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Welcome to the Camberwell Online blog, a place for free and spirited exchange on anything with even a tangential connection to the South-East London district.
Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb
Published by Peter | Filed under Development, Politics, Transport
This morning I had to go to the dentist (Camberwell Dental Care; recommended), but as I brushed my teeth I realised that I’d run out of mouthwash. Not wishing to visit Dr Asad without a minty-fresh mouth, I decided to buy a bottle on the way, and give my mouth a rinse before I got there. So I bought a bottle from the Spar on Vestry Road, took a good big swig and carried on my way.
Having finished my ablutions, I looked around for a drain to spit it into; that was when I realised that the streets were full of kids on their way to school. I didn’t want to look like a crazy man, spitting a gob-full of foaming liquid into the gutter in front of the children, so I had to walk on with a mouth bulging with mouthwash.
Every turn I took, there somebody was; children and parents doing the school run, commuters late leaving the house, dog-walkers; it was like the Batman film from the 60s, where he’s desperately trying to get rid of a bomb but is thwarted by nuns, children and a family of ducks. It was only on Camberwell Grove I finally found a ten-second window to rid myself of my load. Still, I think Dr Asad appreciated it.
So, dental hygiene aside, what’s the news? Camberwell Baths, the Cuming Museum and Livesey Children’s Museum are all set to be hit by budget cuts, and could close. Apparently health and culture are not high on the list of priorities for Southwark Council. The website of the Livesey Museum has some links to online campaigns to keep them open; I’m slightly wary of the effectiveness of online petitions, so I would urge you to raise this issue with your MP also.
The Camberwell Grove railway bridge is to reopen, with traffic lights and barriers installed until the bridge is replaced completely. There’s another online petition to sign if you want Network Rail to do that sooner rather than later.
There was something else I was going to mention; I may update when I remember what it was.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
@ YOur Member of Parliament, I have laboured under the belief that Camberwell must be unique among villages nationally in having three MP’s representing parts of it. I was corrected of this when I met Simon Hughes, who pointed out without hesitation that he has a lot of fond memories of Camberwell, having lived here in the past, and a part of it being a small part of his constituency.
Blimey.
We have a lot of lobbying to do in quadruplicate:
Harriet Harman
Kate Hoey
Tessa Jowell
Simon Hughes
ALL have part of SE5 in their patch.
Get writing!
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February 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Do Camberwell Dental Care do NHS treatment? Any more info you want to impart about them? Been looking for a good dentist recommendation…
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February 6th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
@ Tom: Yes, they do NHS. One of the things I like most about my dentist is that he explains everything he is doing and looking at, which is very calming on the old nerves. I can highly recommend them.
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February 6th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
@1 In my experience MPs only want to deal with matters if it is in their constituency and the letter is being written by one of their constituents. They have a very blinkered view and wont deal with matters outside their area if they are literally 100 metres away.
In any case I think it would be better to write to your Southwark Councillor in this case with a follow up letter to your MP if you get no joy from the council.
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February 7th, 2008 at 1:10 am
@4 the point being that SE5 has four MP’s. Write to all nine or twelve or so councillors and to all four MP’s at the same time. Concerted and coordinated. People have moved out of Camberwell because they have not been heard.
On the other hand if everyone reading here sends a message to SE5Forum.org it will probably have more weight than being sent individually.
The update from the agm will come soon.
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February 7th, 2008 at 1:11 am
I mean - if the message gets agross to the forum then it will be passed on to the relevant politicians and be taken notice of. That’s what a forum is about.
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February 8th, 2008 at 9:15 am
What a depressing post.
Camberwell isn’t even sitting still, it’s sliding backwards. How many worthless petitions do we need to sign just to keep what we have? Boy you community folks are making progress!!
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I love the irony of chief doomsayer, JohnnyM, calling something ‘depressing’.
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I also love the use of ‘community’ as an implicit insult.
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February 8th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Purely out of interest JohnnyM, how are your escape-from-SE5 plans going? Got a moving date yet?
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February 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
@7 Good boy JohnnyM!
Great example of exactly why getting a Forum working is so difficult; people expect change and progress to be handed to them on a plate, prepared and served voluntarily by others - who don’t have such busy or important lives that they can afford to be ‘community folks’ and just beaver around doing things hoping one day to bask in the glory of praise showered on them by their fellow ‘folks in the community’.
