amydown

I would recommend a private test. I saw a consultant last week for a suspected cat allergy and having discussed things with me for good 20-minutes, she tested me for about 20 things, including common food items. When my little one was young, we saw a Paediatric Allegy consultant and again, it was great to go through all the history of events with him and doing a comprehensive test without feeling rushed. Well worth it. Pls feel free to PM.

Hi Jenny We suspected cat allergy with our first and decided to go private for a test as NHS appointment would have taken months. We had forgotten to add him onto insurance so just bit the bullet and saw a consultant on Harley Street at London Allergy Clinic. Very quick app although wasn't cheap! We saw a consultant from St Mary's Hospital and our little one was diagnosed with dust mite allergy and potato intolerance. He then wrote to Kings for follow up tests etc through NHS route. I would definitely recommend as he did a prick test there and then and the result was instant.

Hi We had a referral and had it done at the private wing of King's. BUPA paid for this.

If you like Plain English, check out Neptune. We had Howdens in our previous project and although I was very happy with them, once I had my heart set on Plain English look, there was no going back! Plain English too expensive of course and we went to see Neptune kitchen at Woods of London in Blackeath or KitStone in Wandsworth - excellent quality kitchen and you can really feel it but not nearly as expensive as PE. We have ordered them but not fitted yet. Will report back when fitted.

Looking to install a CCTV in our house. Nothing too fancy but we do want something reliable. Would be grateful for recommendations. Many thanks

We are currently in a chain for our property sale/ purchase and urgently need someone that can do a timber and damp survey over the weekend or Mon in East Dulwich. If you can help, please drop me a PM. Help much appreciated!

It contains a baby-related item so I thought worth posting here too. A man left it on the 176 bus this afternoon. I think he must have got off the bus between Denmark Hill and East Dulwich. We went to hand it in at ED police station but it's shut. Will try and take it to Peckham station but if you think this belongs to you, please send me a PM.

We had the P&T Promenade which was brilliant. Both seats to flat and up right so really flexible. We used ours for a long time until recently. Just sold it in the forum but we bought ours from Peppermint store in Claphma, I'm sure you can try it in the shop.

Are your specifically looking for a self catering? We stayed at Byfords of Holt last year in the big family room and it was fab. Holt is beautiful and was very child freindly. There is a steam rail way nearby (ant remember name but happy to look up) and also by close to beaches, etc. The hotel itself was really nice and well geared up for kids too.

Lee Francis at Francis Stone has been absolutely fantastic. We remortgaged through him a few months ago and then currently trying to port the mortgage. I've worked with a few mortgage advisors in the past and Lee has been by far the best. Efficient and responsive - contac details below: Lee Francis Direct 0207 6547971 Mobile 07971 558397 Office 0207 6547975

We just had our offer accepted on a house and would like a structural survey done. It's an old property that needs quite a bit of work so looking for recommendations from the forum. Any guidance much appreciated!

Same old story but looking to move to Crystal Palace for the easier commute to Canary Wharf and more space. Has anyone done this move recently? If so, could you share your thoughts on safety, how child friendly it is, reliability of transport, etc? Also, any recommendations for particular roads/ areas much appreciated.

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Thank you so much everyone. It's really helpful. The reason I want to serve notice now and make it effective in 3 weeks is so that I can appoint someone else rather than wait for another 9 weeks of inactive marketing by the current agency. Tommy1000, that's a valid point about the intention of the parties. There was no mention of the term being 12 weeks without break option and when we had the valuation done, some of the other agents were offering 2-week rolling contract. I would therefore not have signed up to this if I thought the 3-week notice could only be served after the minimum period. In hindsight, I should have clarified this before signing up. The agency has two directors and the one I signed up with is currently away on other commitments. The other director said I should speak to him directly and is refusing to answer my request for clarification, further adding to my frustration. It has been enormously valuable to have all your thoughts and views.

The contract is completely silent about what happens after the minimum 12 week period ends and I had therefore assumed that (rightly or wrongly) it will be on a rolling basis after the 12 week period on a sole agency basis and that if we go multiple agency for instance, it's a case of notifying them without the requirement of a notice period. Silveffox's point is interesting regarding signing them up and then serving notice the day after, effectively making it a 3-week contract and in fact, this is how I understood it to be. I.e. from agency's point of view, they at least have 3 week period of guaranteed sole agency during that minimum period, unlike after the minimum period where they can lose the "sole agency" status upon notification. If one could only serve the 3-week notice to end the contract on the anniversary of the minimum period itself, what is the meaning of "three weeks written notice may be given at any point"?

Thank you very much both.

