Hillstop

Thames Water clear blockages for free when you've got shared drains with another house, as opposed to at the street level, as who's to say whether your neighbour caused it or you. Otherwise it is supposed to be a chargeable service.

For a birthday party for 4 year olds I'd keep it very simple and serve cheese or jam sandwiches. You never know how fussy an eater they are. You could try egg salad sandwiches or cream cheese & cucumbers but not all kids like them. My non meat eating child won't eat cream cheese, humous, etc.

Other than reading books we've just had the first bit of homework sent home. It was done in under 10 minutes but I had to persuade her to do it to get it out of the way. Her first instinct was to suggest doing it later, once again demonstrating that we're definitely related.

Hope we don't get any more in the week as we often struggle to read every single day. Sometimes she's just too knackered to practice her reading at bedtime.

Do you have a supplier you recommend Apple? We're looking at this at the moment and am a bit scared of the current quotes.

Have a look at this thread for a more detailed update.

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1300123,1300123#msg-1300123

Presume the school wouldn't have known the full extent of the work needed until the detailed scoping work had been carried out. They're not building experts.

I'm interested in getting this for part of our garden. However there are some lime trees behind our house which lean over into the garden. They exclude a sticky sap. Do you think the grass would get all sticky as well? Currently we have stone slabs on the ground.

If you don't want to use a switching site to switch through, use them to carry out a price comparison and then contact the company direct.

Best value will depend on your usage, whether you want a variable or a fixed price contract and whether you're happy to go with a smaller supplier or stick with a better known one. Just make sure you input your annual usage in kilowatt hours into the switching site and not the amount you pay for your monthly direct debit. It will be more accurate that way.

Try Vertbaudet, Ikea, Zara Kids, Ferm Living and Isak.

I've also got a Smafolk one, which is lovely and bright and fantastic quality. I had to get that sent over from Denmark(!)and didn't realise the cost. On the upside, it is nearly 3 years old and still looks brand new.

We live nearby and got pre-warned by the film company and given a list of their daily shooting schedule. It was filmed on Westwood Park, Horniman Drive, Cleeve Hill and I think the Hermitage.

It was interesting watching the filming but it is incredible how long it takes to film a 10 second sequence.

Having just looked at property for sale in N16 & E5, it actually makes prices in ED and the surrounding areas look relatively affordable. Hackney has gone crazy. My favourite was a fixer upper 3 bed terrace off Church Street for ?950k. Unbelievable.

We used Rubadubs and were really happy with it.

Gap, Great Plains (when on sale), Banana Republic, some bits of plain coloured Boden stuff.

I've now decided to get a boiling water tap when we do our kitchen. We're saving up now to do ours.

On the subject of tumble dryers, we got this one recently and I'm loving it. http://www.appliance-reviews.co.uk/p/AEG-Lavatherm-T76485AH-Condenser-Tumble-Dryers-in-White-27528/specification

For those who just replaced a kitchen and didn't do other building work alongside, how long did it take? We'd need to rewire as well. I want to look into shifting our boiler but could try and do that beforehand.

My child also enjoyed Santa at the Horniman. Agree that the present was decent.

My only experience with Santa as a child was in a shopping mall so I don't have high expectations for these things.

We mostly get a lot of 'don't know' when asking what she did that day. The best way for getting specific information is to catch her unawares, such as first thing in the morning.

Overall she's loving school and is eager to go in every day.

Thanks for posting.

You might be close enough for Horniman as it is supposed to bulge in 2014-15. This year it was about 290 metres on distance and had 10 non sibling places. This year Fairlawn was around 350-390 metres pre-bulge - the exact figure should be in the long thread about this year's admissions. It is bulging this year so next year might have additional siblings which will skew the distance.

My understanding is that Horniman was slightly different as they physically couldn't cram another class in without doing renovations. The bulge class got held off a year so they could remodel the school. I've not seen anything that suggests the September 2014 bulge class is optional for the Horniman.

I presume the situation is different for Fairlawn / Kilmorie as there is some space to put the class, even if it does require shifting things about. And Lewisham probably leaned very heavily on them.

Go to Fairlawn. It's free, it's close enough and she'll be able to keep going there even if your financial circumstances change. If you've got more than one child, then they'll get into Fairlawn as well with sibling priority.

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/education/schools/school-admission/applying-to-start-primary-school/Pages/default.aspx

and

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200289/primary_school_admissions

But those will have the last distances for 2012-13 not 2013-14. I'd recommend looking at the long thread as it will have the last distance offered for this year. You have to search but a lot of the distances are in there.

I think it depends if it is a temporary or a permanent move. We moved house right before the school application process and had our eye on a particular school. However we were making the jump from renting to buying and are planning to stay in our house for the long term. Having local kids to play with has been one of the best things about our move.

The best way to find out the distance to schools is to call Lewisham Council. I found all the sites weren't that accurate. The best one was still 45 metres off Lewisham's measurements, which could matter given the size of the current catchments.

Interested as well Growlybear though am assuming this was a couple of years ago. Our daughter is starting reception this year. All our neighbours have kids at Horniman and have all been raving about it.

I used them and found them really easy. We washed every 2-3 days. Nappies were stored in zippered wetbags which took up less space than a nappy bucket and could be flung in the washing machine with the nappies.

I've tried a wide range of brands from Bumgenius, Tots Bots, Itti Bitti, Wee Notions, etc.

Horniman is due to bulge next year so you should be fine. Info is in their March newsletter. WAs supposed to happen this year but got delayed so they could come up with a proper plan.

I've read on another forum that the further distance for Horniman this year was 250 metres. Not sure how far you are Gina but that might help you figure out your likely place on the waiting list.