dulwichquine

I've booked a lovely man - perhaps Sydenham based - to come to our house with a clutch of insects and reptiles to entertain my son and his chums for a birthday treat. Trouble is I can't remember who he is! Done umpteen searches through my emails and on this forum and can't find his name. He posted originally on the forum. Can anyone help?! Tks

I am also increasingly fed up with intermittent Virgin broadband service. Been like this for many, many months. One minute it's there, the next it isn't. We had an unrelated visit from a BT engineer last week who said that my connection to the BT grey box was a copper wire. I'm now wondering where, oh where, is the fibre optic cable that is supposed to be giving me faster broadband?! Interestingly, the BT engineer said that super fast BT broadband was about to be launched in Forrest Hill. 80-100mgs. It's part of the new Infinity scheme. Apparently we'll get it in Dulwich by end of the year. Could be the answer to all our problems?

Hi We use Taxing Nannies. They've been brilliant. Taken all the pain of admin away and helped with a few tricky employment questions along the way.

this is v interesting. i can't afford a week's wages in bonus. i reckon nanny - who has only been employed for seven months - will get an extra two weeks' paid holiday at least this year for various reasons in addition to her contracted four weeks annual hols plus bank holidays so i didn't think she was doing too badly. but guess i need to top up with gift vouchers or something else.

bought some nice little pressies for her and flowers which i thought would be sufficient. just wondering if there was an expectation of a cash bonus as well.

Hello Do full time nannies expect a Christmas bonus? Any thoughts appreciated. I haven't given my nanny one and wondering if I should have. Thanks

Rachel Frost in Tulse Hill is superb. Think her name is Freezy Frost if you do a search on this website. If not, pm me and i'll send you her number.

Really sorry to hear about that, Simon.

We've had some amazing family pics from Lionel at Nousha. Happy to send you link to our family pics if you pm me. We were over the moon with results. He has a great way with kids.

can i just add that Lionel at Nousha photography in Peckham has taken the most fabulous pics of my kids. He managed to fire off more shots in forty minutes than we've been able to do in seven years. Results were absolutely brilliant and we're dead chuffed. He's in Peckham.

thanks to everyone for wonderful messages. I am sorted. And I now have lots of choices when no doubt I am in the same panic next year.

i have been frantically looking for someone to make a train cake for my son's birthday next weekend and they quoted me ?100. eek!

thank you thank you thank you......

thanks to advice so far. didn't know about newell occasions

I had been hoping to use Ceri who comes highly reccommended on the forum, but after a week of trying to tracke her down, she's now gone on hols. So in a bit of a panic. Needs to be a train cake! Any ideas appreciated.

FYI, two cars have been broken into on dovercourt road in the last week.

Try Debie at Little Masters and Misses. ( sorry don't have no to hand so just google. South London/Kent) . She doesn't charge very much at all in comparison to most nanny agencies. If I remember I think we paid around ?200. She's been in the business a long time and we found our current nanny through her. She also seems to have various candidates for short term/long term work and babysitting. Hope this helps.

there are classes on gallery road running all summer in the afternoons. if you pm me with your email i'll post you the forms etc.

that's a very good point indeed. thanks for all advice so far.

Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts/experience of what the cost should be for asking your full time nanny to do an overnight? Should it literally be on a per hour basis? Or would it be reasonable to pay per hour up until midnight and then on a per hour basis after the kids wake up? Or should it simply be an agreed flat rate? We might have to do this on an occasional basis and think it's a bit of a minefield! Thanks in advance

Just a note to thank everyone who responded to my thread on problems re Royal Mail. The forum got a mention on the Six O'Clock News tonight along with an East Dulwich resident. Let's hope it might lead to a better service.

Hi there, yes it was my intial post that led to mention on national news. I am going to post a thank you thread to all those who responded to my email about Royal Mail deliveries. Let's hope we get a better service as a result!

My friend is a correspondent for BBC News and he is trying to find out what's happened to the many parcels that have failed to turn up thanks to the Royal Mail strikes. I've told him about the terrible problems in East Dulwich. He's keen to hear from anyone who's still experiencing a long wait for delivery. His name is John Moylan and his email is john.moylan@bbc.co.uk

I use taxing nannies .. they've been great and have saved me a huge amount of time and effort on paperwork. Also v helpful on contractual matters etc.

hi, i might be able to come along work permitting! Emma