bazaar

How much should you pay ...

window cleaners

We asked for estimates based on a

three-bed semi-detached house

Bee Clean, Scarborough (01723 377581) Darren Burns answered his mobile 30ft up a ladder. He reckons on pounds 4-pounds 5 for an average three-bed semi.

A & G Jones, Swansea (01836 373353) Mr Jones quoted pounds 3.50 to pounds 4: "I find people get their windows cleaned around once a month."

Simply the Best, Edinburgh (0131 337 0966) Mandy, the office administrator, said: "The price drops if we have more than one customer in a street and also regular jobs are slightly cheaper. On average, it would cost from pounds 3-pounds 5 for a three-bedroom semi."

Fitzgibbon Cleaning SVCS Betchworth, Surrey ( 01737 844626) Stuart Fitzgibbon explains: "We can clean conservatory roofs, circular windows, concave windows and all sorts of weird architect designs. A three-bed semi would be roughly pounds 8. A 2ft x 2ft glass chandelier would cost pounds 150."

Curzon Cleaning Services, London (0181-643 7405): Andrew Ferguson said: "It's hot work going out for less than about pounds 30, what with parking meters and carrying all the ladders. We don't do much in the way of semis, mostly flats. We charge from pounds 30 to pounds 90 for a big house."

Compiled by Julie Aschkenasy

Topiary pig, pounds 15

Here's something to jolly up your terracotta pots: a wire piglet. Just jam it in the soil, and let your climbers grow round. Or you can fill it with spagnum moss. From the new Wadham Trading Company, which sells decorative and/or useful objects for house and garden. Try its cast-iron lily-pad tables or resin baskets. Wadham Trading Company, Wadham House, Southrop, near Lechlade, Gloucestershire GL7 3PB (01367 850 499 for free brochure)

Koolatron, from pounds 69.95

You've got the car CD player and phone: how about a car fridge? Simply plug it into the cigarette lighter and it will keep up to 48 cans of Diet Coke icy cold. Mmmm. Or use it in the winter - just switch it into warm mode. Also comes with a power adaptor for use at picnics, on boats, at the hairdresser's, etc. From Koolatron, 1 Clipper Court, Neptune Close, Medway City Estate, Rochester, Kent ME2 4QR (01634 297383/0800 585294)

Lush, 7, The Piazza, Covent Garden, London W1 Also at 291/2 High Street, Poole, Dorset

First impressions: Smells like a grocer's, looks like a grocer's - tubs of goo under the glass-top counter, chunks of what look like coloured parmesan, a pink cake, blackboards and piles of cardboard boxes

Stock: It is, in fact, an outlet of Lush, an eccentric new Dorset-based company. They make cosmetics from natural ingredients and give them names like Bom Perignon, a fizzing bath bomb, and 13 Rabbits, chocolate spice bubble-bath.

Staff: One elfin girl busy mixing brews behind the counter.

Customers: None when we visited. People think it is a food shop and leave baffled. Deserves better.

What to buy: Cucumber and Lettuce Syllabub face mask (pounds 2.30), Skinny Dip Shower Gel (pounds 4.20) or Banana Boat Body Polish (pounds 3). Great for presents: the shop also does wacky gift wraps.

What not to buy: Champ: a herb mask for teenagers that smells like Paxo stuffing. Honey Waffle Soap: "messy".

Reasons not to go: Buy products mail-order instead from Lush, 291/2 High Street, Poole, Dorset BH15 1AB (01202 668545). Send two 2nd-class stamps for the catalogue, "Lush Times".

1 Wall's Magnum White ....................90p

2 Wall's Magnum Dark ......................90p

3 Wall's Strawberry Cornetto ................70p

4 Wall's Chocolate Feast........................55p

5 Wall's Strawberry Split......................60p

6 Mars Strawberry Opal Fruits.............65p

7 Wall's Solero ...................................80p

8 Mars Original.............................. ......65p

9 Wall's Twister................. ..................50p

10 Wall's Magnum Almond.....................90p

11 Mars Orange and Lemon Opal Fruits...65p

12 Cadbury's Crunchie Ice-Cream..... 65p

13 Wall's Choc 'n' Nut Cornetto.......70p

14 Wall's Orange Fruitie ..................60p

15 Wall's Chunky .......................60p

16 Mars Snickers..............................65p

17 Wall's Mint Feast.....................55p

18 Wall's Orange Calippo.................50p

19 Wall's Mint Choc Chip Cornetto.........70p

20 Wall's Lemon and Lime Cornetto....50p