Still, today was a good day. And now I know where that bomb should be left if it comes to it…
Innit.
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February 8th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Some bomberclat has nicked my post about the Livesey closing. That’s a shame, because we are being deceived, I am told.
I am advised that the Lib-Dem leader of Southwark Council is scaremongering - the Livesey, Cuming and Baths are not to close at all. It seems there is some politicking going on, Lib-Dem versus Conservative. Good news for the children’s museum.
JohnnyM is right to feel fed up. If he found innocuous post no. 6 “depressing”, he is to be helped, not pilloried. The rich are taxed enormously, he is right to support them. But if a children’s museum has to shut - somewhere where the crocodiles can walk to - then something is wrong. This is not hard to understand!
Today has been a brilliant day in Camberwell. No wonder Mendelsohn composed “Spring Song” here, that delightful Victorian parlour solo piano piece.
The street gangs and muggers are a pain at the moment - but with sharia law coming in, they had better look out! Not only do they act like rats, they will soon be hanged like dogs!
There is a brilliant Brazilian graffiti at the end of Edmund Street by the garages off the street - SAO PAULO MASSIVE or something, it says, with a fabulous anarchist wolf-head logo icon thing, it’s very good.
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February 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
There’s a whole lot of stirring up going on over 47 trees about to be felled in Myatt’s Fields park. Angry locals who feel they weren’t consulted clearly enough about the park’s development and that heritage is taking precedent over contemporary practicalities and the best environmental practice.
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February 9th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Christ, I’m dreading the traffic lights and standing traffic on Camberwell Grove. I’ve enjoyed the peace and quiet on the street but totally understand that the road needs to be open.
Unfortunatley, I’ve only ever known it without traffic since I bought my place so I guess I better make the most of it. Ironically, I just had a one of the local council folk make and ad hoc call to my house to tell me that the bridge was opening in 6 weeks and did I have any other issues with area. The intent was the but I just wasn’t in the mood to rant about the bloody bridge again….
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February 9th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
It was never that busy 2 .
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February 10th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
The Grove Chapel public meeting - overseen by gorgeous, tittering Lib-Dem wonks - was told by a Newtwork Rail man that the bridge could be fixed in a weekend if the will was available.
The Grove has been brilliant without the traffic. We should all walk.
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February 10th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Do you know that strange pocket of land off Coburg Road which is notionally attached to Burgess Park? An empty plot with a fancy boardwalk crossing it diagonally? It always impressed me more as a wasted opportunity than a nature garden - till this week.
Go and see the snowdrops.
Do.
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February 11th, 2008 at 9:45 am
More warnings to lock up tight and improve security as a flat in our block was broken in to recently.
Oddly it was on the top floor not the obvious and easiest choice - a case of very cocky thieves??
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February 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I was jogging round Myatts Fields on Saturday morning, it was so beautiful, makes you temporarily forget about the problems of the area when you can feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair, see the crocuses blooming and hear the sound of children laughing in their tennis lessons.
I was full of joy and happiness, left the park to go home for breakfast, and subsequently trod in a dog turd on the pavement, and nearly got knocked down by a racing motorist on knatchbull road.
Still, the feeling in the park was absolute heaven.
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February 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Hannah, can I ask where you live? is it near Paulet?
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February 11th, 2008 at 10:40 am
The flat upstairs from us was broken into last year; I think they choose upstairs flats as there is less chance of people passing.
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February 11th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Gefink - without giving away where i live on the internet - yes i live not too far from Paulet Road.
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February 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
yes, apologies, I wasn’t after your exact address!
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February 11th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I live everywhere on the internet
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February 11th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Hannah, commiserations. There seems to be a lot of activity at the moment - muggings, burglaries, car vandalism. A burglary certainly challenges one’s carefully cultivated, civilised, balanced, beliefs.
Still, there are the snowdrops, as Mrs Burgess didn’t want the honour (post no. 17) draws to our attention, in the wild area off Coburg Street with the boardwalk going through it. It is a bit grubby, that little wood, but it really burgeons with growth, it is jungly.
