Yak

His training must be going well. Today it was a 10 mile run he was claiming he was going to be doing in his sales pitch in Camberwell.

Just north from La Rochelle is the Vendee region, which has excellent white sandy beaches and pine forests. Directly around La Rochelle It's a bit marshier. Unless of course you go to the Ile de Re which is superb but v pricey and crowded in August. La Rochelle itself is nice for a night or two city break - plenty to see and do with castles, fort, marina with compulsory ice cream parlours etc.

Ditto. A great service.

Try a local ex-pat forum - they are often a good place to find out who frequent visitors / residents use.

Worth sharing this via Twitter with the friends of Burgess park group, Burgess Parkrun and Southwark Tigers if you haven't already done so. Good luck.

Another thumbs up for Ally and her excellent massage skills. Friendly, professional, helpful and good at what she does. Lovely to chat to - a real find.

Updated to add before and after photos.

Mulberry centre or the pavilion in Myatts Field Park are both good

Valet parking often works out a similar rate if you have a car.

We are long term fans of Gary and his work. I first used him over 13 years ago to redecorate a flat and he's just finished some work for us this week to the same high spec, on time and on budget. He's not your man at all if you want a quick slap dash coat of paint or a quick botch. But if you want a quality job which will last he's definitely the one for you. We're about to get him to redo our sitting room, which he did 10 years ago - pre kids, pre animals - and the work he put into all the prep 10 years ago has made it last a decade. Quality product, quality guy. EDIT: And true to form, Gary's done a great job on the sitting room. Some before and after pics here: https://imgur.com/a/3oQeU

Nope, we just got our builder who was doing the loft conversion to fit it. There were a few minor teething issues with the fitting if I remember correctly, but nothing serious. PM if you would like some pics - I'm rubbish at resizing them.

Hi. We did this. It was in a loft conversion and so more expensive because our sliding door had to be a fire door too. No regrets though - looks brilliant and maximises the space fantastically. We used Eclisse: http://www.eclisse.co.uk/Products/Single-Fire-Rated-Pocket/Single-Fire

Jamie from home sweet home who posts as jam_log is your man - he's just done a brilliant bench cushion and matching cushions for me. I'm having trouble resizing pictures, so just PM me if you want some.

We were there today for Sunday lunch, kid included, and saw nothing but a very well run, organised, happy and child welcoming (without being utterly child rammed) pub serving decent food with good service at reasonable prices.

potato stamps? Large sheets of paper that can then be used as wrapping paper? But don't stress the tv/ipad route!

I started about the same age and *cough* amount of years later still play regularly. It's a horrible hit in terms of the cost at the start but it is totally worth it. And you get many more opportunities to play, as there is much less competition than for clarinet or flute. If your son is really enjoying it, it would be worth asking around to see if there are any rental schemes out there. Howarths are the leaders for oboes, though John Packers down in Taunton are good too. The embrochure is quite different from clarinets, though I played sax as well as oboe for a while with no particular problems if you're looking at a change of instrument. Though he will need to learn how to transpose. But a lot of the fingering is the same. PM me if you'd like any more info. Sadly I don't have a spare one lying around, but I can ask round on the oboe net if helpful.

I would check out Sali Hughes's website and columns in the Guardian for some good tips. Buy some super cheap stuff from superdrug (MUA is good) and experiment, experiment, experiment and practice, practice, practice using her videos. I say this as a confirmed non-make up wearer of many years, with a need to occasionally look very smart. I now can do smokey eyes without looking like a panda and have even wore lipstick for the first time in ages (as a fellow wind player I know you know that is A Big Deal). Brands I now wear are Bare Minerals (eyeshadow, face powder), Clinique (Mascara) and then random stuff for the other bits and bobs.

Similar experience to LM. We are nearing the end of a loft and outrigger extension under pd - I'm afraid we were a straightforward dormer for the main room (not hip to gable). Worth getting a few local architects in to take a look around and advise you on the options. I think Southwark are slowly having to come to terms with outriggers as that's a pretty much obvious use of the 40 sqm for terraces.

A pleasure. Feel free to PM me if you want to be put in touch.

What a worrying time for you. My godson (not local) has 1p36 deletion syndrome. There are some excellent support forums and groups for those with chromosone disorders - I think the ones our friends have found most helpful is unique: http://www.rarechromo.co.uk/html/home.asp Best of luck - there is support out there, and you'll not be alone.

A day round London by every form of public transport is good fun. Head over to N Greenwich to get the cable car across the river (just swipe in if you have oyster PAYG), hop on the DLR for a bit and then a river bus up the river. Tube / overground / bus can be fitted in to get to and from start and finish. I take a pair of swimmers and a travel towel if we are likely to encouter fountains. If they are v cold afterwards that is an excellent excuse for hot choc. Surrey Quays farm is supposed to be good too, as is Battersea Zoo (smaller and much more manageable than London zoo)

The Crypt in St Giles Church (where the jazz cafe is)

Whereabouts is the Baby Bank in Camberwell, acb2013? Is it at the Salvation Army centre on Lomond Grove? The small project looks great too.

The two main rooms are knocked through, so we have the parliament doors from the back room to the hallway, and just a normal door from the front room to the hall. From memory, the parliament hinges were pretty easy to source, then we just got someone to build up the top part of the wall and hang the doors. I can't recommend the builders we used though. They were rubbish!

Right, one pic added above, second one here.