments.co.uk

I'm revisiting this thread as we want to get our Victorian front door refurbished. We have also had a very high quote from the London Door Company so looking for any other recommendations. I have contacted Bespoke Front Door and a couple of others (Cotswood Doors as well as others) but haven't yet heard back. Does anyone else have a recommendation for someone to refurbish the door including e.g. new hardware / locks? Thanks in advance!

Hi. I'm doing the Bump & Baby class in ED at the moment (halfway through) and so far our experience is really good! Very nice instructor and group. My friend did the same one in North London and also highly recommended it.

Thanks all, this has been really helpful! Especially some of those popular names, I would not have realised that they were 'on trend'!!

Thanks Ginster, that's helpful. We had looked at the top lists but looking at the stats it suggests even the top names account for <0.5% of births so didn't know if we should even pay too much attention...! And I guess it can vary massively regionally hence why I thought it might be useful to ask on here. P.s. Not trolling, just after some genuine advice..!!

Hi, I've just found this thread! Im due with my first on 1st September. I have missed the first meet ups but keen to be kept in touch about any more - thanks! Rachel

We are expecting our first child in the summer and we are having a debate about baby names and popularity. Is anyone on here a primary / nursery teacher or able to help us gauge the popularity of some particular names?! If you could PM me that would be great! Thanks