The Nappy Lady

8 Weeks, and all this disruption, and the sensible answer (to put a roundabout in, with lights if need be) is still not happening. This could so easily be done if a tiny bit of the corner of the park was stolen. Also re the junction being so busy that they can't do the work faster - why don't they do the work at night / during the early hours of the morning as they do on Motorways, in order to get it done faster. I live in Nunhead and work on Barry Road, so (on the days I drive rather than cycle or walk) I am now forced to go around the back, through Colyton Road, then around the back through East Dulwich residential roads in order to get to work. How crazy is that? I truly despair of this country. A few workman could pull their finger out and do this fast, but rather than put themselves out they are happy to inconvenience hundreds (if not thousands) of us for 8 weeks or more. Causing untold stress, additional pollution whilst cars are sitting there in a traffic jam etc. etc. It really depresses me.

KingsburyED You are my saviour! I will PM you. Molly

If you are a tweeter you can follow "MSP in the sky" the met police copter - they do often say what they are doing (they were tracking Santa yesterday. ;-)

Hope everyone has had a lovely day & not too early a start!

My 4 year old is bouncing off the walls, 8 year old fairly calm, DH recovering from man flu & I'm frankly exhausted (but only wrapping left to do so will recover). Wondering how the rest of you are faring?

I chickened out - tonight's the night!!

Hmmm yes I see your point, but then it would be impossible for parents to get their children to school in the morning - you can't be in 2 places at once. I would like to think the majority don't play the system in this way, but of course a few always will.

Waaaah no...that's the Barbie sized one. Thank you so much for trying though. Going to perform 'surgery' this morning!!

Isn't Sudafed 6 plus now? Most of the 'decent' meds have been reclassified.

MGolden - REALLY? I only found the Barbie size ones the one I need is Polly pocket sized. Please post link!!

I'm relieved for the many parents I know who were worried they wouldn't get a place this September, but wondering how they are going to fit everyone in - we shall soon see I guess! It is Bizarre - my youngest is in nursery with so many children she has known from birth via siblings & the children's centre. Lovely for her mind you! One lovely thing about intake based on distance is the really strong sense of community it builds, and friendships amongst both children & parents. We are lucky.

Hi Minder, Actually, unbeknown to me my 4 year old got taken there by her Godmother this afternoon. She said they almost had the place to themselves, it was well organised & ran to time & my daughter Really enjoyed it. The gingerbread man is cute & they got lovely photos of her with Santa (who was Very good apparently). The toy she got was pretty rubbish, a small & very plasticky doll. I'd have preferred a book - especially Given the entrance fee, but other than that it sounds pretty good. However, I still think they are charging too much for it - sorry! For a typical family of 4 it is just Too expensive. As a special treat by a fairy godmother it was wonderful. :-(( Molly

I think you get stung for import duty though fufton. When I bought something before I certainly was so I don't want to risk it again. Thanks anyway.

RIP(off) Dulwich Santa Experience. What a shame - It could have been so good & affordable @ still made them money. Instead it's a Lose lose situation. :-(((

Hi Michele, We've tried gluing the leg on but it falls off. I may try the arm as less strain on it I think, but suspect it will still be a problem. Great minds think alike though!

Ha - best title for a thread in the family room ever???? OK - so my 4 year old has this Beauty and the Beast Playset - sort of Polly Pocket sized, with a prince who 'transforms into a beast' by putting a different head & body over the top of him. The problem is that 1 of the princes legs has broken off and the other day she said "I don't want to have a 1 legged prince Mummy" which made my heart ache. So I thought, here is a good thing for Santa to put in her stocking & went on Ebay and thought I was so clever to manage to buy a second hand set of the same toy, with a new prince in it. Except in my rush I didn't read the description properly...and the new prince only has 1 arm. ARRGGGHHHH. I am a Mummy failure. It's official. It seems you can only buy these playsets new in America, and P&P is insane from there. I don't suppose anyone, magically has one of these Princes hanging around that they no longer want? Ideally one with all his limbs intact? It's a long shot...but hey, I'm a desperate woman. Don't we all want a Prince? She did tell me the other day that one day she was going to marry a beast. I do hope not! Yours, desperately.

