SLad

Dear Jules, I have nothing constructive to add but just wanted to say the treatment your aunt has received sounds awful and totally lacking in any compassion or decency. I really hope James can guide you to a good resolution. Please do report back as I'm really concerned about your poor Aunt. S

Suki Chung of blissful thinking does great pregnancy massages and comes to your house with all her kit. Otherwise Charlotte of touch therapy at Alleyn Road is brilliant.

My mum had a boob job in the mid 1990s after 5 kids (4 of whom were breastfed) and is now 68. Her boobs still looks great but she also keeps herself in fantastic shape. Don't know how they'd look on a more matronly physique.

Before anyone says anything I have also posted this in the 'Wanted' section but I know that some Lounge regulars are handy types so thought i'd try here too. Does anyone please have a sledgehammer I could borrow for a few hours? I want to knock down the housing of our old outdoor loo (loo long gone) but am getting silly quotes for it. Would probably need it for less than 24 hours and your reward could be in beer, wine or chocolate or something else, depending on your poison. Thank you S

Posting work issues in the family room tends to result in very sensible and compassionate advice. I'm also happy to reply on anything in here, if you can bear the potentially idiotic replies.

Wow, that's great news Lochie. Thank you for your post. Certainly makes me feel a bit more confident about exploring this route. There are some beautiful bits of reclaimed parquet out there and I can't wait to see how it would look in our home! Thanks again X

Dear all, Hope some clever family roomer can help with this. We're designing our new family room (knocking through to create a big kitchen/dining/family snug space) and I love reclaimed parquet flooring. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of using it in a kitchen and could provide some insight? I'm assuming that so long as it's well sealed it should be fine, will be relatively warm underfoot (compared to the existing freezing cold slate we have in our kitchen at the moment) and forgiving for small bodies who are prone to fall over onto it a lot. Or is it just a big nightmare around water? Thanks in advance for all your help with this. S

Suki Chung of Blissful Thinking does great deep tissue massage in your own home. Brings all her stuff, including lovely towels and relaxing music, massages you and then goes leaving you to relax in the warm and not lose that nice post-massage buzz traipsing home through the cold. Very reasonable prices too. Her website is http://www.blissful-thinking.co.uk/

I have nothing useful to add on natural induction because I ended up getting induced using a syntocynin (sp?) drip but I wanted to echo sillywoman's comments that induction is completely your choice and it is important to remember that the drs are there to tell you what they think is best but it's your body and your baby. In the end I opted for an induced labour because my blood pressure became elevated at the end of my pregnancy (41 + 5) and I was becoming concerned that my placenta would fail before my baby decided to make a move. As it was, it took 3 days at the hospital culminating in 4 hours on the full strength drip to get her even to start budging but after that it was a pretty swift process. All in all the induction was not as bad as I thought it was going to be but just required me to be a bit flexible by letting go of my desires for a wholly natural, mostly at home delivery. I loved the epidural I had for the last 2 hours of labour and was very lucky that it was really well done so that I was mobile on the bed and only used it once which meant that by the time I gave birth in a very natural position (on my knees so gravity could help) I could feel my daughter coming into the world. So, good luck with whatever happens for you and I hope that you and baby have a great first meeting. xx

What about yurts in taxi ride distance of a train station ? Also , random but kids love caravans!

Apparently center parcs in the Netherlands and Belgium are brill and much cheaper than over here.

Brooks and Brooks on Sicilian Avenue next to High holborn. Any of the colourists there are bonkers good.

My 18mth dd would naturally nap at around 11.30 til 1 but as she goes to loads of morning classes in term time she tends to sleep after lunch at 12 so 1-3ish.

We had a bottle refuser so tried the closer to breast systems: Dr Brown worked a treat. Good luck.

Boppintots w Norwood on a Monday or Monkey Music at Tulse Hill. Bear's baby bop at Herne Hill on Friday.

We don't want to raise children with huge expectations of multiple presents every Christmas so limit the presents and the cost (mostly second hand and under ?50 total), and make sure we do things like the Met Gift for A Child at Christmas scheme to reinforce how lucky we are. My rule of thumb is, if it feels too much, it probably is too much.

No, I agree. Having a sugary dessert every lunchtime is such a bad habit and can wreak havoc to little systems because of the sugar ups and downs. Perhaps you could speak to other parents and raise it at the next PTA meeting? Surely it couldn't cost them more in terms of cost per bowl and man hours to have yogurt or buy tinned fruit in fruit juice? If there's no way out of it I guess it's packed lunches from here on in...

Get two lots and put one in the kitchen (source of most house fires) and one somewhere accessible from the main bedroom (where the people who will do the fire fighting overnight would be). And get multiple fire alarms so that if one fails, you'll still be okay. We attended a local event where the fire service had a stall where they were offering to come round to give advice. We arranged for them to come and they actually fitted some super fire alarms as part of a fire prevention initiative in what they said were the best positions. Very reassuring. Also, helpful tips on https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/250066/Fire_safety_tips_at_home_and_at_work.pdf

I had this happen when I lived in W Norwood and was having a glazer work on my windows. Apparently some fella approached him whilst he was working on a bench at the front of the house and asked for entry (though he didn't know my name). Thankfully the glazer told him to sling his hook. Must work a lot for it to be such a well-used con. What rotters!

Best thing about shortcrust pastry mince pies is making the leftover ones into mince pie ice cream = the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

Try boppin tots. Our daughter went from 4 months and has always loved it.

They do take away, collection only, but (as far as I've heard them say to people who ask for a take away menu) you need to know the menu as they don't run as a take away. The food is, to a dish, spectacular. None of this msg, sugar filled Anglo Chinese food and all beautifully spiced xingian blow your head off cuisine. Cumin spiced lamb with hand pulled noodles and middle plate chicken are amazing. The cucumber, three sprout salad and aubergine all travel very well. Enjoy!

This event was lovely last year: full of kids and lots of smiling happy faces. Carol Singalong at St Barnabas church on Sunday 14 December at 3. 30pm for about an hour There will be mulled wine ,mincepies and drinks for the children We will sing 10 carols including Away in the Manger ,Little Donkey etc Last year over 100 people came . Very welcome friends ,children and grandchildren Dulwich Helpline are providing the mulled wine and the Singalong is in aid of Dulwich Helpline .

Any national trust property, if you happen to be near one.

I agree that this is completely unacceptable and constitutes an obstruction on the highway (yes, highway includes pavement see The Highways Act 1980) which is both negligent and a public nuisance. Homeowners be warned: if someone gets injured as a result of this and the builder isn't covered by public liability insurance it'll be you they come after. Not to mention the risk the ordinary pedestrian is put to by having to walk in the road, particularly with small children and parking on either side. All because some lazy arse builder can't be bothered to shovel in his load at the skip or put a steep plank at the back of the skip. But yes, world of health and safety gone mad (!)