Grotty

Been trying to sell our house but failing in this rubbish housing market despite significantly dropping the price. Very time pressured due to plans to move abroad and jobs/school places starting very soon. A friend mentioned Nested yesterday. I had never heard of them before but after doing some research they seem to be exactly the kind of company we need, despite the financial hit we may take. Just wondered if anyone had any experience of them or any opinions of them they would be willing to share - good or bad! Thank you

Adam spent today in our garden completely clearing it after we had abandoned it for a couple of years, tidying, re-organising the beds and preparing it for new planting which he is coming back to do. I have to say it's been a pleasure having him work here. He has been very approachable and friendly, very trustworthy, honest and reliable and we are really pleased with how much he got down today and how quickly he turned a disaster zone into a pretty garden with lots of potential. And all at a very reasonable rate. I thoroughly recommend!!!

Thanks Etta - It's slightly complicated in that I work for the NHS. OMP is based on continuous service in NHS whereas SMP is based on the actual hospital trust you work for. As a junior doctor I move hospitals every 6-12 months so never somewhere for more than a year. My due date Was 11/05/17. I stopped working for trust A on 2/2/17 AFTER my "qualifying week". I had worked there for 51 weeks . I then started in a new trust. The new trust has to pay my ONP as I have been working for the NHS. For 9 years. But I was not eligible for SMP. I then applied to Dept for work and Pensions for maternity allowance but they said I wasn't eligible for that as I had worked at Trust A for over 26 weeks and was there during mumy "qualifying" week. I then contacted trust A who said I was eligible for SMP from them and they are sending me a back payment to cover the 2 months pay I missed which includes the 6 weeks at 90%. Sobhabjng already received my 2 months full pay in OMP I am getting almost double. Payroll said that's fine and weren't interested when I queried this. Still nervous I am going to get a big bill months down the line....

Can I ask quick advice about Maternity Pay. To confuse my situation I changed jobs in February so my previous employer pays my SMP (90% for 6 weeks then the standard rate for 33 weeks) and my current employer pays my OMP (full pay for 2 months then half pay for 6 months). Question is: Am I really eligible for both at the same time??? That means that for the first 6 weeks I am almost on double pay. Surely that's wrong. I rang payroll and they said it is definitely correct but I can't believe this is true. Obviously it would be great if it is but I'm worried about accepting it then getting a bill at a later stage when they decide it was an error. If it is wrong who should be paying me less??? Thank you!!!

we had this issue with number 2 and after trying every bit of advice going, after 2 months of trying (at 5 months old) we played hardball. She woke up one morning and was only offered the bottle (!). She refused feed number one, took a drop of feed number 2, another drop 3 hours later, and then on feed number 4 early/mid afternoon she wolfed down the whole thing and some (from a NUK bottle). Next feed again she took the whole thing. I was expressing through the day. Next morning first feed was bottle and then after that she was happy with either bottle or boob. It wasn't fun, but problem solved in a very short space of time!

We had a police chase around our road yesterday afternoon (Lyndhurst Grove/Lyndhurst Way) at about 3pm - 4 guys on 2 scooters - similar description to the original post. They did have helmets on and a police van was speeding after them. Sadly they seemed to lose them pretty quickly but the helicopter was out shortly after. No idea what happened but I wonder if it was the same guys...

There are 3 issues on Lyndhurst Grove 1) Parking - hugely affected by The Villa School and Nursery - many parents drive and leave cars there and then walk to either Peckham Rye/Denmark Hill - I know this from being a parent there myself and from living on the road. At the weekends there are huge numbers of empty spaces. If I use the car midweek, when I return I regularly spend 10-30 minutes (no exaggeration) looking for spaces and often have to park 10 minutes walk away. CPZ would made a big difference to this. 2) Traffic - It is a rat run, with people trying to avoid the often awful traffic on Peckham Hill Street, made worse by the closure of Camberwell Grove. CPZ or double yellow lines on one side will have no impact on this at all. The only thing that will help with traffic is the re-opening of Camberwell Grove. 3) Blockage of the road and Antisocial behaviour as a result of the narrow section between Talfourd and Denman Roads - I have recently been at home midweek more than usual and can say that on average 2-3 times a day you will get 2 cars entering the narrow section at the same time, refusing to budge, horns blazing, swearing and very aggressive behaviour. It also means through traffic is blocked for however long it takes for someone to back down - anything from a couple of mins to half an hour! Also, with the increased use of the road, you can get traffic stuck in this narrow section, causing a jam coming the other way. Double yellow lines on one side will solve this problem, but of course will mean the road is more appealing to rat run users and may increase traffic. If double yellow lines are put in, then a CPZ will be necessary more than before as we will lose parking spaces on an already overused stretch of road.

