joshR

We bought a 2 bed period place in Honor Oak in 2012 and recently sold up and moved on... Based on both ours and other recently sold properties on the road, prices went up 80% in that time. Most of that growth was in the first two years though and it does seem as if things have hit a bit of a ceiling around there with stagnation and some signs of drops also.

Surprised to see people being critical of 38 Degrees. For quite a while they've seemed like the closest I get to taking part in a democracy. They run well informed campaigns about national issues and seem to have a decent track record of effecting change. Yes they cover a lot of ground, but that's more a symptom of how much there is that's wrong with the way the country is currently run than anything else!

We just had a small shower room designed for our loft (I think about 1.8m x 2.something) and Tony of Bells on Lordship Lane did a fantastic job of designing it as I was tearing my hair out with unhelpful high street stores. I went in and they sat me down and did a CAD for me and then within my budget were able to direct me to choose the fittings while taking account my must haves (eg big shower with sliding door but no dust traps and creaky mechanisms; concealed toilet cistern and sink)and suggesting nice extras like a big wall to wall mirror to make the space feel bigger. As they are independent they have a huge range of choices so were able to find me fittings that matched our dimensions and style perfectly. What I hadnt realised is that with bathrooms, you can pretty much always find something in the dimension you want if you know where to look eg they found me a nice low profile shower tray at 1800x600 but I could have got it in 1500x600, 1400x600 and so on. There was no obligation to buy but i was more than happy to, given the level of care they took over the design (several hours!) I don't know how the price compared to high street stores but it was within the budget I gave them. Now I just can't wait for it to be finished and have chosen neutral tiles from Topps Tiles.

We love our manduca and it can have crossed straps as well. I carry my 18month old in it for long walks. Because of how the straps adjust, it means that front and back carries are equally easy but I imagine back carries in a beco or ergo would be slightly harder to tighten straps from (but I haven't tried!). We started off with a beco Gemini which we loved and LO lived in it from 2 weeks old! The one sling I can't live without however, is my solarweave connecta, which we upgraded from baby to toddler size as its so invaluable to us and packs up small to ferry around under the buggy if we're having a buggy day (LO now very, very keen on her 'buddy'!) or goes in handbag when she's walking. We got into woven wraps at 8 months which is a dangerous road unless you have lots of money to spend!

Given Victorian 2 beds in Honor Oak are selling for north of ?525K, would 2 bed new builds be any cheaper in ED. I'd imagine the price premium of the location trumps Victorian vs. New Build considerations when it comes to prices?

Honor Oak Park rather the ED, but we bought a Victorian 2 bed half house for ?320k less than 2yrs ago and now there are 3 properties, near identical to ours, that went on the market a week or two ago for ?550k and all are now under offer. Obviously I don't know the level of these offers are but you'd imagine not that far under asking given the speed of acceptance... all 3 in good condition but no obvious major work done to them... Even a sale price of ?50k under asking, so in the region of ?500k, would be a 55% increase - similar to the Nunhead example given above. Offers at asking price would be more like 65% increases! It's a frightening pace of change but in comparison to other local areas e.g. ED, Nunhead, Peckham, HOP seems relatively good value even at these new higher prices and it seems there's no shortage of people prepared to pay them.

She's not mucusy unless she's got a cold although she does have one quite often! I went to a different GP yesterday after one of our worst nights ever. He was dismissive of the food intolerances but said it sounded like silent reflux and has given me ranitidine to try for 2 weeks and then a review with a referral if we still have problems. I did suspect SR when she was younger but was dismissed as wind and colic by a couple of doctors and sent on my way... It would also make sense that she comfort feeds so much and sleeps badly when flat, to the point where she only realy naps in a sling and now occasionally the buggy. He said not to eliminate dairy at this point as he wants to see what is having an effect. I have read that dairy intolerance and SR are often linked so this is a little frustrating as surely eliminating an offending food from her diet is more productive than medicating, but I'm willing to give this a go and see what happens next. She did actually sleep very well last night after the first two doses. He also said that nurofen we were giving her for teething would probably exacerbate it and she's been having it quite frequently recently, and also that the worsening of symptoms when she's eaten wheat could be because it is digested more slowly so it sits in the stomach and causes the reflux.

Thank you for your help everyone. I've been convinced all this time she was sensitive to wheat but maybe dairy is a possibility. I actually feel quite guilty I've been carrying on all this time because i thought it was teething or the GP insisted 'she'll grow out of it' but it is actually worsening. We've had some of our worst nights recently. I will try to get a GP appt next week and be more insistent on further investigations. I've also heard that nanny goats milk can be gentler and am wondering now she is 1 if I should switch to that instead of cows milk? And if I should wait to do all this until I've seen a dietician? Re the probiotics, do I get them from a health food shop or do they need to be prescribed?

