njc97

Jack - paris network comes out as far as this. But yeah, I doubt we will get them here, logistics are too complicated.

We usually only go on Saturdays and with a toddler and really like it. I really like the outdoor bit in particular, and indoor bit isnt bad, but you can find a long list of complaints about friendliness of staff in particular when it comes to buggies. You can't take buggies inside and are supposed to fold them and park them in the "shed" where they keep the outdoor toys. Since you can't leave a baby inside unsupervised, I'm still yet to work out how that works if you have a little one.

We've got one of these that seems to do the same at tripp trapp but costs less. We also got an IKEA antelop which is much easier to clean, you can take to bits and take on holiday with you etc. But did get too small when our son was c2.

Buggy thing depends on airport not airline. most places you take it to gate, some (stockholm arlanda) you have to check it in and they lend you one to take through (but this doesnt count towards your check in allowance). Can't remember if BA give you check in baggage for little one, but you definitely get one piece of carry on (changing bag) and I think BA now don't count your handbag as your one piece of luggage.

Gidleigh Park in Devon (not even slightly London!) - very good food indeed, service good and very friendly, hotel lovely and views incredible. But a long way and nail-pullingly expensive. Hawksmoor at Seven Dials - brilliant steak and very good cocktails. Nice decor but atmosphere still very "working dinner". 'MEATEASY - FINALLY GOING TOMORROW NIGHT. I'M VERY EXCITED.

Damian - I think the "term-time" working has been viewed as discriminatory on the grounds of being indirect sexual discrimination, not on the basis of "familial status", which I dont think is illegal. On this basis, I dont think the parent and child parking spaces are discriminatory. The disabled bays are, but I suspect there's a specific carve out for providing additional facilities for disabled people like this.

We had lots of problems with leaks out of the side with our little boy (to begin with, 2/3 times a night, which was a lot of fun). We found that nappies with elastic at front and back worked a lot better - the Nature ones in Sainsburys were good, or bamboo ones. Pampers were rubbish, unfortunately. We also had problems with "overloading" during the night - it indicated it was time to move up a size, even if he looked a bit silly in giant nappies.

MrBen - is right, the insurance cycle together with low interest rates will have pushed up prices. Also there has been a rise in recent years in the number of uninsured drivers and also fraudulent claims - all these things mean that insurers are pushing up their prices.

Another recommendation for Citadines aparthotels - like a hotel but with space so you can watch TV while little one sleeps, plus little kitchen etc for breakfast.

Hmm, but you can't take a buggy with you if you have an over 2. Anyone know the allowances for over 2s with easyjet?

The /hour rate is what the market can bear, not what we think they are worth. And being a nanny is much more pleasant than being a cleaner. As a comparison, we all judge our kids worth a lot more than our banks, yet you try to find a banker wiling to work for ?10 an hour.....

Car seats will go on seperately but not included in your allowance. Also you get an extra bit of hand luggage for the little one (although given the stupidity of some airline staff, I'm not sure I'd rely on this). You can take pushchair to gate - where it reappears at other end will depend on airport, but be prepared to carry little ones for a while - take a sling? Unallocated seats - not sure, as only done it with family so sent my sister on ahead to baggsie seats. You should get to board before other passengers but I'd be tempted to pay for "speedy boarding" anyway (think it's an extra ?10 each).

A second for Sopers if you want fresh and cheap fish. Just avoid monkfish and other expensive types.

Lots of what has already been recommended is good, plus my son likes AA Milne's "When we were young" poems. And Mr Men books (although we're not such a big fan). But the best thing is just to pick loads up at the library, try them and see what they start asking for. Then repeat a month later. My son's current favourites include the Elephant's Pillow and Monkey's Bedtime - just picked up and random and turned out to be lovely.

Chantelle - how about telegraph hill near Edmund Waller? 3 bed terraces still closer to 400k than 500k.

Have you tried tilting the cot so head is higher? Helps the snot run down....

JRT - again it depends on whether or not it's a salary sacrifice arrangement for your contributions. But assuming this isn't a ss arrangement, basically, during paid maternity leaves, your employer has to continue to make contributions as if you were normall employed, and will deduct 3% of your maternity pay (note you have the right to opt out, in which case neither you nor the employer makes the contribution). During unpaid maternity leave, there is no requirement for the employer or you to contribute. If it's a salary sacrifice arrangement, then I think the employer would have to contribute all 12% on your behalf and make no deductions, but I'm less clear on this.

Nikki - it's complicated, was it definitely SMP they were taking it from? That's definitely illegal - from the doc I linked to above "It is not correct to make deductions from SMP to reflect salary sacrifice arrangements." Also they cannot "charge" you for anything. You signed an agreement to reduce your salary. Clearly your salary cannot go below zero, so they cannot take money from your for that unpaid period. I don't think it's uncommon for companies to get this sort of thing wrong, I would have thought that a polite raising of this with relevant department would get it sorted. And I wouldn't have thought that your boss would look unfavourably on you for pushing to get back ?1200!

I've seen a toddler in chez bruce. Also with 10 of you, you might be able to book the upstairs room - had a dinner there in the summer with two toddlers and a 5 year old. O/w looking locally - has your mum be to le querce in forest hill? Food is outstanding and v child friendly.

In a competitive market, the businesses wuold require recompense for the risk of losing this profit, so fees would go up. Parents might also choose staff that don't get sick or pregnant, as this would keep their costs down.

Keef - why is it taking the piss? If they gave you a refund, who would pay for it? And I presume you put the same point to southern rail after the trains were cancelled. And your water company when they cut you off to mend the pipes? Ditto electricity, phone, TV, broadband and other utilities.

The nursery still have to pay staff fees/rent on building etc. If they didn't charge you for days when it snowed they'd have to get it back by charging more the rest of the year, meaning years when it snowed you'd end up paying more.... Our nursery was shut on Friday and closed at 4 on Wednesday and Thursday so I had to work from home...

We had similar problems so had to put ours all the way across the landing at top of stairs (I'm no good at describing but basically where the landing widens out, so about twice the width of stairs). You can buy extensions for our gate (lindam) and we ended up 2.5 times the normal width.

I might be wrong but I think it's a slightly different base to the isofix one for non-isofix cars. But once that's in and secured with seatbelt and leg anchor it's very secure. It's then easy to take the actual seat in and out of the car by clipping in/out of the base. Another consideration, if you don't get a base is that your seatbelt might not be long enough to go round the seat. Ours (old fiesta) did but only just with a lot of pulling.

Surely because you are breastfeeding, you'll be too tired to do any cooking, cleaning, washing up at all? Just sit back and make everyone wait on you. Similarly - lots of breaks to bedroom to "feed baby" or even to "have a lie down", with book, ipod, hidden stash of chocolates.