Ha!! These days we get together with a load of neighbours/other parents at one of the houses, put the kids to bed like puppies all piled up in a room, and then party on dudes. Eat, drink, see in the new year, congratulate ourselves on how we are still young and funky and can stay up really late (4am last year, I was soooo proud of myself)!! Then on New Years Day ensure all friends and neighbours return ASAP to collect their off spring, or if all else fails take them round to their house themselves. Then allow own children the rare joy of an entire day of CBBC or films etc. whilst you quietly die on the settee!!! Actually, our 2 are now 4 and 8 so the sleepover tends to work out really well, with children playing together fine the next morning (and sticking to the strict instructions NOT to wake us up unless someone is actually in grave danger). Then friends and parents tend to take ours back with theirs for a play date in the afternoon (or vice versa), so each of us gets half a day with kids and half a day without to recover. It gets easier guys...just make sure you have lots of local parent pals!! When they were under 2 we just went to bed at 10am, the got up early on New Years Day for a walk and felt very smug about being part of that very rare breed of people who felt fab and didn't have a hangover! Molly xx

Hi Straws, You poor thing, I really hope you manage to find a solution that works for all of you. Just a thought - have you considered using a childminder rather than nursery full stop? You may find a childminder who is happy with a 7.30am start, and I know a few who are a little bit more flexible about drop off and pick up times - even if not every day, maybe 3 early mornings out of 5 or something? I know it is hard to think of moving baby Straws when nursery is working well, but I've always used a childminder and been 110% happy with it. Best wishes, Molly

Thanks - I thought this might be the case, it's just the thought of the endless "please hold and listen to crap music" that I will need to endure. Worth it though in these tough times!

Cross posted with Renata. 3 houses on the site sounds ideal, especially if built to match the Victorian Terrace already there. Shame they intend to put a bungalow on their too. :-(

Hi all, When I walked past on Sunday it seemed that the asbestos roofing was stacked to the right of the gate in one of the garages there - or what was left of it. Historically I believe the main issue with this development was that the builders wanted to pack too many houses into the space to make the necessary profit. They also wanted to purchase the bungalow on the end/corner, but were not willing to pay the price the owners required to obtain it. So a stalemate was reached and the garages have sat there rotting ever since. Annoying for those of us who enjoyed having access to a lock up on our doorsteps, as we were 'evicted' only to see nothing then done with the site - but such is life. I would love to see the site developed as long as the job is done right, and with a suitable number of houses or flats. I guess only time will tell, but very much hope the council don't allow anything sub standard to get through planning.

Hi has anyone else had the email re the Virgin Internet & TV price increase? Ours is going up by over ?4 a month from February - seems a bit hefty. So I am looking to change provider - any suggestions? Cheers.

4.24 year gap between mine & no 2 was easier, though neither birth was 'hard' in all honesty. Second was much faster & I didn't ache so much afterwards other then the after pains Pickle mentioned, which were sorted with normal pain killers.

Pebbles, you are amazing to have done so much. At that time of night a lot of people would simply have turned over in bed, grumbled about being woken up and gone back to sleep. Good on you, and I hope you've had a private message to put your mind at rest now. x

Hi Cactus, So sorry you had to go through that. I can't offer direct help, but can tell you that Rashid, my dentist who is based on The Gardens is so lovely. We were there yesterday (me plus 3 children, 8, 7 and 4 years). My girls seem to arrive like a mini whirlwind and proceed to all ride up and down on the dentists chair at once, inspect his instruments, want to help by pressing buttons and filling the cup with the pink rinse stuff etc. He is entirely patient, and refuses to accept my apologies for their over zealous behaviour. He is very kind and gentle and I would recommend him 100% to anyone. He explains everything and I can imagine he'd be very good with a child who was nervous. The number for my dentist is 8693 4001, they are at 44b The Gardens, (just up that no entry road beside the Gardens Cafe). I wonder whether you could maybe pop along and explain the problem and ask whether you could visit a couple of times with your son to try to cure his phobia, and with a view to staying with them as your new dentist of course? Good luck. Poor little chap. I think if you can cure it sooner rather than later it can only be a good thing.