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of night time tummy pain or trapped wind in a 1yr old. We're getting very disrupted sleep on nights when she suffers with this (usually a few nights in a row every few weeks, but recently it has been much more frequent). She can be up every hour - clearly in pain, writhing, arching her back, crying and initially I can breastfeed/comfort feed her back to sleep for an hour or so but then she gets more and more discomfort until we need to walk around with her in a sling some nights. She clearly wants to sleep because she is doing all this writhing and crying half asleep and nods off quickly if we bf/hold/sling her (we co-sleep) but then wakes up again not long after. She's also very farty but does not seem to be constipated. The doctor has said it could be colic/trapped wind and has given us infacol at 5x the newborn dose. She didn't have colic as a baby but was quite windy. In the day she is very jolly, active, bright and generally seems to be thriving. She eats quite well but recently has been a bit fussier. I've found that wheat exacerbates it and give her gluten free bread etc, but she's now been off wheat for several weeks and the problem has arisen again. Just a bit at a wits end with the multitude of things it could be or that we can do to help and don't really know where to start! Oh and she has formula during the day. I tried her on cows milk but she a) didn't like it and b) developed a tummy upset in the following days so I thought I wouldn't bother introducing it again until her tummy troubles are resolved. She does however love other dairy like yoghurt and cheese. Thanks in advance!

I just bought a little lamb babywearing fleece which is not bad. It is suitable for front or back carries. It has an extra roomy bit for the baby and slit to poke their head out of. It's not the most glamorous item of clothing but I really feel the cold so I need to know I'll be warm... I also use my maternity coat which is a swing style coat and does up around both of us with an extra button I added (my LO is 1 so not tiny anymore!)

Stag and Bow in Forest Hill

I had a terrible experience with a spray tan! It was before my wedding. I went for a trial run a few weeks beforehand to see how it would look and it was lovely - no problems at all, perfect to take the edge off my pale skin for a winter wedding. So I went back to the same place in ED a few days before my wedding. After a few hours, i started feeling itchy and hot, especially behind knees, inside elbows, neck etc. it got worse and worse and I decided to shower off the stuff before the allocated time had passed. that night the itching and burning got progressively worse and I was feeling not only uncomfortable but quite upset at the prospect of being an itchy red mess on my wedding day as it was also by then spreading to my face, neck and chest area. The next day we were setting off early to drive to the north of England to prepare the wedding venue, so I ran to sainsburys pharmacy at 7am and got antihistamines and calamine cream. I took as much as I was allowed and stopped at motorway services every couple of hours with hubby-to-be to apply the calamine to hard to reach bits! My face by then was itchy and blotchy with some swelling. Luckily, within 24 hours it had all passed and I still had a couple of days to go for the wedding, so all I suffered was very dry skin for quite some time and a rather stern lesson learnt about trying to beautify myself with chemicals! I think I also enjoyed the wedding more because of the relief it was all ok in the end. So - even if you do a test run, don't assume all will be ok. I don't have any other allergies and am not usually sensitive to products except for having dry skin. Also, disappointingly, the owner of the salon never bothered to call me back when I rang to tell them what had happened. A friend has told me it is possible the fake tan solution had gone off.

I bought one from Amazon, think it is a Kaiser one and it fits both my maxicosi and bugaboo bee. It doesn't fit perfectly - sort of rucks a bit at the side where it follows the bend of the car seat now I've taken out the newborn insert, but is absolutely fine. It definitely makes a difference temperature-wise.

I can Beat 2 weeks or 4 weeks... A nurse on the postnatal ward saw my 1 day old baby asleep on exhaisted but elated daddy's Chest. She told him, put the baby in a cot, she'll get used to sleeping on you!! Needless to say, my 6 month old still has every nap on me, next to me, carried in a sling by me and I love every minute. She goes down just fine in her cot at bedtime and we cosleep from about midnight so that's the night wakes taken care of. Just do what works for you...And believe me, those six months have flown by.

I am also a crafter. I mainly make wedding jewellery (tiaras etc...) but I also dabble in card making, paper crafts, jewellery, sewing and sock animals. I had signed up for the crochet course at moo too this spring but it unfortunately got cancelled. I'd be interested to hear of craft related activities going on and especially new skills as I seem to have a lot of stuff that's yet to be made into things, eg. Candle making equipment, quilting bits and pieces and so on!

Thanks for all your advice. We've actually now got a couple of weeks overlap between the move and the end of our current tenancy which will make the process a bit easier as we can do it in small bits.

Thanks pickle, I would like to only do that as a last resort because they hated going to a cattery last time, but if that one comes recommended I will certainly bear it in mind.

Hi, we're due to move house in a few weeks to somewhere quite local and I just wanted to ask for some advice on how best to move our cats so that they stay happy and safe. I know that once we are moved in, we need to keep them in for at least 2 weeks so they get familiar with their new surroundings but I'm more worried about the move day itself. We've already got some plug-in feliway in the current house we live in to keep them calm while all the packing and boxes are coming out and will be putting feliway in the new house too. They are both a bit nervy in their own ways and don't like change. On the move day itself, my plan was to put them in their cat box before anything is loaded into the van and take them across last in our car. I don't have a room in my current place to lock them in as it's a one bed flat so all rooms will be in use and I also don't want them running out of the front door while we load boxes. So keeping them confined in their cat box, even if it is for several hours, seems the most sensible option. Or the alternative is to take them across first and lock them in the second bedroom of the new house so that we can unload and unpack and just avoid that room until the very end. However, that means they will probably be there on their own in strange surroundings with lots of banging and unloading going on. Also I would be worried about them accidentally escaping from that room (for animals with non-opposable thumbs, they are very good at opening doors!) and getting terrified in their new surroundings. Does anyone have any advice? My best scenario would be to have them stay at a friends for a couple of days but I don't really know anyone suitable locally as they have allergies or little babies or very small houses. Thanks for your help!