jrthomas_uk

I very recently bought a Yamaha P-45, which is their entry level 88-key digital piano. Lovely graded hammer action and all the benefits digital pianos offer as mentioned by other posters. As I wasn't sure how much the children would take to it, I didn't want to spend a fortune but I've been delighted with it. Welcome to pop round and have a play on it to see what you think!

Intermittent fault identified according to their website. Fix Reference no: F004267962 Apparently will be like this until 7th March. I've had 4 sh*te months with virgin. Never had a single issue with BT fibre and always got the speed i was paying for. Going back to BT! mistakingly tried to save about a tenner/month. Friern Road

Another burglary to report - Friern Road/Goodrich Road Junction. Forced entry via a double-locked (!!) sash window at the front of a terraced house in the middle of the night - didn't appear to come upstairs luckily where 5 of us were sleeping - none of us heard anything. Nicked my car the b*stards, and a few electronics - will post about that in separate thread. Police and CSI team have been down. Professional job in the middle of the night by someone who knew we would've been in, so they are not expecting to find any prints/DNA. The CCTV kit I bought over the weekend is still in the packaging on the lounge floor - can't believe it!!!

I've looked into it Katgod and it is doable but at a cost. Just wondered if anyone had bothered doing it given the transient nature of au-pairs

I second the Pampers bedmats. Lay them over the bottom sheet and tuck in either end. Cheaper to buy in Sainsburys.

After following this thread with much interest my family and I are going to hire an au-pair. We are excited and a little nervous about having a new person live with us. I am now just starting my search and wondered if any forumites with experience could suggest any agencies to use or if anyone has successfully registered and paid their au-pair with childcare vouchers? Any advice, interviewing tips etc would be hugely appreciated. Thx JM

I'd like to second the recommendation for Marvin. We used his building company for our loft conversion on Heber Road in 2008 and were extremely pleased with the whole process and the finished product was excellent. When we needed some more work doing on our house on Friern in 2011, we got them in again to do 2 new bathrooms, 5 bedrooms, full rewire and new boiler/central heating etc. All the trades were excellent as usual, so I'd fully recommend Marvin for all types of building works - not just lofts. Still quite often see the team around ED - they're all very reliable, local tradesmen.

The last pebbledash-fronted house I had, I rendered over it and painted it. Probs cost about ?2k all in. Painting over pebbledash could cost half as much (guessing?), but you obviously wouldn't get the smooth rendered finish. I'm not a fan of the pebbledash look, especially if there are some red/yellow London stock bricks hiding underneath. The only slight concern by taking off the pebbledash is that you might uncover the reason why it was pebbledashed over in the first place, but I doubt it'd be anything brick restoration guys couldn't sort out. Pebbledash removal & cleaning up whatever lies beneath can set you back in the region of ?2k - ?2.5k Repointing the brickwork can be anything between ?2.5k-4k depending on whether you go for decorative or standard pointing (or a mixture of both) Then painting whatever needs painting can cost another ?1k.

Another recommendation for Des. He painted/decorated the whole of my last house on Heber a few years ago and he's just finished both the inside and outside of our current house on Friern. Professional, reliable, local and a great bloke which is why we keep going back to him.

Certainly agree with Loz about avoiding the specialist loft companies - they are just playing the numbers game and once they've got the sale, you may or may not have a good experience. I'd always go for a decent builder who's well known in the area with lots of local references. Marvin also did a loft conversion for me in Heber Road. Top job and a top bloke. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him and his team.

I've used Doug Mahon before: http://www.mahonbrickwork.co.uk/ It's an expensive business, but absolutely no complaints and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

I can recommend Little Dippers. I did all 7 stages with my son, now 3, and he now has a huge amount of water confidence and can almost swim unaided. I have been taking my new daughter but recently had to stop due to recurring ear infections :-( Jelly Babies at Peckham Pulse is fab, lovely big pool and very warm. Be warned though that the Sunday morning session gets very busy and you generally need to book.

Yes Tuesday morning would have been absolutely perfect for us too, a class starting at 4.30 is just too late. I have never seen this football class advertised, perhaps if the organiser addresses this he might drum up more kids. If the class reverts back to Tuesday am I would definitely attend with my son, as it stands we don't have a class/activity on a Tuesday.

Yes Dulwich Park Runners are great (Im a member). They have various groups which run at different speeds and distances and you select which group you want to run with. They also run a beginners course to get you started if you are very new to running. They meet at 7.45pm Tuesday at the sports ground opposite the stables on Dulwich Common.

Hi, I'd love to buy this if the op doesn't want it. Thx