Bopster - we are also on Lyndhurst Grove. The biggest problem on the road is the section between Talfourd Rd and Denman Rd where there is only space for one car, so you frequently get queues at each end with cars waiting to go up and down. Add to this impatient drivers moving through the section at the same time with resultant, often heated, arguments, it can be very noisy and quite painful! This has always been a problem, but the volume of traffic since Camberwell Grove closed has definitely increased and made the whole situation worse. There is discussion of CPZ/parking on one side only in this section which will make the flow of traffic much better, but the opening of Camberwell Grove will likely make the biggest difference.

Thank you everyone. I will look into all of that.

My lovely Granny is sadly very unwell. We have found 80 old cine films of hers that she took of our family from the 70's and 80's, which I remember watching as kids, but we no longer have a way of watching them. We really want to convert them to digital format. Does anyone know of anyone or any where that does this? Thank you, Lucy

I'm after some top tips tips for managing the anxiety of having 3 kids and for dealing with the chaos that brings. Having deliberated for years on whether we should go for number 3, I am now happily 5 months pregnant and in many ways ridiculously excited about no.3 coming along. My eldest 2 are 5 and 6 and both at school, so middle of the day is going to me and baby alone, which is great, BUT its a)mornings - getting ready for school and b) afternoon/evenings - doing school pick up/coping with tired kids/managing bedtime that slightly scares me. Also, want to make sure I am mentally prepared for the craziness of lots of mouths to feed/kids to clothe/bodies and clothes to wash/mess to tidy up. Does anyone have any insight into the world of 3 or sage advice on how best to approach it?

Buying bulk on amazon is a lot cheaper than any supermarket. Eg. pampers at Sainsburys ?7 for 39, Amazon ?10 for 114. Same massive discounts for wet wipes. I know Amazon has its faults but when it comes to buying nappies/wet wipes the savings are so huge its hard to avoid...

Bunmi not Bummi - that just made me chuckle. She is brilliant though!

lego and other construction stuff: meccano haba marble run magnetic building sets

We just had my daughters birthday at JAGS - a tramplining party with teacher. The kids loved it. They also do a climbing wall party and go-kart party. We also looked into the gymnastics parties held at Camberwell Leisure centre...

I have had the copper IUD for 10 years. Previously I had medium bleeding for 5 days - since getting the coil I have heavy painful periods for 2 days. I also hated the pill and am very sensitive to hormones so wanted to avoid the mirena. Just to say that I have many friends on both types of coil and everyone seems to have different experiences. Whichever one you choose there does tend to be 6 months where everything is rubbish - heavy long bleeding but it usually settles down. Maybe try the copper one first to see if its tolerable for you if you want to avoid any hormones?

Passiflora, where and what time is the Dulwich sports club fireworks held?

We want to take our two young daughters to a big proper fireworks display this year for the first time. Can anyone recommend anywhere preferably fairly locally. Thanks

Camberwell Leisure centre has excellent gymnastic classes apparently but we have been on the waiting list for 3 months and not yet been offered a place...

Happy to lend you ours if you still need one. Its probably more like 3-4 years, but you're welcome to try it?

Which? reviewed them this month. According to Which the Best Buy is nutri ninja as not only does it blend juices/soups/pesto well but also blends ice well, which they say the nutri bullet doesn't. Also, all bits of the ninja are dishwasher safe including the blades, which is not true of the bullet. Ninja is also cheaper.

Also agree nurseries now and nanny/childminder later. It takes a while to work out which nurseries you like and don't like but unfortunately waiting lists around here are long so to stand a chance of getting in to some of them you need to put your childs name down once they are born. Some nurseries don't have registration fee's so I would put names down for them regardless, as you can change your mind later with no consequence. Others do have a registration fee, therefore a good idea to get a sense of what you feel for them now so you have a bit of time to think it through.

Sadly I live outside any of the proposed catchments for the new school, but my children go to one of the local schools where children will benefit. I also agree with Redjam and Soulking. As the crow flies is fair and transparent. Everyone knows where they stand and kids living closest to the school get priority. I think it IS important that kids go to a local school. Unfortunately, the current situation means that isn't possible, but the whole point of a new school is to make this a reality for more and more local families. It cannot be assumed that all children in the SE22 postcode will get a place, or that they should have preference over SE15/SE5. Even with a 1km catchment, kids within the main heat spot of ED will get places, but families in the southern tip of the SE22 postcode can't assume a place will be offered to them. All parents in proximity of the Dulwich Hospital site were promised the school as another option for their children. Roads on the North side of Goose Green school are East Dulwich and are SE15 and they are practically on the doorstop of the new school site. They were also canvassed by the 2 groups and encouraged to support. Please can we stop talking about the school being aimed at SE22.

why don't you contact him - there is a "contact michael" button at the bottom of his website

Camberwell: FM Mangal, Silk Road, Camberwell Arms, Crooked Well (both of the last 2 do amazing cocktails) Peckham: Artusi, Refreshment Rooms, Ganapati (all preceeded by or followed by drinks at Montpelier). I also second Il Giardino. East Dulwich - Franklins, the French place opposite the Co-op, Toast-ed