jennyb123

Second time using Aria's services. He was very helpful over the phone, working out a reasonable solution for a long-standing problem, before Dan came out to do the work. Very good communicator, and a reasonable price what in the end was a straightforward job.

Aria was one of several plumbers I called when there was an emergency repair needed in my rental flat. Although busy that day, he offered to pop over and check it out in the first instance so we had a more realistic idea of the problem. Then was able to do the repair at the end of the day. He kept me informed on the end of the phone, and sent me a detailed breakdown of costs afterwards. Aria asked me (once) to recommend him on EDF afterwards, which I'm happy to do as it was a good service provided.

I own a flat on a nearby council estate. I used to live there, then moved and have had tenants in for the last 6 years. Mostly its been fine. I have good neighbours on my corridor, and I've had good tenants too. It was always a nice place to live when I was there. Re council charges: When I bought the place the seller told me the council had done all the major works he could think of, so I shouldn't be bothered by further major works for a while. However, they do cyclical repairs, I think every 8 years, and that is truly a blank check as they don't know what hidden problems they will find once the scaffolding is up. And they chose the same year (roughly) to refurbish the lift and sort out the drainage problems on the estate. So it was an expensive year. To make it worse, although they bend over backwards to help owner-occupiers with their payments, private landlords are supposed to pay the full whack as the bills roll in (because as we all know landlords are all fatcat millionaires who can fish out a wadge of ?1000 notes from their back pockets whenever asked). Then again, when I called them and explained my situation they allowed me to spread the payments over a year. The normal service charge is usually not too bad. However, one year the final bill was just about double the estimate, and another year I got several hundred pounds back from them! However, if you think about a typical scenario of an old victorian house divvied up into flats, you get a different set of problems - people arguing over what does/doesn't need to be done, nothing being done at all, people not paying their share, neighbours being a nuisance or storing their stuff in communal parts etc. So just like in a council block, you might end up lucky, or you might not. I think my flat has been a reasonable buy, it was well affordable at the time and has risen in value along with every other property in London, though maybe less than a Victorian flat would have. It will always have a bit of a stigma attached as it's a council block and 5 floors high, and that will always be reflected in the buying and selling price. Having said that though I have had 3 sets of tenants and only 3 days' void period in 6 years, so it can't be that bad!

It was a real gastronomic treasure trove in its day, so sad they couldn't keep going. I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Blackbird as an alternative source of delicious bread, quiche, sausage rolls etc. Not a full deli but they are good at what they do. Also the unpreposessing but superb samosas from the cheese shop!

Hi, I had my first at 40 and 2nd at 42. First pregnancy was easy(ish), first birth not great (lots of interventions). Second pregnancy more tiring, second birth a breeze (home birth in birthing pool - highly recommended!). I think you just can't predict what sort of experience you're going to have. Just try and be as healthy and stress-free as possible throughout the deciding/conceiving/pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding stages, and give yourself and baby the best chances! My consultant was full of doom and gloom when I was contemplating a home birth at 42, but the midwives were very supportive (and very smug when it all went - erm - swimmingly!).

sb Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You could combine a utility/laundry room with a > mud/boot room which solves the problem of where > muddy boots/coats/gym kit gets stored too (and > ensures it's not in the kitchen)... We have this arrangement... it's better than having it all in the kitchen so I would definitely say yes to separating kitchen from laundry room (no infiuriating spin cycle while I'm cooking), but combining muddy outdoor footwear and clean clothes in the same (small) room has led to some laundry mishaps!

Further to my first post, six weeks later we are still without our phone-line. I finally have some info from Tiscali who said it was an equipment fault (no really!) and the owners of the equipment (Huwai) have been told to get it sorted. However no timescale was given. Apparently around 100 people are affected by this fault . . . . obviously none are members of this forum :)

Is anyone else having problems with Tiscali. We have been without phone or broadband for nearly 2 weeks. The problem appears to be a crossed line in that someone in Barry Road answers our number. When I spoke to Tiscali support they have said it's a problem affecting over 100 people and they also promised to fix it in 24 - 48 hours. Just intereted to hear if anyone else is in the same boat and whether it's been resolved