njc97

Odd report. Can't see QRP closing with the East London Line serving it in 12 months.

Another vote for cars. Or how about a london taxi, bus and police car? Or a thomas the tank engine?

Sanne panne - you can in theory, but the balance bikes have *very* low seats, much lower than you would for a pedal bike, and are a lot lighter (because you dont have the chain etc). Someone on antoher thread mentioned getting a bike from Balfe's and they removed pedals for them. Akc74 - we got our son his at about 2.5 but I think he would have been ok younger. They're really just running, so once they're comfortable with that you could give them a go. If you want to try out, if you go to decathlon there are a couple you can have a go on, cycling around the shop.

I think they're probably a bit young to be driving on the motorway, pgc.

As mentioned, I presume it's just to stop you taking the harness thing off baby during take off. My wife has certainly breast fed our son on take off.

We got one from decathlon and my son thinks it's the best thing ever. Can't compare to those two, apart from it was a lot cheaper (?30?). Think the big difference is that it has solid rubber tyres rather than pneumatic ones. Presumably less soft ride but no punctures...

Central Park zoo is good. A bit of a trek from manhattan, but coney island aquarium is good. Re clothes - surely you're going to do all your shopping in Century 21 when you get there? On the buggy - if you want to avoid the pain of putting one on the plane, babies r us (there's one at union square) do cheap umbrella strollers for USD 15. Finally, if Seb needs exciting about the trip, my son loves this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-New-York/dp/0789308843

Baby njc had similar issues. Usually meant it was time to move up a nappy size. Also we found that pampers capacity and fit wasnt the best - nature ones in sainsburys better, or the bamboo ones (I think they had them in healthmatters)

Maybe too late, but if not - camel trail, you can hire trailers/seats for toddlers. If you're the other side of estuary, then carruan is a "play farm" near Polzeath. Small but good for an hour or so. All the Stein places are OK with kids - we did Fish Restaurant for a special occasion, but definitely do the fish and chip shop. Hanging around dock in padstow is good for a bit - you can get a crabbing line and try to catch crabs (or one of you can while other one potters round the shops). TBH, you'll presumably spend most of your time on the beach, if weather is ok...

You can buy in boots, but as per earlier comments, dont think they are worried about pre-packed baby milk. They seem more worried about toddler stuff though. Millsa - had similar at easter. The broccolli one really is a bit disgusting!

Yeah MrBen, I liked their first album before they sold out.

bednarz - if they are going for fast good, then they're not doing very well - I waited for over 2 hours at new cross meateasy BITD. But the burger when it came was miles ahead of anything from bishop/pretty much anywhere else I've eaten. And the onion rings were the equal of the one I had at marcus wareing - I am yet to try them from the Rye. The chips thought - michael and david got it right. Not particularly good, and oddly expensive given the value of the burger. Still, my 2 year old son loves them.

iblly99 - what pubs nearby do you get average burgers in for less than ?7.50? I tried the burgers at the Rye shortly after the meateasy team moved in, and thought they were very good if not quite up to the standards of New Cross meateasy. By the sounds it has drifted slightly, which is a real shame. (and back to OP - surely this is the first hog roast they've done?)

my sone loves his balance bike - he would go everywhere on it given the choice. We got it from decathlon and it cost c?30. If you go down you can have a go on one around the shop to see if they like it. They do 2 versions, one is plastic (and looks ugly) and one metal, which looks like a normal bike.

Surely the really posh kids were in an OTC?

Damian - presumably you meant Romany gypsy, rather than Romanian?

I didn't think you can get it over here, but after a bit of googling, something like this is good. Aloe vera, vitamin e and lidocaine. Cooling with added pain relief! We got something similar in carribean a few years back when my wife and I both failed to put enough sun block on tops of our feet.

Just back from Cornwall. We left at 6am to avoid London traffic, then A303. Even at that time we got stuck in traffic jam on M25. A303 not that bad - most of it is dual now, but M4 perhaps quicker. And for all the frustration about traffic on A303, I get more wound up by shit middle lane drivers on m4 on stretch between Reading and London.....

Ce n'est pas un ED?

No, it's relatively easy then. But it gets confusing when they give, say, 30hours to everyone. If you charge someone ?7000 pa for 30 hours without the NEG, then once they are eligible for the NEG, Brent would suggest you charge them ?5200 (the 7000 less the 1800 NEG). But the DoE guidance suggests you can only charge them ?3,500 (i.e. the per hour fee for 15 hours). If they charged the ?5,200 then they'd fall foul of the second buller under 2.7 in your quote above.

EmmaC - not locally, but my mother works at a school with attached nursery and they haven't signed up because the grant they would get from LA isn't enough to cover the cost of the free 15 hours. There's lots of confusion here though, see point 2.11 in fuschia guidance above, and compare to Brent council, which clearly tells nurseries to use it as a discount: "What happens if I want or need more than 15 hours childcare at nursery or if I am already paying for more than 15 hours in a nursery? If you want or need to pay for extra hours because you work or study, the NEG will be taken off your bill. It is currently worth about ?600 each term."

Loxley - "If you even go in the bus lane for a second.... Ticket !" I think we can all spot an easy solution to that. Loz - the problem with that junction in battersea is the drivers. The excuse that "it's difficult to see the exits" is bullshit. And the markings on the road are v cleear.

I guess it depends on the baby food. Ella's kitchen's smoothies (the ones without vegetables in) sound nice. But I remember getting our son a jar of cow and gate pasta sauce (or similar) and he refused to eat it. "look, daddy thinks it's yummy" - I take a mouthful, retch, and agree to give him ricecakes instead.

Other cereal - oatibix, special k, rice crispies, all favourites in our house. As our weetabix minis with raisins in, but surprisingly sugary. I tend not to worry so much about variety at breakfast though, and just try to vary stuff later on.

Has yet to be published at all yet, but has been pirated so much that it's the most popular book in US (or something). Monsters eat whiny children look good as well...