sarahb22

I?ve said it before and I?ll say it again - to anyone who will listen. These guys are the absolute nuts. If only all tradespeople could be like them. They installed a new boiler for us in, I think, December 2016 at very short notice and did a fantastic job (I reviewed them first time back then). Also moved a radiator for us at that time. They have serviced the boiler annually since then and last week, when it conked out, Scott was with us to fix it within a couple of hours of me getting in touch to ask for help! I cannot thank them enough. Professional, punctual, trustworthy. 10/10 from me. Wish they could do all my jobs and not just the heating related ones :)

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I have a couple spare too and was thinking of offering them to the people I've seen sleeping rough on my way into work. They must be freezing :( you've just reminded me thank you

I haven't been to grove vale rhyme time for about a year but in my experience it's a much MUCH smaller group than Dulwich library. I'd say when I went it was max 10 but often fewer than that.

Train to London bridge and then walk or bus or cab to Liverpool Street to catch train?

We went to burge and gunson

John Alan Flowers was selling for ?15 yesterday

What a lovely post Alex. As a parent who really valued your contribution (you always brightened up my day) I was really sorry to find out you weren't coming back - wish I had had chance to say bye. I hope all is well with you.

We used Carmelle Gentle and would recommend. She saw us at 5 days old and assessed and cut same day. Came out at very short notice.

We have a baby jogger city lite and I think it's great. So easy to fold and very compact once folded. Fine for public transport. Really easy to push. Have had it for a couple of years now and still going strong.

Melbourne Grove is good in my view. Not the best but had had worse! Have always got a same day appointment when needed. Receptionists hit and miss but doctors and nurses ok. Dr Love is as lovely as you'd hope and great with kids if you can get him (you can book in advance with him if it's non-urgent).

We are gutted too. Will miss AJ.

I am SE22 and was originally assigned to Ivy Green. Was transferred to Juniper (who were amazing) after I said I wanted a home birth. If you can get Juniper you'll be in great hands but I believe Juniper only deal with home births and women with mental health problems?

Ok, sorry. You said you weren't sure Naxos would be ok with children so I just wondered why. I'd have loved Naxos when I was a kid but good point about the weather cooling down. Not much to do unless it's warm enough to swim in the sea / play on the beach. I guess it depends if you're looking for tourist attractions / water parks etc or just happy to chill out on a beach. If you want hot weather then Cyprus is another option and that has plenty for kids (zoo, water park etc). We went a couple of years ago in October and it was still boiling hot (too hot for me) although I'm not sure that is typical for the time of year.

What are your concerns about Naxos with kids and what are you looking to get out of your holiday? Would they enjoy/do you have time for a bit of island hopping?

I saw some in the garden centre by North Dulwich station today. It's South London honey I think, from memory

I'd like to join the Billy Hunter fanclub! I posted on the forum back in August looking for a recommendation for a boiler person to give a second opinion on the cause / solution for my dodgy boiler. Someone recommended Billy Hunter so I contacted him, amongst various other boiler installers, to get a second opinion / quote. I sent my initial enquiry by email and got a pretty comprehensive email response from him giving me his preliminary views based on the information I'd provided. He then came over to have a good look and gave me clear advice on my options. I ended up choosing him over various others who had quoted - despite it meaning I would have to wait a few months to get a new boiler installed (others had said they could install within a week). In the end, though, I was lucky enough to get a phone call from Billy about 3 weeks before the big day asking if he could come over that afternoon to start the job as he had been let down by a contractor on another job. Obviously I bit his hand off! I have to say I have never come across any tradesmen quite like Billy and his brother (and we have had our fair share doing work at our place in the last 3 years). Not only are they super efficient, punctual, extremely hard working, thorough and courteous, they are also very nice people (and with an interesting taste in music). I will admit to feeling a little bit sad when they finished and left! (and yes, they finished exactly when they said they would, not days later, and left our kitchen cleaner than when they arrived!)

Hi, Our car was badly keyed (Elsie Road) well over a year ago now (we have a pretty bog standard family saloon car so who knows why we were picked on). It also has some small dents that we would like to have seen to at the same time. I made contact with a company called Chips Away to get a quote (can't remember where I got their details - but I think it is a franchise set up). Unfortunately, our local Chips Away person hasn't responded to my enquiries. Can anyone recommend anywhere we could get these repairs done? Ideally a mobile repair outfit but not essential. Thanks Sarah

Can anyone recommend a boiler specialist other than John Powers? I don't have anything against John at all - he has already been over and given me his opinion on what is probably causing the problem with our boiler (dodgy installation by dodgy builders which means it will need to be completely removed and reinstalled). However, he was not 100% and I would like to get a second opinion first. Thanks

Flew home from France recently and, who knows what the baggage handlers were doing with my daughter's buggy, but by the time we got it back it was broken - two screw-type bits had completely disappeared and the handlebar kept falling off as a result. Couldn't get replacement screws from the manufacturer so took the buggy into Shaun's to see if they had anything that would fit. The guys there could not have been more helpful. They spent ages looking for bits that would fit and eventually came up trumps and we left with a fully operational buggy again. Didn't even charge me. So very grateful - thank you!

Thank you both for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. Going with the flow sounds like a sensible approach. I think it's the anticipation and not knowing what to expect (either from the staff, or from my daughter) that's really not helping at the moment - I just want to get the process started so I know how painful (or pain free!) it's actually going to be. You're right, I need to be able to trust the staff but at the moment it's difficult because I just don't know them (at all). Sent an email earlier this week just flagging my concerns and haven't even had so much as an acknowledgement. It's frustrating but I suppose they have better things to do (i.e. look after children) than respond to the ramblings of a neurotic mother! Anyway, perhaps she'll surprise me and be absolutely fine - stranger things have happened.... I may report back, depending on how traumatic it is! Thanks again x

Hi My 2.5 year old will be starting nursery for the first time in a few weeks' time - 2 days a week - and I'm getting increasingly nervous (almost certainly overthinking things but I can't help it). I've tried to make it sound as fun as possible i.e. she'll have lots of new toys / friends to play with and she seemed ok with the idea at first but then said something about looking forward to me watching her play at nursery. Dawned on me that she didn't realise I wasn't going to be there with her.... So since then I bought some books about starting nursery (e.g. Maisie loves nursery, etc) to read with her and I've explained to her that I won't be staying with her (and neither will her dad or grandma) so she has a better idea of what to expect. I've also tried to reassure her that I will definitely be coming back for her (in case she was worried that I'd just leave her and sail off into the sunset). That seemed to work for about a week, and she seemed relatively ok with the idea of going, but she is now saying things (completely out of the blue / out of context) such as "I don't want you to leave me at nursery". So I'm back to worrying again. Has anyone been through this with a child of a similar age? Any tips? We have three settling in sessions. Not sure if I should stay with her for a bit on day 1 or just ignore any tears and leave her. Also not sure if it's better for me to take her or for her dad (or grandma) to go. He thinks he should take her as she's less likely to be clingy with him (and he's less likely to get upset than me!). Any advice appreciated.