reren

Brilliant! Thank you!

we have a traditionaliron railing around our front garden - I'd like to cut a portion of it out and replace with a gate. Anyone have any idea how I could find someone to do this?

It would be great to get them delivered - but otherwise can go to a shop locally to pick up? There used to be places on lordship lane but I think they might all have gone?

Has anyone found a great local yoga teacher? My perfect thing would be a nice airy studio and daytime classes that aren't too busy? Not too much omming...

Also had very good experience with Gary Wu - have used him loads over the years

Just a quick note to say I've just had a tree cut back and had a great service from Sakura Tree Service - highly recommend! Contact Tim at [email protected]

Highly recommend MJ Lawless - he's done a couple jobs for me and is lovely to deal with and I think reasonably priced. Lots of other recommendations on the forum and if you search for him you'll find his details.

Thank you - really helpful!

My 3 year old son got a tummy big last sat and was very sick during the night vomited a number of times - rest of the family came down w same thing 2 days later but we are all recovering and eating again. 3 year old won't eat anything - drank water for first 2 days and now will have apple juice and has had a couple of small bites of toast, banana, muffin over last couple of days. He is weeing and pooing - though poo is now very pale colour (sorry if too much info!!) should we be worried about him not eating? He otherwise seems fine and in good spirits, no temperature...assume he will start eating when he is ready? He's a stubborn little thing - no way of getting him to do something he doesn't want to do! Haven't yet been to doctor cause he seemed OK...but little concerned that we are now on day 4 of not eating...

I have to say I really disagree with the above post - I love this shop. Really lovely veg (if a little ripe) and good quality sauces, bottled goods - better price than same things on lordship lane. I don't know who Pickle has spoken to - I've always had great service.

I have a lovely new au pair from italy - she speaks good english and is looking to meet new friends and other au pairs in the area. Pm me if you'd like to put your au pair in touch with Adele.

I am looking for a graphic designer to join my team working at a university in east London. might suit someone who is freelance and wants a period of secure work or someone who wants a lot of flexibility - we could consider employing someone part-time or possibly allow you to not work during half terms? Home working some of the time also possible. If it sounds interesting pm me!

I have a very close friend whose child was diagnosed a number of years ago with autism. She is a lovely kid and thriving in a normal school environment - in fact she is top of her class. I think I'm right in saying that children like her used to be diagnosed aspergers but now the diagnosis is 'on the autism spectrum'. It always strikes me when I'm with her how much she is like so many adults I know (my dad for example!) and how those people never had the benefit of diagnosis. They just struggled with feeling / being a bit different. I don't mean to diminish the pain of finding something like this out - just trying to say that it is perhaps so much more common than was ever realised previously. I can't presume to know how it feels as a parent and of course there is such a range in terms of autism - but it does seem to me that diagnosis can be such a positive thing in helping you access the right tools and support for your child. And there is such a growing body of knowledge about the brain and things that can help people with autism - there's a lot to be hopeful about.

Has anyone been to see a behavioural psychologist for help with normal - but annoying - children :-) my 2 year old is driving us insane and the fighting between him and his brother (5 years old) is so exhausting. number 1 was an incredibly easy and happy child when he was 2, number 2 is a different kettle of fish altogether. He is absolutely gorgeous much of the time, but much more prone to tantrums - and is going through an intense mummy phase at the moment to top things off. But I think the thing we find most difficult is that the 5 year old is picking up / copying these tantrummy behaviours - not helped by being in reception year (where he is thriving - but I think at weekends is exhausted and acting out a bit because of being good all week in school). My husband does loads of the childcare and helps me enormously as his work is a bit more flexible than mine - so he is sharing at least half the load. But we end up disagreeing about how to deal w difficult behaviour. I think perhaps if we had someone come in and give us some advice / rules to follow - it would help us to at least be on the same page? I don't think any of the behaviour is particularly worrying - they adore each other much of the time and are generally lovely kids - but I'd really like weekends not to be a battleground!

