Gerrard

One more vote of recommendation and praise for the Spin Doctor! Very efficient service at a reasonable price, thank you very much indeed.

Hi Sue, I haven't had a landline for over ten years now and have not missed it. I must have saved a small fortune in line rental and other associated (unnecessary) charges, but the best thing is I have not been disturbed at home by unwanted sales calls or phishing attempts. I think mobile phones generally seem to be getting cheaper to own, particularly if you keep an eye on when the contract expires and you can go SIM-only (so many people I know don't do this and continue to pay contract fees). I say take the leap, I am sure you wont regret it.

Sorry, I believe that was the cost for two (or perhaps three, I don't recall) visits.

Off the top mf my head, I think it was about ?20 to pressure clean both of our bins. They were positively gleaming in the sunshine for the remainder of the Summer...

Sorry, but the job required more than a simple rinse out. I don't have any pressure hose equipment, nor the inclination to scrub away at dog poo on my Saturday afternoon. The quote was inexpensive so made perfect sense to me, but each to their own.

I think these firms provide a great service. Last year, a thoughtful dog owner decided our wheelie bin was a great place to dispose of dog excrement. The bag must have split as we had to put up with a terrible smell in our front garden. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on scrubbing that out during my all too brief free time at the weekend and was extremely grateful to the wheelie bin cleaners (Enviro-Solve on 020 3376 7421) that came and did an excellent job.

A few years ago, I was told by a policeman that if you changed lanes whilst in the restricted zone the cameras were unable to record your average speed. Not to be relied on though as I suspect that technology has since caught up with this glitch.

Nandos. I love chicken and spicy food, but I can never get excited about going to Nandos. The chicken is okay at best but generally just mediocre, the chips are appalling and their rice concoction thing that I have tried as a substitute is distinctly average.

The Worlds End - awful, terrible film. Under the Skin - a second stinker in recent years from Scarlett Johansson

This has probably been mentioned before, but I am hearing it more and more... The letter 'h' being pronounced "Haitch" rather than "aitch". Please, stop it.

Mary Ann Hobbs on 6 Music. Always irritating but particularly when she laughs to herself.

I left ED two years ago for the better value of Honor Oak Park. In its defence, HOP has some great restaurants for a relatively small area - Donde, Babur, Le Querce and Sodo Pizza are all in a different league. It is far from dull and I hardly ever feel the need to return to Lordship Lane. Transport links are much better than either WD or ED too.

What a load of scaremongering rubbish. I would advise against running with your headphones with music on full blast to provide some awareness of your surroundings and obstacles you may encounter, but not wearing them in case you get attacked - come off it. Last time I checked, we dont live in a high crime area with joggers being targetted by criminals hiding in the shadows of SE22.... Ridiculous. The fear of crime....

If you use an iphone for music then the Sennheiser MM30i's are a fantastic pair of reasonably priced (?36 on Amazon) in-ear headphones. You can answer or end calls etc, and the sound quality is atypical of Sennheiser - smooth and with a decent amount of base. I find mine incredibly comfortable and have been using them most days for nearly two years now, still going strong. Great value.

I had an A3 for several years and couldnt fault it. I loved driving it - a solid, well built and pratical car. We currently have a Golf which I like, and it is a very safe car for our family to travel in, but its just not as nice inside or out as the Audi. I recently hired a new Ford Focus which possibly drives slightly better than our Golf, but the interior felt cheaper, seats were not as comfortable etc. If you don't care too much about what it looks or feels like or particularly how it drives, go for a cheaper option as the cars mentioned are all going to be efficient and reliable. If you are at all bothered, I think it's worth saving up for an Audi/VW as over time the things that you didn't like in the beginning will start to really annoy you later on - particularly if you do a lot of driving. Also consider the safety aspect, as cars can differ considerably on NCAP tests.