suzisoo

Hiya, I had my interview at Kingston on Wednesday. It's really relaxed and informal, the interviewers are also really nice and try their best to put you at ease - they know everyone's nervous! You go in and lay out your portfolio on the table and then each person gets a turn to talk about their work for 5 minutes. One interviewer will look through your sketchbooks, while the other will look through your portfolio. It's very conversational, no need to prepare a speech! Typical questions are, "which piece are you most proud of?" "why do you want to do a foundation course?" "which area of art and design are you most interested in and why?" "why do you want to come to kingston?" and then they'll usually pick a piece they're really interested by and ask you to explain what it's about and what the concepts you're interested in. They might throw in a quirky question as well which at first might throw you off but I think they really just want you to answer honestly so they can find out more about you. For example, a boy in my interview was interested in film so they asked "which film should I go and see this weekend?". I really wouldn't worry about it! The only preparation I would recommend is making sure you have something to say about every piece in your portfolio so that you're not put on the spot. Guaranteed you'll be questioned about the piece in your portfolio you LEAST want to talk about - well, that's what happened to me and my friends! Hope that was helpful, good luck!

My daughter had one this week. I will ask her to give you the low down when she gets in.

It was in sydenham that it happened again today.

I have been on this for about 8 weeks I have lost a stone. I am not following it so much now and am still losing weight. I think because you can more or less eat what you want on the other days food seems less of an issue and I have found I don't really crave the bad foods anymore. I have also given up meat so that probably has helped.I could of course just have a tapeworm!

Sounds like a crazy system. Schools I have worked in get the children ready , sitting down and then teacher calls each child as a parent arrives letting them out one by one. In this way any issues of the day ie complaints of tummy ache, not eating lunch etc can be mentioned to the parent/carer. For the first few days parents do come into the classroom in the mornings, but it is only while they are settling in. From very early on we encourage the children to be independant regarding collecting their belongings.Find out if the other reception class do the same as schools usually have the same procedures regarding picking up/dropping off. It does not sound like a good method to me, how can the teacher possibly be able to see who is coming and going.

As a teaching assistant we all do a lunchtime duty in the dinner halls and playground. At no time would children be left unattended ( serving staff do not supervise the children). In fact our new reception children have extra staff on duty to get them used to the routine, and we are always around to check they have eaten their food. Also they are all led out to the playground together so no one goes astray. Check with your daughter again to make double sure she was left on her own, she may have gone off by herself and panicked when she couldn't find her way. If she is adamant she was left on her own, then you need to go into the school and ask them what happened.

Thankyou will give them a ring in the morning.

My son is coming to london tomorow to try and locate a micro scooter for my grandson, anyone know where they may have one local?

My husband would cry if he DIDN'T get chillies on his meals. He is obsessed with the things, everything I cook he sprinkles raw scotch bonnets on it, every sandwich is laced with it, they almost make my ears bleed when I sneak a bite. His taste buds must be shot !

The same thing happened to me twice due to my husbands work ( or lack of it). Each time the school allowed us to pay in arrears but come the end of the school year we had to settle the balance or take her out of school. I think this was fair as it allowed us to let her finish the year without interrupting her education and then we had the choice to take her out at the end of term or pay the balance without getting further into debt.

Cactus, I grew up with the hardboiled egg thing. Boiled in beetroot or the onions then on easter sunday took it up the glen and rolled from the highest hill. Guess it must be a northern thing never knew about chocolate eggs until we moved down to sarf london. Our neighbours would have heaps of them, I felt I had been cheated for years! (almost as bad as finding out the streets were not paved of gold in London)

I got a ticket last month here, I normally stop during the day but it was after 4 and didn't realise parking restrictions were in force. It was a traffic warden not a camera, have to say ?63.95 for a pack of pasta was a bit steep even for the deli!

I have brought up 3 children albeit working part-time but have always had a well run household. The main thing is not to let things pile up or else the job will seem too much to tackle. Have lots of baskets around to store things like electric chargers etc. A lost property basket for anything not in its right place and go through it every couple of weeks. Sort out paperwork once a week. Fold up dry washing and often it will not need so much of an ironing. Do one room a week until you get on top of things. Have a 'ten minute tidy' where every one has to clear up as much as they can, its amazing what can be achieved in this time, especially if the children want to want to get it done before a certain tv programme. Also give yourself a target time, I often allow my self a couple of hours to see how much I can get done. I have done lots of decluttering for other people and at the moment get someones house ready when they have an estate agent viewing.If anyone would like me to come and give advice or declutter feel free to give me a ring on 07804 779759 Susan. Oh and in case your'e wondering, yes i do have the food tins in neat rows and everything in the airing cupboard is folded neatly!

I am one of the ones who force a smile when the wine gets given as i don,t drink and it will end up on the tombola stall. I would love to get a panetone or any fancy pasta from the italian deli, nice chocolate ( not the everyday stuff) pens and post its go down well. Steer clear of the smellies and candles as we get overloaded. Never ever give a two for one meal offer given free in a newspaper (yes it happens) or you will be the talk of the staffroom!

I parked in this road two weeks ago for about 20 minutes as I was waiting for my daughter who was visiting a resident.I noticed that drivers were driving at high speeds down this road and overtaking where the roads were narrow. I was so concerned that I got out of the car to make sure it was clear for my teenager to cross, so i am not surprised to hear of these accidents.

some- one knocked over in forest hill, air ambulance attended. The resulting back log of traffic was horrendous.

I am addicted to having my hair coloured, every 6 weeks. If you have been before your colour should be on their records. Ring and explain the situation, maybe the mix was not correct. It is easy for them to get the mix ratio round the wrong way if they are very busy, it has nearly happened to me a few times. A good salon will not charge you to rectify it, they want to keep your custom, let them know. By the way i havent used this salon so my experiences are not with them.

If you pay upfront then when it comes to doing the job it wont have the same incentive, part of my reason for doing it is that i know i will have cash at the end of the job so it spurs me on if i start to flag. I dont think i'd want to be cleaning if i had no money to look forward to at the end as i had already spent it. Once in an emergency situation is okay but not as a regular thing.

I have been a cleaner on and off for years, I have a job in education but do this for extra pocket money. I usually step in when a regular cleaner is off ill. I am amazed at what some cleaners get away with, i can see that some of the dirt has been untouched for some time and yet the client still pays for them to come weekly. I would always find something else to fill in the time, maybe a few windows or cleaning out a cupboard. I think 3 hours is enough to do a 3 bed house plus extra for ironing. 4 hours should get your whole house cleaned unless you are very very messy. There is no excuse for her to do only 2 hours, there is no way you could do a good job in that time. However i did once finish ten minutes early on a job so i could get to a school concert and was deducted for the 10 minutes! I do think some cleaners take on too many jobs and try to get too many done in one day so they are in a rush to get to the next one and probably don't do as good a job. I think domestic cleaners are very well paid, its cash in hand and i could actually earn more if i did it full time rather than the job i am in now which is paye. Stop letting her rip you off!

Why does everyone now go around saying 'Really?' in answer to things they might find unbeleivable?

I don't have a larder but my childhood memories were a dish of cold mince with the white layer of fat on top which my dad would put in a sandwich (!) the frying pan with a layer of lard, ready for re-use but with a set of mouse footprints running across it.

This made me laugh so much, I also wonder whether the hospital staff would hold the baby to ransom until you produced a car seat. i think a baby can go in a taxi without restraint if there is no other alternative, I let my son hold his daughter once while i ran them to the station but i was frantic something might happen. Also trusting someone you have never driven with before to drive you home would be a worry, also the taxi driver may not be comfortable with this. I am sure someone on this forum will lend you one nearer the time and then just get someone to bring it into hospital on the day.It really is not worth taking the risk. Good luck.

Are there any parents whose daughters have been to Capital VIP Balls, they are organised for 14+ for children from independant schools. My daughter has asked to go to one this xmas, I would welcome any feedback from parents as I know there are a lot of independant schools in the area, I am a bit worried as its the first time she would be out at such an event.

Yes i agree went in last week ,he was being very rude to a couple who were unsure about how to go about buying curtains as it was something they had never bought before, he seemed uninterested in their opinions, he then barked at me as i was holding a wet umbrella, i wanted to leave but i was desperate for some trimmings. When it was my turn to be served i explained what i was going to be doing and could he recommend what i would need to buy (re-covering a chair) he said " how do i know what you need, its not me doing it" he then started talking to an elderly lady sitting at the back in a foriegn accent, i then adopted my best cockney accent saying "sort me out mate, just give me some of that there, i'm not worried about the cost i just want to get the job done" to which he replied, " no that is too expensive for what you need it for " and gave me a much cheaper product which has indeed done the job. He then said a very kind goodbye, but i will not go in there again. How bizzare! It was as if felt inferior by a posh accent.

we have had foxes for years never bothered our cat, but twice in 6 weeks our cat has been attacked the fox even tried to get in the cat flap even tho i was banging on the window . Emergency vet bill has made me realise that it is not safe anymore to let her out at night. The vet even asked if we had had her immunised against rabies!