This is brilliant - thanks so much for organising!! By the way - in case anyone is still looking for an au pair (or knows someone who is) - my au pair has a friend who is keen to come to London - here is some blurb (written by her - I'm afraid i don't know her so can't vouch for her - but she's in the uk and available for interviews - so you could meet her before offering the job) Valentina is 24 years old and come from Italy. She has a nursing degree (completed last year) and is now keen to come to London to improve her English. She is looking forward to finding a family to start soon. She is responsible, careful, outgoing and loves children. Please contact Valentina at: [email protected] .

This is brilliant - thanks so much for organising!! By the way - in case anyone is still looking for an au pair (or knows someone who is) - my au pair has a friend who is keen to come to London - here is some blurb (written by her - I'm afraid i don't know her so can't vouch for her - but she's in the uk and available for interviews - so you could meet her before offering the job) Valentina is 24 years old and come from Italy. She has a nursing degree (completed last year) and is now keen to come to London to improve her English. She is looking forward to finding a family to start soon. She is responsible, careful, outgoing and loves children. Please contact Valentina at: [email protected] .

That sounds great - let us know when!!

Definitely! I have had pms from quite a few people - and have passed on details to my au pair but would be lovely to organise a drink for them all!

We have a new italian au pair who has just arrived - id love to organise for her to meet some other au pairs locally. If you have an au pair who'd like to meet up let me know. She is 25 and really lovely - from sicily.

My son is starting Goodrich reception in september - and I'm not sure what we need to do in terms of shoes. I understand that we need plimsolls for PE - but for the noraml every day uniform what shoes is he supposed to have? Can he wear his usual flashing spaceship trainers (!) or is he supposed to be in black 'school' shoes?

We have a lovely italian au pair who started recently with us - would be lovely for her to have some local friends - let me know if you have an au pair who would like to meet up - or someone starting soon - we could put them in touch!

I think one of the things to get your head round with an au pair is that there are no guarantees. We went through an agency with our first au pair because I felt more secure that way - but she got a place at university (we didn't know she'd applied) and left after 6 months unexpectedly. We went back to the agency and had to pay the full fee again - with a small discount - and had someone great who stayed for 18 months. More recently I've had a lot of success finding our last couple of au pairs through gumtree - which has a major advantage in that you can often meet and interview them in person as they are already in the uk. The agencies I think always tend to offer people who are still in their home country so you have to skype. But then we recently had a bit of a stress because an au pair had to leave because her fianc? was suddenly seriously ill and she had to go home. At the end of the day - it is definitely a less secure form of childcare than a nursery or even nanny. They are young girls, possibly away from home for the first time, without any real commitment to stay. Going through an agency gives you some peace of mind - supposedly they have run a police check on the aupairs, but the biggest advantage is that it saves you time as they shortlist a handful,of people for you - whereas when you do it yourself you have to engage in a lot of emails, spend a lot of time trawling through responses. Ringing others for references etc. But I have to say - we have been incredibly lucky so far - both routes have yielded lovely, sweet, responsible girls. All have been amazing with the kids - very loving and caring, they all come back for visits and are now friends on Facebook. They have also all been a huge help around the house, tidying up, cleaning the kitchen, helping with washing etc - when you get it right it's like having an amazing 1950s wife. I came home tonight to a spotless house, children sitting quietly eating a delicious home cooked meal. I'm slightly in awe of our current au pair. She is much better than I am at organizing the house, taking care of them etc. Of course the golden rule is treat them really well. Pay a decent wage, pay on time, don't take advantage and expect additional work, don't treat them like servants - ultimately you will reap what you sew.

We have a really lovely new italian au pair who has just moved in with us - would love to help her find some local friends.

Hexbugs - we went to a friends house recently who has an older child and my 4 year old discovered hexbugs - completely loved them - quite a good little / not to expensive present (although they are a little freaky if you don't like bugs) - its basically a little motorised bug that tootles round - there is also something called a robofish which he was given by someone and also loved (goes in the bath and moves around like a fish!)

Did you know there was a campaign to reinstate the Peckham Rye Lido? Apparently there used to be one at the East Dulwich road end of Peckham Rye. How cool would that be - to have a Lido like Brockwell park does? I'd never heard about it before - but just saw something at the Dulwich Fair about it. Now we have a cinema - let's get a Lido too!! https://www.change.org/p/southwark-council-re-open-peckham-rye-lido?recruiter=22054042&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition