Hello to all --
I'm a newbie here on mumsnet but it's about time I started meeting people.
We moved here a few months ago from overseas; husband here for 2-yr job stint. I'm a SAHM -- Ds is 3.5 and a bit lonely from moving around etc. (and because this immediate neighbourhood doesn't have enough mums&kids I've met yet) but he's a major sweetie and I'm lucky in that regard. I need to meet other mums/playmates and make some friends. My location is good for the shops & station & buses (i.e. convenient for dh's commuting), for the Richmond Green & Park, & the Old Deer Park playground, etc. Our address sounds posh, but flat is tiny and surrounding streets appear to have only pensioners and/or rich people who can't be bothered. So I could use some company with regular people! With kids and everything!
Plenty of mums & kids going by near here every day, but generally everyone seems to be on their way to somewhere else (like the shops), since Normal People don't actually live here, apparently....
I have no car, but lots of buses about, going in all directions -- Sheens, Kew, Twickenham, Kingston, Putney, etc. And trains. So I can get about (at toddler speed), but need places to go, people to meet, things to do.
Also what sort of school/nursery ideas make sense for a 3.5 yr old who will be here just 18 more months -- and on a moderate budget (more moderate than a Richmond address probably usually implies, I gather!). 
(this is not quite the sort of neighbourhood we live in back home...)
Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone around the Richmond, Kew, North Sheen, East Sheen, St Margarets, Twickenham, Ham, Petersham, Kingston, etc. etc. areas. Hey, west London generally...
Thanks!
When meeting up take sensible precautions. Meet in a public place and let others know where you are going.
Meet-ups
Yank mum new to Richmond/East/North Sheen/Twickenham area
YanksUponThames · 03/03/2006 16:26
Used to live in E Sheen (but a long time ago ) - just a quick comment on the nursery thing - all 3.5 year olds can have a free place at a nursery/preschool and they are all only there for 18 months or so before they go to "big" school (the September before they are 5). Ask around or look on \link{http://www.childcarelink.gov.uk/index.asp\here - the CIS} for help.
Have fun 
Hiya, where are you from? I'm American. I'm from Chicago. My husband is English. We live in Sunbury, which isn't too far from Twickenham. In fact, we go to church in Twickenham. I work foull time, and we have a live in nanny. But,I'm around evenings (without kids) and weekends (with kids). My kids are 9 munths and almost 3.
So, if all 3 of us got together, then we'd have 2 3 year olds and 2 9 month olds.
Hi uwila -- yeah, the east side of Sunbury fits on my Richmond/Kingston A-Z map.
2 3-yr-olds and 2 9-mo-olds sounds like a plan to me!
I grew up around Baltimore, and dh is from northern Virginia D.C. suburbs, so we're both from the same metro area. Relatives still there. After school we settled in the "Research Triangle" area of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill North Carolina -- an island of a million people's worth of universities/techno-jobs/yuppie-suburbs in otherwise peaceful farmland of NC. Handy for both mountains and beach within a few hours' drive. (like the rest of the mid-atlantic area)
Where are you from around Chicago?
Kew Gardens has a decent indoor soft play area if you want to head in this direction at some point. Fee for Kew seems pricey until you find out that a year's pass/membership only costs about 3x the one-shot, so it makes sense for anybody in the general area. Next time I go that's what I'm gonna do.
Tell me what there is to do over in your area!
Lots of shops around here....
(though I'm not the world's biggest shopper)
Tube station, too.
sfxmum I'd love to get together some time. I live right on Richmond Green (park benches etc, a block away from the high street) with Starbuck's & Coffee Republic very close. Plus a few different yummy sandwich shops/cafes. And several kid/baby-friendly restaurants Tootsie's (next to the river), Giraffe, wagamama, etc. Lots of others too.
And I like Kew, so the gardens are a good idea too.
Where are you from originally? Are you here for long term or short term?
Tommy -- thanks for clues about school etc! I hope to get that sorted out in a reasonable time. Ds seems fairly bright and is nice but needs to get hanging around other kids soon...
Where do you live now, if you're not in E Sheen any more?
Hi Yanksuponthames - I was a student in Roehampton just up the road from you!) and I lived in a very small flat in E Sheen for a year. I could tell you all the dodgy pubs around there but it was 18 years ago 
(am I really that old? )
hello good morning
sorry i did not get back last night, things got busy.
i am portuguese (sort of), married to a brit. and have lived in london going on 14yrs. i moved to the area last march. dd is my first baby and i am 'an older mum' i know the area more from an adult point of view rather than a mum IYSWIM, but be learning soon.
when i go into town i usually stop by the starbucks by the station, its less crowded and dd likes the highchairs
as i mentioned i like going to kew gardens, mostly because its within walking distance, very relaxing and good for children. we lso live in a flat so a membership to the gardens seemed a good solution for open spaces.
the green is also nice, i remember sitting there watching cricket and munching on sandwiches. and no i dont understand the game.
should you like to meet up e-mail me via mumsnet, would be nice.
uwila-hi i did not realise we were neighbours, did not even realise you are american, should have guessed from your contributions on other threads, taxes taxes taxes amused to read your nanny was being ostracised on account of jars,v funny
Hiya again -
sfxmum - Yeah, I want to get a Kew year pass, too, for the same reasons. Aside from liking the Kew grounds for ds's playing, I also happen to be a plant/botany geek in general (and a little frustrated to be in 3 room flat away from garden/growing space at house back in the states, what with spring coming and all ). I think uwila wants to go to Kew, too, and can do weekends, so maybe we can coordinate a Saturday or Sunday some time soon with her (when it's not pissing/bucketing down). And we could meet up weekdays, too, if you're still on leave. I haven't yet used the email thru mumsnet, but I'll give it a try.
Cricketers haven't shown up on the green here yet, but footballers have and I assume cricket isn't far behind.
uwila -- Yeah, I'm tired of the cold too (though this weekend isn't turning out so bad, ds & I have had a cough (getting over the infectious bit now) and the cool dry air isn't helping). I've already whined to other people that for those of us used to the contrasts (and lower latitudes!) of north america, spending the winter in Britain is like spending several months in a dimly lit refrigerator. It never really freezes seriously, but it never really warms up, either. (unlike the -10C/nights and +15C winter days at home) And don't get me started on how short the days are here in the winter. But that means they'll be absurdly long in the summer, so I guess that's the compensation.
Has anyone been to Osterley Park, and is there anything there for kids. And I ought to have already been to Marble Hill House, but haven't yet gone all the way onto the grounds to the river. Is there a playground there?
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