njc97

Heh, I've just spotted the typo in the original post. I should admit that as well as a bugaboo, I have a bagaboo as well: http://bagaboo.hu/en/bags/

DaveR - good analogy but not quite right I think. Bugaboo v other brands is like comparing a BMW to, say, a Toyota. The basic performance is the same (they both get you there) but the BMW (bugaboo) has better handling, is much more pleasant to drive (push) and is much better engineered and built. Oh, and looks a lot better. As to whether all of that is worth the extra cost, that's a personal choice. I'm very happy with our bugaboo but I don't drive a BMW.

jac428 - I presume Penny means they use a nursery or similar "working hours" childcare rather than nanny who looks after baby for 12 hours a day. I wouldn't say my wife or I are especially "high flying" but neither of us has put our career on hold. On a daily basis we split our time, so I take our son to nursery and then get to work 9-9.30, my wife goes in early and finishes at 4.30-5 and comes back to pick him up. I have the advantage of working as a consultant so can be flexible about working from home etc if son needs picking up early/is off nursery. But he's only 2 at the moment, so at nursery almost all year round, what happens when he starts school we haven't worked out yet....

We love our chameleon. Disagree with nylonmeals above - they're only slightly bigger wheelbase that an ickly maclaren and incredible maneouvable so perfectly suitable for city living.

nicole - no I haven't, my son is 21 months and will be getting one for his second birthday. There's a very wide range of similar bikes, from nice wooden ones, to "cool" looking metal ones. Decathlon do one for about 30 pounds, other ones go up to 180 pounds. I think BC bikes might stock some...

nicole - no training wheels but a bike for a toddler . I've lost the link but there's a video of a 3 year old mountain biking on one on youtube, with daddy behind with a camera.

Not sure how child friendly, but there's a nice looking B&B over on Telegraph hill. LINK

Deptford pool has a little poolside slide. Warning, they've got rid of the carpark next to the pool, but the one on vanguard st is nearby. &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf]MAP

Strada? What does anyone need with a bad pizza chain?

DoD - it's v complicated. Some private pre-schools will claim the govt money, in which case you'll pay reduced fees. But some don't, not least because it's not clear what sort of top-up fees the nursery can then charge if they are providing a full-time service. My son's nursery just knocks the govt money off the total fees (i.e. if total fees are ?1000 /month and the govt money is ?300 /month, then they charge the remaining ?700) BUT other nurseries (local authorities?) think they should do it based on hours, so if the fees are currently ?1000 for 40 hours /week, and the government pay ?300 for 15 hours/week then the nursery can only charge a top up for the remaining 25 hours of ?1000 * 25 / 40 = ?625, i.e. the nursery make a ?75 loss, which they can't afford so they don't take the govt money.

Garden man - if you want an example of hedging being legal, desirable and for something you can understand, think about farmers hedging crop prices: In the Spring, the price of their crop is high. So the farmer borrows some money to buy seeds and fertilizer, thinking they can grow more crops to make enough money to live off. Now if crop prices fall sharply by the Autumn, then the farmer won't be able to sell their crop at a higher enough price to make a profit, so they'll starve. Instead they buy a derivative which means that if crop prices go down, the derivative will pay the farmer money. This way they are hedged against falls in crop prices. Back to the original post - if it's a building society, then it isn't greed - they don't have shareholders so any profit is shared amongth the members, i.e. you. If you want a "people's bank" then why not try the co-op? Of course their loans aren't as cheap as other banks but that's because the evil, profit-making banks offer a better deal for consumers.....

jrussel. I feel similarly about people flaunting their unearned advantages over me. Therefore I've started hitting pretty people with brick. I've since moved on to breaking the legs of tall people, cutting the tongues out of eloquent people and poking the eyes out of people who can see further than me. I know it's only a little step towards equality but I feel it helps.

???? - silk cut and a strong black coffee? MIght work but imagine the nappies....

JLS have the same problem as ipods - they sound rubbish. Brendan, if it's a good "gabba gabba heh" you want: http://yogabbagabba.com/

Baby porridge? The plain one and one with banana were popular with ours. Or as Missd says, mashed up weetabix or oatibix? I think the mini-weetabix are quite sweet but our son loves the oatibix minis. Have you tried the organix fruit purees with rice in?

People like this should be birched. It's the only language they understand. Why will no one think of the children? lb - small amounts of alchohol may not harm a baby, but heightened levels of stress due to, for example, trying to give up a chemical addiction, may well harm your baby.

MrBen - you're still fighting a losing battle against mp3 compression and ipod's shit sound quality. Better off getting a player with better sound quality and ripping to flac.

I tried magpie's method. Damn cat was too fast.

b&b - the mothercare one is the one I mention in my post. It's very good but a bit awkward to clean, especially if you've got a cushion on it. And not quite as easy to carry out to the garden on a sunny day as the IKEA one.

2 months might be difficult depending on waiting lists for tests etc. Some companies do weekend boot camps, so 2 months is possible to get through the practical side. My caveat though - learning to drive isn't really the same thing as learning to pass your test, so may wish to do other lessons before or carry on after to improve your driving, and then use the boot camp to get through the test.

Another vote for the IKEA. We originally bought a wooden high chair (v similar to Tripp Trapp but a bit cheaper, I think from John Lewis). But it's more awkward to clean because of the corners and not as easy to get him in and out of. So after a trip to visit Grandma who bought an Antelop for him, we went down to IKEA and forked out the ?15 or whatever and got our own one. Very easy to clean and he loves it.

Hoonalochie - apologies for being obtuse. I fear you may have been confused betweent the famous hollywood short man, Dustin Hoffman, and a small child. Although it appears you are not the only person to confuse diminutive film royalty with the young people of ED.

Honaloochie - they're called "children". There's plenty of them around ED....

If you go for the fixed style of gate: http://www.johnlewis.com/230767371/Product.aspx then you only need to screw into the wall on one side. Rather than using the proper lock on the other side, you can jerry-rig something on the banister with some string - friends on mine have this and it's more than secure enough to keep their 18 month year old in. Other idea is whether you can put them in a slightly different place, possible across a wider gap. We've got ours across the whole landing (rather than just top of stairs) so we could fit it between two walls.

Cecilia - you could try asking on comments of brockley blog for more experiences https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7319527081974340169&postID=5655569485328336494 I haven't taken the LB trains for a while but having watched them go past (at New Cross Gate) I think you should be ok - the ELL seems to have eased the congestion. Just make sure you go to back of train where there is more space and likely be prepared to stand. Way home will be fine - you'll get on OK at LB when the train is empty and even when they're rammed most people get off at NXG/Brockley, so you'll be able to get off at HOP