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

I have been using Shanie and The ManiPediWaxClub for over 2 years now and have always had a fantastic experience - good value (and very high quality) treatments, including nails, facials, massage etc. I have regular appointments for nails and the Neals Yard facials are amazing, and all in the comfort of your own home, but to luxury salon standard. I would recommend Shanie very highly!

I would also like to recommend T&T Gardening! They did a great job tidying up our garden and also putting new fences in. Quick, reasonable and professional, will be having them back again I'm sure. Great job!

For the record our car isn't a Lamborghini...!! But yes have seen it parked around here too. We can claim on insurance but still a few hundred pounds out of pocket, just hope it doesn't happen again.

Our car got keyed really badly last night on Pellatt Road, looks like we were singled out as couldn't see any other cars, really bad damage all 4 panels of the driving side plus the bonnet which means it will >?1000 to fix. So annoying, don't know why someone would do such a thing. Have reported it to the police first thing but please be vigilant!

I would also recommend Shanie and Lara at the Mani Pedi Wax Club - have been seeing them for over 6 months and have never had a bad manicure / pedicure, and they are always reliable and thorough in their treatments. My nails always looks great and last for ages, best gels I've had! And even better I have them done in the comfort of my own home.

hi Helen, I would recommend Dave Franklin and his team; just had them to paint the bay window on the front of our house and they did a great job: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1058320,1178938#msg-1178938 I am also relatively new to ED but found Dave's details on here; I also found a roofer who replaced our bay window roof and also did a fantastic job (Russell Perring of RJP Roofing) and have had good experiences with both. Feel free to PM me if you would like more detail. Rachel

I would also like to recommend Dave Franklin and his team - we had them re-do all the paintwork / rendering on our bay window which was all cracked and peeling including refilling all the stonework which was crumbling. Dave and Pat did a great job - it was all finished in 2 days which was amazingly quick, and they left everything very tidy each day. They also did extra bits like painting the edge of the front door and the base of the house where it was looking a bit shabby. We are really pleased with the finished job and plan to get Dave and his team back to do some more painting when we are ready. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Also very reasonable quote vs others we had and more responsive when I got in touch.

I would second this - we recently had Russell and his team to put a new roof on our bay window - we had to wait a few weeks to get a slot in his diary but once he was here the work was done quickly and to a very high standard, and for a reasonable price - would recommend RJP and would definitely use them again if the need arose.

I took Rabya (thebeautytherapist) up on her introductory offer and would recommend it - very good value for a thorough facial and eyebrow threading, and at your own home so really convenient!