Liro

Hi there, our pre schooler is at Mother Goose Upland (and has been for Over two years) and we?ve been really happy with the nursery. When we looked at nursery options we liked the fact that it was fairly small (eg only six places in baby room) and that the children mix well, so although the babies, toddlers and pre-school all have their own rooms, they interact with each other as well so our child knows the names of all the children and knows all the staff well too, not just the workers in their room. The staff are all really nice, there has been some turnover of staff during our time there but I think that?s common at all nurseries and they?ve handled staff transition well. They do a good range of activities and generally our little one has been very happy there and made good friends/has fun. Also if hours are important for you, the fact MG are open to 0730-1830 has been really helpful on a handful of occasions where there have been transport issues or we both have to be in work early - typically we pick up by 6pm but this relies on trains etc running on schedule. If you want to ask any specific questions please do feel free to Message me. I asked similar questions on this forum when we were looking at nurseries and the responses were very helpful :-)

The cab near us on CPR was moved this afternoon... my husband happened to be home and saw it was being jump started by a second black cab! Unbelievable. It?s number plate ended KOU so we shall see if it pops up again with new advertising.

I had been wondering about this as well - there is one close to us that has been parked and not moved since August (I remember it was there when we got back from holiday and it hasn?t moved since!). It?s also been parked quite badly in relation to a nearby disabled bay, meaning we?ve effectively lost a parking spot on our bit of the road. I counted seven black cabs parked between Whateley Road and Heber the other morning on the school run, which is ridiculous. I have in the past seen a bloke running the engine of one cab and then getting out and going to another cab further up the road. Have been keeping an eye out for anyone getting in the cab nearest to us to run the engine but no joy yet. It is taxed (thanks for the link Beulah) but I?m thinking of reporting it to Southwark as an abandoned vehicle. I know it?s free parking round here but leaving it outside someone?s house for three month?s solid is pretty damn cheeky!! Although I am dubious Southwark will do anything...

We used Health Hub Herne Hill too - was ?100 per jab.

Hi, I'm reposting/replying to this as my cleaner Val is again on the look out for a few more hours in the East Dulwich area (and thank you to those who Pm'd or called her last time!). I would highly recommend her, she's honest, reliable and hard working and has never let us down in 2.5 years. If you're interested please feel free to PM me with any questions or you can call/message Val on the number below.

Hi, I wanted to recommend my cleaner, Val - she's currently looking for a few more hours each week. She's been cleaning for us for a couple of years now (she was originally recommended to me by a friend who lives in ED) and she's really great. She's very reliable and trustworthy, she has a set of keys to our house and lets herself in each week. She cleans very thoroughly and doesn't cut corners. She cleans for a few people in ED and would like more work in the area as it's easy for her to get to on the bus. She also does ironing for us and is happy to just do ironing jobs if anyone needs a few hours doing each week. She's ?12 an hour and her number is 07964 822411, or feel free to PM me if you'd like any more details.

This is a long shot but... my daughter lost her beloved toy bunny today (Saturday 11 June) and we think it was dropped somewhere on North Cross Road (the Duck Egg Cafe side) or on Crystal Palace Road (between North Cross and Heber Road, the west side/side closest to Lordship Lane). It's a jellycat beige bunny with flowery ears, about 20cm long, looks well worn/washed. It has her name tag sewn on the care label so I can easily identify if it is ours. We've retraced our steps and checked in places we shopped but no luck. If anyone finds a lost bunny, please PM me? Many thanks!

Hi there - have sent you a PM.

