clux

The driving school is always really popular - it's the first thing we head for.

You can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to buy a daily pass. Or as it gets into Spring lots of places seem to give away 2 for 1 vouchers (WHSmith and Mothercare definitely did it last year as I collected some) We went last summer and nearly everyone in the queue had some kind of voucher to use. Its hideously expensive - and really really busy in school holidays. The kids love it though!

But Emily, nobody knows what you're talking about!! You keep talking about the police and a parent governor being persecuted (which makes Goodrich sounds like the most unpleasant school I have ever heard of to be honest - not sure if thats what you're actually trying to achieve) but unless you have children at Goodrich this is not going to make any sense. Shouldn't you be having this discussion with people at Goodrich??

I'm finding this whole thread really strange. I have no idea what anyone is trying to achieve.

My two daughters are both hideously carsick. We put up with it until the eldest was 3 and then started giving her joyrides which have always worked thank goodness. With our youngest I went to see our GP when she was about 20 months old as she was being sick every time we got in a car (which luckily isn't that often as we don't drive in London, only when we're going away for weekends etc) and he prescribed Phenergan. They are supposed to be 2 when they take it but he let her have it as a one off at 22 months as we had a very long car journey to deal with. They take it the night before and then you can repeat the dose the following morning. She's now about to turn 3 and its been 100% successful so far. Hope you find something that works for you as I know only too well how unpleasant it is. You are very brave to be tackling that mountain coach ride!!!

Try giving Margaret at Superkids Swimming a call. They have lessons on Saturday in Nunhead. My daughter has been going for a year and all the instructors are brilliant. 020 8651 2002

You have my complete sympathy - I have a 5 year old who has been ill since the week before Christmas (and I seem to be getting everything she gets too!) Proper full on flu, then a crampy stomach bug thing last week and now a hacking cough and a tight chest and wheeziness. Off to the doctor this morning. Somehow my 2 year old is avoiding it all!

Barry Thank you so much for looking into it for me. I can definitely confirm that the problem is still occurring as my husband had the same problem on 2nd Jan and spoke to Oyster (again) about it and they refunded his penalty charge. It's the barrier going through to the Jubilee Line which has the problem. The staff seem to be completely aware of it.

Thank you Barry One little thing that has now been niggling me for a year - when i travel to London Bridge on the train and then swap to the underground i have to go through the large gate that a member of staff has to open for me as i have a pram with me. EVERYTIME i swipe my oyster card there it thinks i'm going out not in and fines me. I have mentioned this to the staff there dozens of times and months ago stopped using that oyster reader and instead insisting that they let me use a different one. They are obviously aware of the problem but nothing has been done about it in a whole year. I have also spoken to the Oyster Customer Services about it on numerous occasions. Barry, I know the Underground isn't your department but do you have any idea what I can do to get this sorted please?

They knocked on my door and were very upfront about showing their ID and very polite when I said I wasn't interested as we already had loft insulation..... She explained that they were part of a government programme to offer grants to people who didn't have a certain thickness of loft insulation and that they would be in the area for the next few days. Not sure if its a con or not, but she certainly wasn't remotely pushy or unpleasant so it was very simple to say no thankyou.

Hello I have two very very travel sick daughters but we've managed to find them both a solution that works. From the age of about 16 months both of them started being sick in cars - sometimes after only about 10 minutes - and going anywhere became very stressful. I thank god we live in London and can use trains and tubes and buses!! Anyway, eldest daughter has been taking JoyRide tablets every time we go on a car trip since she turned 3 and has never been sick since. Littlest daughter has been prescribed Phenergan by our GP. I went to see him when she was about 20 months as we had a big trip coming up and he said although it should only really be used by over 2's he could let us use it as a one off. And again since using it she has never been sick. You have to take it the night before and can then have another dose the following day. Not entirely sure how it works, just incredibly grateful that it does!! For a long time every car trip we went on smelt of sick!!

We're more Nunhead than ED but my daughter does Aikido on a Thursday and swimming on a Wednesday (lessons are also on Thursdays and Saturday)

My daughter started reception when she was 4 and a half but that was when they had a Jan intake. Her birthday is end of July so with just a Sept intake she would have started in the Sept after her 4th Birthday. As far as I know Reception has always been for 4 year olds, not 3 year olds.

