Mrs TP

Thanks - I did the hot water thing first time and half the jelly melted even though I felt it had barely been in it for any length of time. Just pouring the kettle over it sounds promising ...

I have a lovely glass rabbit jelly mould but am not having much success in turning the jelly out - how do you do it and keep the shape intact?

I did once see a Tesco home delivery van making its way to a lodge on arrivals day and was majorly impressed by whoever had organised that.

We have also been to Longleat several times with our brood. The swimming is free and great and probably worth being nearer that end. There is a free train that goes around every 20mins or so, which you can hop on and tour the whole site or get from A to B. Again would echo do not overbook activities as it does end up like boot camp. Lodges we have stayed in have been well equipped and v. clean and have a cot if needed. Usually a dvd player so you can take your own dvds if necessary. I would take some basic self-catering stuff from home - matches (for gas oven / hob), washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs, tea, coffee etc. There is a well stocked supermarket on site, which is fine and comparable with London prices but still I would suggest taking stuff from home - pasta, tom ketchup etc. I like the Grand Cafe best for eating out, standard pub fair but best quality food on site - also Ortega, Cafe Rouge and Strada. Hucks appears to be v. child friendly (all restaurants are but Hucks has an extra play den area) but the food quality is lacking. Dress casual everywhere. If your car is full up on the way you can also hire a buggy there. Take a lock for your buggy we had a maclaren nicked from the pram park at the swimming one year. Do book the activities / restaurants in advance as they do sell out especially at busy times. Also been to the Safari Park a couple of times. Go early as they randomly shut it for odd hours when it gets too busy. You can feed deer out of the car window at one point (with food you buy there) and this has given us one of the best comedy moments ever when a rather large deer practically kissed my hysterical 4yr old. She probably didn't find it as funny as the rest of us did! It is not my idea of the holiday of a life time but it is great with the kids. Walk round the grounds also - huge redwood trees to look at and plenty of wildlife, deer, frogs etc. My hubbie claims to have seen a badger outside our lodge one night but I'm still doubtful ... You can do it cheap when you are there by taking your food from home and sticking to the swimming. Also take chalk - most lodges have a big blackboard on the wall for the kids.

Just to let you know you can get 10% discount in the Horniman Museum shop if you show your aquarium annual pass. I was there yesterday with my brood, all spending the last few pounds of their Christmas money. My eldest (10) went to the till first, paid for her goods with me immediately behind her supervising my two younger children with their purses. Just as she was getting her change my eldest noticed the poster saying 10% off for annual pass holders. We had bought our pass about an hour earlier. My daughter showed me the poster and I showed the assistant our pass and asked if she could give her the 10% off. The assistant said it was too late as the transaction had already gone through the till but she did give it to my other two children who were yet to pay. I complained re the unfairness and the fact she had not asked if we were pass holders - she could see us all together and me caught up supervising the younger ones as my older daughter paid. The assistant shrugged and said there were posters up advertising it and that it was too late. I was getting nowhere with her and so just made sure I told the next customer to show her pass and then complained to the main museum desk. They made a note of my complaint but said the shop was a separate organisation run by Museum of London and so all they could do would be to pass the complaint on to the shop manager next time she was in. We are only talking about 50p but what really got my goat was the unfairness for my older daughter and the rude indifference of the shop assistant. Anyway make sure you flash your passes to get your discount!

Oh dear what a desperately sad time for you all. I would echo Fuschia's original post and say that children, however sensitive, do tend to be very factual about death at a young age and want the specifics and may continue to talk about it for quite a long time. When our girls were pre-schoolers and several distant but constant relatives in their lives died we explained it in terms of 'their batteries had run out and couldn't be replaced'. There was still an element of them not quite understanding that they wouldn't see the person again and so we had to repeat conversations and reassurances. Best wishes Mrs TP

Controversial perhaps - a designer leather belt to aim to get back into post baby (needs to be a realistic sz).

My year 6 child came home from school yesterday and told me that a girl in her year (whose father is C of E clergy) announced at school yesterday that she has received a letter from St Saviour's and St Olave's confirming she does have a place at the school for Sept 2012. Meanwhile the rest of us have to wait until 01 March to hear what school we have been allocated. Am I missing some crucial info that would make this situation seem a lot fairer than it seems?

When Jenny was campaigning in the elections last year she knocked on my door and told me to vote for her 'because the others had been in too long and it was someone else's turn'. Not the most compelling reasoning I had ever heard. I think she must have got confused with waiting for a turn on the swings in the park.

Kingsdale must be near you if you that near Charter also Sydenham School which is a state girls school and not to be confused with Sydenham High which is a private girls school. Look on the Lewisham and Southwark websites there are others hiding around that you just probably haven't come across.

From your list I like Poppy and Maisie, again not Madison - just not keen on anything that could also perhaps be a surname. Not planning on having any more myself but if I did I quite like Betsy or Patsy but maybe too many S sounds with the Susannah oh also like Annie - v. traditional name but not bumped into any little Annies in ED. Good luck with the pregnancy and have fun with the name choosing.

Defo a geographic reference. V. happy with my SE15 abode.

They charge to remove it from your garden - we had one removed about 4/5yrs ago and it was about ?30. The council guys that did it said I should have dumped it on the street as they collect those on public highways for free.

That's a very kind thing to say Minkey - thank you. The pizza guy's awareness really averted a much worse scenario.

We could face turkey no more and succumbed to Dominos pizza last night. When I opened the door to the delivery guy he was quite agitated and asked if I would call the police as he suspected a group of youths hanging about across the road were about to rob him. I looked across the road and glanced a group of 4/5 teenagers, at least one girl, hanging about but one guy had broken away from them and was making a definite bee-line towards the delivery guy's moped. I let the delivery guy in and shut the door, called my hubbie who went out to look and he saw the group making a hasty retreat down a nearby road. We can only guess they were scared off as I did let the delivery guy in and maybe thought I was going to call the police. We waited for a while to make sure they were truly gone and then my hubbie went out with the delivery guy to his moped and watched him go safely on his way. Too much excitment for what we hoped would be a quite relaxing evening but just to say please do be aware of who is hanging around and what is going on. This was East Dul end of Bellenden.

My daughter also 3 in Feb has just been on anti-b for an ear infection. I bought a packet of jelly sweets, let her choose one and hold it in her hand each time I poured the medicine out. Then gave her the medicine and immediately she swallowed it she was allowed to eat the sweet. At one point towards the end of the course she gave me the sweet back as she didn't want it but still had the medicine.

I've no idea what could happen and am not suggesting anything could, just made me squeamish and normally I am quite relaxed with my nearest and dearest just not so with strangers. Also quite surprised to see this is the norm and accepted. In contrast, I have never tried the whole fish eating your foot thing but am totally relaxed about that but have seen various health concerns re that for humans and the fish. To Captain Scarlet - eyebrow threading is plucking eyebrow hairs between strands of cotton wound tightly together rather than using tweezers.

Fluffy I did wonder if it was to hold the thread taught and watched for some time and sure enough they eventually released the bit in their mouths and wound it down to wrap around the eyebrows and had a new bit in the mouths - shudder not for me.

I was doing a bit of a Christmas dash through Bromley Glades today when I noticed an eyebrow threading booth type thing. Three ladies were all having their eyebrows done and I noticed that the women doing it were holding the about to be used spare thread in their mouths. Now I am all for sharing my hubbies toothbrush from time to time and think nothing of taking a swig from my kids drinks etc but they are my nearest and dearest. Is it really common practice to pay someone to wipe their spit on your eyebrows? Made me shudder.

I spoke to the legit builders at the house undergoing development later in the afternoon and they told me there were no problems with the drains and Thames Water had not been round.

A doll with feeding bottle, nappies, buggy etc - I know not to everyone's taste. I had one girl who wasn't into dolls and two who are.

A guy knocked at our door around 9.30am this morning and claimed to be from Thames Water investigating blocked drains at a property a few doors up that is undergoing substantial refurbishment and always has an army of workman buzzing around it. He was a white guy in hid mis 30's, 5'8 to 5'10 well built, short brown hair and wearing a yellow high vis waistcoat and clutching some dirty tools - one looked like a small garden dibber. He wanted to come in and look at our drains. I asked for ID and he didn't have any but claimed his Thames Water van was parked up the road. I told him I still wasn't going to let him in and that actually the drains ran the other way (which if he was legit he should have known). Have told the police and they going to have a look around for him. Just to everyone to beware - he was a bit of a comedy workman clutching an odd selection of tools and no ID.

Thanks James an acknowledgement of email receipt is always welcome if it will take some time to respond in full.

We breathe out when any bin is collected and immediately fill it with all that being stored in the house - recycling, food waste or green bin stuff - this is more than half full within 3 days of being collected. David Cameron promised a re-introduction of weekly bin collection - bollocks like the rest of his crap ... and James Barber when are you going to respond to the separate email I sent you re getting a pitch on Northcross Road Market? You are prominent on here but not so quick at responding to your emails.

The whole pilot business seems to be aimed at the council and whether or not things work for them and/or need tweaking not for us residents as users of the various services. The bags without handles are a pain, splitting or ripping if you try and stretch them over the mouth of the kitchen cadi or when you tie them up. Can't quite believe my original post has generated all this discussion but also glad not just us producing so much recycling and struggling with those silly food bags.