adstarr

So why do you not speak to them about the things that annoy you? If you don't say anything then they'll think everything's fine and carry on. Where I used to live, the little girl next door had a trampoline and spent most of the summer bouncing on it. No problem with that, but when she had friends over they used to screech and squeal and it used to drive me mad to the point that I used to stay inside. After a particularly squealy afternoon, I went over and had a quick word with the kid's mum, she spoke to her daughter and the squealing stopped. I was happy, the kid learnt that you have to be considerate of other people, and the mum thanked me for saying something rather than just being annoyed and keeping it to myself. If I was doing something that annoyed my neighbours, I wouldn't be doing it on purpose so I'd much rather they spoke to me about it rather than them doing something else to get back at me like playing their music too loud. Also, I love to enjoy life. Being forced to listen to someone else's terrible music while I'm trying to relax in my garden kind of prevents me from enjoying life so much...

Can someone tell me which the sad estates are please, so I can go and live there?

I absolutely agree with the people who are saying that playing music loudly is really inconsiderate of anyone who lives nearby and has to listen to it as well. Why should someone have to choose between staying indoors on a nice sunny day (when they might have made arrangements for people to come over for a bbq or something themselves) or having to listen to someone else's music while they sit outside? It's fair enough if it's your next door neighbour and you can ask them to turn it down (assuming they actually would!), but what if it's someone a few houses away or over the road and you aren't even sure who it is?

The Weatherspoons and Lloyds pubs do a very cheap and pretty good breakfast.

I have neck & back problems following a car accident and I've tried various fitness classes, including Pilates - the ones I've found most helpful have been Yoga and a class called Core Stability which works mainly on core muscles (neck, back & abs) to improve posture and strength. I didn't really take to Pilates, I found a lot of the exercises quite uncomfortable to do and made my back & neck worse afterwards. I go to classes at Hillsborough Leisure Centre but they do the same ones at Ponds Forge as well - they're both part of Sheffield International Venues and if you become a member it's free to do as many classes as you want. Look on their websites for more info (they also do a free trial membership day so you can have a look at the facilities and do some classes to see what it's like).

Depending whether you're going as a family or just adults, there's a campsite at Longnor Wood (near Buxton) which doesn't take children, so it's lovely and quiet if that's what you're after. Good facilities and reasonably priced as well. The best place to look though is the website given above - it's fantastic for looking for campsites in whatever area you're going to, and there are loads of reviews by users so you can get a good idea what the place is like.

I was with NPower before I moved to Scottish Power last year, they were a lot more expensive for me - in the comparison I did recently, their cheapest tariff came up as £80 more than I'm paying now! It all depends on how much fuel you use I guess, since we're both (presumably) in more or less the same area. Thanks anyway!

It's true, but I'm just really fed up with Scottish Power - I applied for an online dual fuel account with them a year ago but they never managed to set me up to sign in online despite numerous phone calls, then I discovered recently that they hadn't even put me on the online tariff but had me on separate gas and down for an electricity pre-payment meter. There isn't even a prepayment meter in the house and as far as I know there never has been!!! They faffed about for 2 months with sorting this out, and then finally admitted that despite several visits over the year from people to read the meter and multiple phone calls from me to give the meter readings when requested, they didn't have a single meter reading for either gas or electric, not even the meter readings I gave on my initial application. It's completely barmy, even the guy in customer services who I was speaking to about it was like "yeah, we've really made a mess of this...". It's sorted now and I reckon I've actually got quite a good deal out of it as they've had to estimate the fuel I've used and I reckon it's a lot less than I've actually used, but I think it's time to move to another company!

Yes, I'm aware of this. All I was asking was if anyone has any comments on the service received by these companies so I can make a decision between companies which are currently offering the same prices.

Like I said, a general estimate of the costs would be good - I'm just trying to get a rough picture of the situation for now, it'd be wasting an agent's time to be discussing anything in depth at the moment as I haven't even definitely decided to go abroad and it wouldn't be for another couple of years at least. All I need is an idea of agency fees for managing a rented property. If it helps, it's a 3 double bed terrace in Hillsborough and looking at other houses up for rent, if it was available at the moment it'd probably be at least £550 a month.

I'm considering going abroad with work at some point in the next couple of years, and I'm wondering what to do with my house while I'm away. I'd prefer to rent it out so it's there for me to come back to, but I'm not sure if the rent I'd receive would cover the mortgage if I also had to pay letting agent fees. I could find a tenant myself initially, but as I'd be abroad I'd need the agent to deal with everything while I was away. Can anyone give me a rough idea how much letting agents generally charge the house owner for managing a house rental? *I'm not looking for recommendations for agents or advice on the current housing market, as I'm not even certain I'll be going abroad, let alone when!

Before anyone points me to a comparison website, I've already done the price comparison and discovered that the cheapest suppliers would be British Gas & E-On (they'd both cost about the same for the amount of gas & electric we use). What I'm looking for is any comments people have about these companies in terms of service etc. Also if anyone has any insider info on whether these companies have already hiked their prices up or if they're likely to be increasing prices in the near future then that'd be gratefully received! It's all well and good looking at comparison websites, but if some companies have already put their prices up and others are intending to soon, that's going to mean the comparison results don't mean much. Incidentally, I'm currently with Scottish Power and although they're not actually any more expensive, they've made such monumental ****-ups of my gas & electric over the year I've been with them that I really want to change supplier!

Not true at all. You can pay as you go at Ponds Forge, Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Concord Sports Centre in Shiregreen and the gym at Don Valley stadium if you don't want to sign up for membership. It's about £4-5 a time for gym use, swimming or fitness classes but you can get it a fair bit cheaper if you're eligible for the Sheffield Slice Card scheme (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out--about/leisure-services---activity-sheffield/slice-discount-leisure-card/do-i-qualify). All of the above places offer a free day trial where you can do as many activities as you want, if you'd like to try it out. I had a day at Hillsborough leisure centre and it was really good.

I'm hoping to get a place on the photography GCSE course at Hillsborough College this year, and I was wondering if anyone on here has done the course before and can answer a couple of questions. I haven't been able to get in touch with the course tutors seeing as it's the summer hols now. Questions: How much time did it take up outside of the weekly sessions? What sort of photography assignments did you have to do? Were you always given a particular topic or was it fairly flexible? What did you have to do for the coursework? I don't have very much time during term (I'm a teacher) so I was hoping to get an idea what some of the photography assignments would be so that I can get a head start on it over the summer. Any suggestions welcome - thanks!

I'm off work for 6 weeks over the summer and I'd like to start going to a gym and fitness classes. I'd be able to go several times a week over the summer, but I'd rather not sign up for more than a month (or maybe 2 months) membership as once I'm back at work I doubt I'd have time to go more than once a week, if that, so it wouldn't be worth the money. I've looked at Hillsborough Leisure Centre as it's nearest to me and has lots of stuff going on, but their minimum membership is 3 months at £22.99 a month off-peak or £29.99 peak time. Does anyone know of anywhere that'll let you sign up for less than this? I don't mind where it is, but it needs to have a pool and do fitness classes as well as just having a gym.