I thought I'd follow up on this thread in case it is useful for anyone else out there, as I know I trawled the forum when I was looking for nursery place. We ended up going for Mother Goose on Upland Road and we are really pleased with our decision. I went back to have a look at Bright Horizons and Mother Goose Upland as they both offered us places, it turned out that I'd been misinformed about MG opening hours and in fact they are open 7.30am - 6.30pm, although they ask that if you are using the half hours at either end of the day that you don't use both (i.e. they don't really want children being left for the full 7.30-6.30, although I am not sure this is strictly enforced). Of the two, I preferred the set up at MG as the baby room only takes six babies and they have their own space upstairs, in particular at lunchtime they have their own darkened quiet room where they sleep. In comparison at BH they take more babies (I think they said 15 when I looked) and the area where they slept was open plan next to where the toddlers play, so I was a bit worried about how she would sleep. The staff at both seemed very nice but we thought she'd settle better at MG plus it was slightly more convenient for us location wise. We've been really pleased with our decision, the staff are all so lovely and once we got past the initial first couple of weeks settling in, our daughter seems really happy there. She sleeps well, eats well and is always smiling and waving as soon as we approach the door in the morning! I still haven't heard a peep out of Gumboots - from July 2014 when I first called them until March 2015 they told me the waiting list was completely closed to new applications. We went on the waiting list at the first open day they held when the list reopened (that was in March 2015), so it's now been a full 12 months with no updates. I followed up with them last August/September time when I heard from other nurseries and was promised I would get an update on the wait list shortly, but I've never received anything. We're really happy with MG so it doesn't really matter as we wouldn't move her now anyway, but I do think it's pretty poor of Gumboots to take people's money (in the form of a wait list registration fee) and then never get back to them.

another recommendation for John Powers - we got his details off the forum and he serviced our boiler end of last year. When we came home a few weeks ago to no heating (obviously on one of the nights when it was down to zero degrees!) he came out the next day. He identified a problem with a valve and used a temporary fix to get the heating started again. He noticed the boiler looked fairly new and told us to check the warranty as he thought we should get the new part for free - he was happy to do it for us but that would obviously cost us. Turns out it was under a five year warranty (the boiler was put in by the last owners but luckily they'd given us the paperwork) and we were able to get the part replaced for free by the boiler company. As an added bonus John didn't charge us for the call out either.

We recently used Wickham Security to fit a security alarm at our house - I found them through the forum and would highly recommend them if you are considering a security alarm. I had a preference to use a local company over a national provider as the reviews for companies like ADT don't seem that great. One of the Wickham fitters lives locally and popped round to give us a quote, he explained the options really well, was very knowledgeable and wasn't at all pushy. Their quote was very reasonable and it took about four hours to fit the alarm (we have a standard terrace house - four sensors, keypad on wall, alarm connected to phone line and two boxes externally front and back). It is very simple to use but the fitter didn't leave until he was sure I was clear about how it all worked. Also there is no tie in contract with them (something I was keen to avoid), if you buy the alarm you are covered for the first year if anything goes wrong, after that it is up to you if you want to book them for your annual service (which we will!).

Hi there, I would also really recommend Wayne. I found him via other recommendations on the forum and he charged us ?70 for inside and out on a four bed house - it's a standard terrace with loft extension/side return done, so including velux windows in roof and bifold doors/velux windows in kitchen. It took him about two hours, he managed to do it all without ladders and the windows were all sparkling. WE'll definitely use him again.

Thanks both very much for your replies, that's really helpful! I think we are going to have to rule MG out for the reason you say Sonners - it's a bit of a trek from ED station. We'd be ok with 8am drop off but getting back there by 6pm would be a real struggle now the trains are a bit less frequent from london bridge. When we originally looked round and went on the waiting list there was some scope to pick up 6-6.30 (although they preferred it to be 6pm) but I've just found out they are moving to a hard 6pm pick up which probably rules it out for us. I did like BH as well when I looked round but was a bit puzzled as to why it doesn't seem as popular as other places, despite it being near station/better opening hours etc and rated Ofsted good. So good to hear your feedback Esme! I've spoken to the new manager a few times and she does seem really helpful (and generally answers the phone/calls you back which isn't the case with some nurseries...) so fingers crossed we can get a place there or we get lucky with Gumboots. Thanks again x

Hi, does anyone have recent experience they'd be willing to share with the baby rooms at Bright Horizons Dulwich (the one near Sainsburys), Mother Goose Upland road or Gumboots? Sorry as I know nurseries are a frequent topic here but I couldn't find much that recent on these. We're currently on the waiting list of all three having visited them and it would be great to get any feedback, positive or negative... We're not holding out much hope on Gumboots as I know the waiting list is meant to be at least 18 months long, but I figure someone must get lucky with the baby room at some point - given the list was closed for months and you have to be under two to go into the baby room! Many thanks.