Love_London

Imperial China is good - not too busy, and great food.

Great to see some Forest hill mums here as well. I'm in Honor oak park and expecting my first at the end of August. Looking forward to meet you!

Thank you all so much! I'm only 16 weeks now and don't feel particularly different yet so I'll give them a call in a month or so.

If you are not after any physical exercise, you can simply do mindful meditation. There are plenty of resources online for free if you want to check it out.

Some of my friends have recommended Pregnancy (Pre Natal) massage. Is there a good place around ED, HOP for FH that I can try? Hoping I won't have to spend a fortune so would be good to get some recommendation for places with decent prices. Thanks!

Hello, I just sent a message to GlamourBug and Niwi with my email address. I'm actually in Honor Oak Park (not exactly in East Dulwich). Is it okay to join you ladies?

If you have a cleaner, how many hours per week do you use the service for? We have a 4 bedroom house but it's only me and my husband in the house and we both have full time jobs. We currently do not have a cleaner and we keep the house relatively clean at all times and we hardly use all bedrooms so I don't think we will require too many hours of cleaning service. But it will be mainly for cleaning bathrooms and kitchen. How many hours do you use it for if you are in a similar situation?

Hello all. I'm a first time mum and my due date is 26th August so at the very end of the summer. I'm still suffering with morning sickness so not really fit to join you for meet ups just yet but when i feel better, i'll join you for sure =)

Hi, Has anyone done an early scan at King's Early Pregnancy Unit? Do they usually have a long queue and do you need to wait for many hours? I was advised to have one done and not sure if I can endure many hours of waiting...

Hi, We moved into our 4 bed house about a year ago and we've been paying 41 pounds as direct debit for our water bill. Recently we received a letter saying our usage is unusually high. I got the bill a bit later and guess what, we need to pay 700 pounds in addition to the 41 pounds that we have been paying by direct debit!!! I find that extremely strange as before moving, we lived in a flat and we never paid more than 30 pounds per month for our water bill. There are just two of us in the house and we are at work 9-6 and we have decked garden so don't even use water outside. Our lifestyle has not changed at all, so I can't see how it can go up suddenly. We checked for the leak (i.e. checked water meter and it did not change for 30 mins without using any water!) Has anyone had similar experience and how did you resolve it? I cannot end up paying over 1200 pounds on water bill per year...

Thanks all for your advice! We are still thinking but this definitely has given us some direction.

Hi, I am thinking of buying a second handed car and I'm struggling to even start narrowing down my search as I don't know what I want / should go for...so I would greatly appreciate any advice you may have. I'm looking for an automatic car, and am planning to use it for the next 3-4 years and my budget is flexible but would not like to spend more than ?10k. I'm open to most brands and models but something like Golf, Audi A3, Passat, Ford Zetec etc would be good. So basically, my original budget was about ?5k and I was looking at VW Golf. I think with 5k, you can get one around 6-7 years old and about 60k miles (of course this is a rough average), which I am happy with but my friends have been telling me that i should not buy a car which is older than 5 years as I will be spending more money to fix it than the car is worth and I should rather buy a more expensive, newer car which is reliable. As I am planning to only use it for next 3-4 years and not going to drive that much, I think it makes sense to buy something newer and sell it at a decent price later. But then, if I buy a newer car, I will be spending more on Insurance. Also, not all cars which are over 5 years old break down regularly right? So my questions are... - Is the rate of price depreciation for a relatively new car bigger than for an older car? For example, if I buy a newer car at ?8000 and sell it in 3-4 years time, I could probably sell it at ?5000. If I buy an older car at ?5000 and sell it in 3-4 years time, I could probably sell it at ?3000. So is it more economical to buy an older car (under an assumption that i won't need to fix anything major during that period)? - Is it almost guaranteed that if I buy a car that is 6-7 years gold, something will go wrong and I will need to pay hefty prices to get it fixed? I know we need a crystal ball for this but would be great if you could share your experience. - Is it really risky to buy a car from a private seller? Someone said that those who sell privately don't sell through Dealers as they may want to hide something.. - I saw this thing "RAC Vehicle inspection". Thinking about doing it (costs about 250 pounds) if I decide to buy a car from a private seller. Is it worth it? Would it highlight all the red flags that I should be aware of? - How much do people usually get off the asking price through negotiation? 10%? 5%? - Lastly, Reviews on Audi were not that great when I looked online... If you own an Audi or used to, would you recommend it? Apologies if my questions are all over the places. I'm not familiar with cars and in a way, i think buying a car is more difficult than buying a house! Many thanks for your help in advance.