Addison Lee have been very good both times I've needed a taxi to take me to hospital whilst in labour.

Hi Molly We went in September when my daughters were 5 and 2 and a half. We went with friends who had a 3 year old and a baby. My 2 year old really enjoyed it. There were enough rides that she was able to go on and she really loved all the parades and shows. I on the other hand found it totally exhausting and manic and after 3 days was completely disney-ed out!!

I second what craigy said - the food is a complete rip off and really quite horrible! We ended up in McDonalds one night as we'd realised that burgers and chips seemed to be the standard offering wherever you went but at least we wouldn't have to pay 25 euros for a kids meal of horrible processed chicken By the way I am not a food snob by any means and have no objection to the odd burger or chicken nuggets, but they really are rubbish at disneyland!

I am also slightly concerned that all the hire cars might not be in the right places. Its not unusual for the car rental places to not have enough cars on normal weekends, let alone snowy christmas ones. Three times we've had to end up borrowing the managers car because they've run out even though we have a confirmed booking!

Hello We were meant to be hiring a car and going away to Berkshire and Oxfordshire tomorrow. But me and the kids have been struck down by the flu which means we can't go yet but I'm seriously tempted to just cancel and stay at home. My parents in Oxfordshire are currently snowed into their village, my father in law is recovering from a serious operation and really doesn't need us taking flu to his house, and all in all I'm just too ill and tired to even think about packing up the car!

I've got this flu thing too. Haven't felt this ill in years. Couldn't get out of bed yesterday but have had to today as my husband had some quite important meetings so I have 2 kids to look after! My eldest (5) has it too but to a lesser degree and she's actually being brilliant - bringing my drinks of water and entertaining my 2 year old. I am barely functioning. Everything hurts. Haven't slept for 2 nights as I can't get comfortable. Meant to be heading off for our Christmas visits to the family on Wednesday but if i still feel like this there is no way I'll be going anywhere.

When I moved my daughter to a different school (bearing in mind she had settled brilliantly and even won a star of the week certificate in her second week so i did feel major guilt about uprooting her!) I just reminded her of the school it was as she'd looked round it with me, and i said that we felt it was the very best school for her and that she would be very very happy there. She didn't know who her teacher would be or know anyone in her class but she didn't make a fuss and she settled straight in there without a problem. Kids are much more adaptable than we give them credit for.

I would go for Fairlawn. It's what your heart is telling you so go with it and you'll never regret it. He won't even remember looking round Goodrich once he's been at school for a little while. My daughter did two weeks at a school before we got offered our first choice. I moved her and she settled into the new school brilliantly. I'm really happy that she finally got into the school I love and the school that I had picked out as being the right one for her.

I have a 5 year old and she absolutely loves board games, especially Guess Who and a junior version of Cluedo called Cluedo Carnival. I've bought her Junior Monopoly for Christmas as it was very cheap in Argos! All the 5 year olds I know are quite Toy Story obsessed at the moment and there is absolutely mountains of Toy Story stuff out there Lego is always popular, and the Playmobil still gets played with loads when she has friends round, especially the vehicles and the animals.

Re: the distances of last allocated place printed in the Southwark/Lewisham brochures From what I can work out these distances seem to be the distance of the last place allocated during the FIRST round of results. We got into a school via the waiting list but the following year Lewisham still showed the distance as being under 300m whereas I know I live nearly 500m away. They don't seem to update their figures so I think in some cases catchment area is not as small as the info says it is. Obviously as a guide its incredibly useful but don't be put off if you live a bit further away than the distance given for last years applicants.

Good luck Fuschia. Keep us posted. x

It is awful!! My eldest is now in Year 1 at our first choice school but we initially didn't get any of our choices, were offered a school I would NEVER have sent my kids to, and had to start at our 4th choice for 2 weeks before getting in to our favourite. Very very stressful. How close do you live to your favourite school? Is your nearest school one you would be happy for you children to go to?