Just wondering if wise forumites can give me some advice. We signed up with an estate agent to sell our house recently. I'm not entirely satisfied and therefore want to change to a different agent. The contract we signed with the current agency has a minimum sole agency period of 12 weeks. However, Clause 1 of the contract states that "During the minimum period of the contract between us three weeks written notice may be given at any point". I therefore understood that to mean that within the 12 week minimum sole agency period, we can end it by giving 3 weeks notice. The agency is saying that you can only serve this 3 week notice once the minimum period has ended. Their argument is not consistent with the clause at all but they are not budging. They are saying that we are disputing the contract term but I don't think there is anything to dispute - am I being thick here somehow? Doesn't that sentence mean that we can serve notice DURING the minimum period?!? Thoughts and advice much appreciated.

How about looking at company-sponsored schemes if she has an idea of what career she might want to go into? For instance, our company has a school leaver programme whereby the company pays for univ fees as well as a salary. Obviously it's quite a big commitment but financially and job-prospects wise, it seems to make sense to many students. I think quite a few large organisations run similar schemes.

Try Terry Malone (search on the forum). Terry is a professional carpenter and has done quite a few things for us. Most recently, he laid our son's floorboards (on top of existing) and we are very happy with his work. He is a pleasure to deal with and really professional.

Thank you for all the feedback. Interesting to read your post cd123. We have appointed Spencer Kennedy from a shortlist of Haart, SK and Winkworth. So far, they have been extremely efficient and pleasant to deal with. Fingers crossed! My second choice was also Haart - William was really professional and proactive.

We have one bedroom and an en suite in our loft. We did have concerns about losing storage space but had storage cupboards built under the eaves (dead space) and it created a lot of storage without losing usable space in the bedroom. Also, when we emptied the loft, we realised how much crap we were holding onto unnecessarily!

devsdev Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1. Would you recommend going through an agency or > advertising on the forum (we live in Honor Oak > Park) for a nanny? We found our wonderful nanny through the forum. I don't see much value in what an agency can offer in this market - lots of nannies looking for jobs privately so no shortage of candidates. It's easy to get paper works done (eg CRB checks) and I'm too much of a control freak to leave it to an agency! Plus they are very expensive of course. > 2. What are the key things you would recommend > looking for in a nanny in terms of personality, > experience, approach etc.? Experience is obviously important, circumstances if previous jobs ending, etc. Also chat about views on routine vs. baby-led, what sort of activities the nanny would plan to do, any relevant education or qualification, views on TV. > 3. What are the things I can ask her (or him) to > do apart from child care - would cooking for my LO > etc. be things I can ask about at least? I think this depends on pay and circumstances but all the nannies I know do the cooking for the kids, and our nanny also does the kids' laundry. Some nannies also have the kids bathed before mum and dad are home (I personally like bath time so not something we have talked about). Our nanny also dresses the kids in the morning. > 4. What is a reasonable salary for a live-out > nanny working about 11 hours a day (I think 8:30 > to 7:30 would be what we would like, though we'd > hopefully often be home sooner)? You can PM me on > this if you prefer! Will PM you. > 5. Apart from following up on references, do you > also expect other qualifications? Depends what you want. I think a lot of nannies have relevant NVQs etc. Our nanny is Montessori qualified for instance. > > 6. Is there a website/service where you can get > contracts, information on the legal obligations > and statutory requirements etc. if we didn't go > through an agency? Simply childcare was really helpful when we were setting up a contract etc. we use Nanny PAYE for payroll and tax and they are always really helpful in giving you advice on legal matters. > 7. Anything else that I've not thought about at > all?! > > Any advice, thoughts, experiences etc. are very > gratefully received. > > thank you! > Dev

We had a terrible time in the rainforest cafe. Bad service and awful food (really truly awful microwave stuff). When you pay over ?15 for a burger, the food has to be ok-ish at least, right? Not the case! Also, we went a Monday lunchtime and the toilet was really dirty. The baby changing area had a couple of overflowing nappy bins..... There is definitely a bit of a novelty factor so as a one-off, it might be fun though. Just manage expectations on food and service front! How about an afternoon tea somewhere in town? (langham very nice, Hyatt very child friendly)

Just resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has recent updates. We are thinking of selling our house and finding it hard to choose between Winkworth, Haart and Spencer Kennedy. There appears to be quite a bit of positive feedback on Winkworth and Haart but not much on Spencer Kennedy. I think Spencer Kennedy had not really been in the ED circuit until recently. Feedback as a buyer and a seller gratefully received.

A nanny share might be a good option indeed. Will try and respond to your questions later when not on the phone.