I have a conservatory which is very cold in winter and although I understand that it is not an extension and it can't be as warm as another part of the house, I would like to use it as much as possible, if not all year around. Has anyone done conservatory roof insulation like this one? http://www.insulatedconservatories.com/insulated-ceiling/4577674191 I received a quote and although I think it is overpriced, I would do it if it is going to make a significant difference. Am really interested in how much difference it made for anyone who got it done. Or if you have any other ideas, would greatly appreciate them!

Many thanks for all your replies. We are not really advanced users and I don't even know what Final Cut is =) With mixed reviews, I guess we will continue to ponder!

Hi, My husband and I are thinking of buying a new desktop and my husband says we should go for iMac. I know it is better looking, almost virus-free, better for photo or video editing. But is it really worth the extra money we need to pay? I've seen the newest Windows PC models and many of them have touch screens which I love. If you have used both, would greatly appreciate any advice!

Thank you. I will check their website too!

We are in honor oak park area and woke up this morning to no water. Does anyone know what is happening and how long it will last?

I am thinking of adding another radiator in my living room as even with the current one fully on, I feel that the room is not warm enough... I know the average cost of radiator, but I haven't got a clue how much it costs for the installation. I'm sure it depends on where the pipe is running, etc, but if I get it installed at the most convenient spot, it is quite an easy job that can be done in couple of hours? How much should I expect to pay for the installation, less than 100, 100-200, or over 200? Any advice would be appreicated!

Hi, Could someone please let me know how much it costs from HOP station to London Victoria on Southern train (one way)? I was wondering if it is much more expensive than taking Overground train to Canada Water - Jubilee - Circle/District line although trainw will be much faster. Thanks!!

Hi We live in Honor Oak Park and usually do our grocery shopping at the small Sainsbury's next to the station. Although shopping at Sainsbury's is convenient, I am looking for some other options as I find their ranges limited and sometimes over priced. Could you please recommend other grocery shops, butchers, fish mongers, etc around the area and also let me know where/when food markets take place? Thanks all!

Thank you very much!

Hi, I need to buy a TV aerial and I read through some online reviews and general view is that indoor aerial doesn't really work unless your location is very close to the transmitter. Has anyone in Honor Oak Park area used an indoor aerial and how is your TV signal? If I get an external one, do I have to get an installer to do it or is it possible to do it myself?

Thanks all for helpful messages! Days have gone slightly warmer so I am not as freezing as before but I am trying to get ready for real winter now. My house is north facing and I found that it is one of the major reasons why it is so cold. My previous flat was east facing and got so much sunlight in the morning to warm up the place. I just hope I won't be hit with over 100 pounds per month bills!

I recently moved from a flat which was a new build and also an eco friendly building. It had an amazing insulation and there were only couple of days in a year when we needed to turn on heating. Otherwise we were okay with wearing just another layer of clothes in cold days. And we moved to a semi detached house and I find the whole house freezing cold... Floors (wooden) are so shockingly cold and without heating on, my hands are so cold that I cannot even type a text!! My house is only 7 years old and I didn't expect it to be so cold when I bought it =( My question is... Do you actually turn the heating on everyday (or every evening) during the winter period (i.e. from Nov - Feb)? How much should I expect to pay a month for my utilities bill? And also, I believe using radiator is the cheapest option for heating rather than using electrical heaters right? I am thinking of installing plinth heater or buying some fan heaters but not sure if it's a good idea... Would appreciate any advice! PS - we have done all draft closing and also loft is properly insulated.

I experienced a nightmare commute this morning (and yesterday) on the Overground from Honor Oak Park to Canada Water. I was squashed so hard that I almost could not breathe!!! Has it been this bad all along or do you feel that it's gotten worse recently? It would really help if they run more frequent service at least during the peak hours. Do you know who we need to raise/escalate this to so that we can ask for a more frequent service? Also, the escalator at Canada Water station to Jubilee line..... I wonder why they cannot use both escalator so that they go down rather than one up and one down in the morning. At the moment, the commute is just about bearable but I am concerned that it will get worse as more and more people are moving into the FH and HOP area...