Hannah, the snowdrops, they could perhaps serve as one of your favourite things, along with whiskers on kittens and brown paper parcels tied up with string containing plastic explosives and a detonator, stolen from your flat and activated remotely at your will.
My guess is that the underclass everywhere are increasingly having a tough time, but also that they may be a dying breed, so to speak.
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February 11th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Sorry to hear of the break-in Hannah. I was subject to some inquisitive types a couple of weeks ago who took a shining to the contents of my glove box. More of a pain in the rear than anything else.
A top floor break-in seems very brave or very stupid. Somewhat throws my theory of purchasing a 1st floor flat ‘for safety’ out of the window.
Hope you’re right about C Grove not being that busy Mark; I’m getting used to the peace…..
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February 11th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Yes I had that problem when I lived in Canning Cross a few years ago - I have heeded the Police’s advice to always leave the glovebox open when parked ever since.
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February 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I’ve seen a lot of smashed side windows on cars recently in the streets round the Lettsom Estate and near the Grove. It’s a depressing sight.
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February 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
@ Two
One thing I’ve heard is that even though people in general don’t want a ground floor flat because they think it’s more vulnerable, statistically flats nearer the top of a building get burgalled more as crooks think they’re less exposed and it buys them time should they hear someone coming.
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February 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Moving on to more positive things: I have just walked into Camberwell along C’well New Road and whilst dispairing at the impression it gives of Camberwell - the closed office stationers, the decidedly scruffy looking snooker place and the wasteland of the former garage - but I noticed that the for sale had gone from the Old Dispensary bar and that there is a licence application up on the door for a general food and drinks licence so hopefully that means that the Old Dispensary will be open again soon. I hope they have done their market research and can offer a bar/ restaurant that proves more sustainable than the previous incarnation.
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February 12th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Who cares whether its sustainable? As long as it’s good for a few months, closed for a few, good for a few,… keeps things interesting.
Look at the West End - bars round there are always closing and reopening with a new name. Keeps it lively.
Everything seems to have got a bit stable recently.
What is going on with Angels and Gypsies?!
They are sitting on a gold mine for crying out loud and I would like somewhere new to try..
Maybe the Castle could have another resurgence..
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February 13th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Alan. Angels and Gypsies: Go in and ask them. Sitting on a gold mine. Presumably they haven;t made enough gold yet out of Camberwell to be able to dig for the the motherload.
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February 13th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Ah, la vida local. Does anyone know what happened with the council cuts last night at the Executive meeting?
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February 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Haven’t heard the outcome, but did see a group of kids and parents outside protesting.
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February 13th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
http://tinyurl.com/23melt
Has Nick Stanton been hitting the bottle?
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February 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Yes I have been concerned about Mr Stanton’s skin for a while - it must be the stress of overseeing Southwark.
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February 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Now it all makes sense…So that’s why Camberwell has such a plethora of falling down water establishments…
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February 13th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
So there we have it. Not just Southwark but whole swathes of middle England have been ennobled by the closure of the Livesey Children’s Museum on the Old Kent Road.
That’ll show those insurgents and Taliban who’s boss!
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February 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Grills etc is reopening as a Lebanese. Exciting times indeed.
I daren’t go in the Church St Hotel to ask about Angels and Gypsies. I’d never say Gypsies out loud - it’s racist.
Anyone else care to ask then give us an update?
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February 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Let’s not forget - and this means you, hold-yer-nose Labour voters - that the cuts are a direct result of a shortfall of £35 million from central government to Southwark.
Big money in the context of community grant awards circa £5k to £25k, such as the Livesey requires.
There are efficiency savings to be made by Southwark too, but no single community organisation yet exists which is focused on scrutiny of the way the Council spends its money, and on the closeness of the relationship between PFI contractors and local government officials. Hell, some of them even share a desk.
With a turnover of £1.2 billion, clearly any attempts to help the Council spend its money more efficiently, in a less PFI way, would yield impressive results and keep museums like the Livesey open.
Then there’s the failure of any community organisation in Southwark to fully realise the impact of red routes, such as the Old Kent Road where the Livesey Museum is.
Ideally, motivated locals would seek more specific social funding from TfL red route revenues for amenities aligning and affected by those routes, as I have long argued.
But we don’t live in an ideal world, and the Livesey will close.
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February 13th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Alan why is using the phrase Gypsies racist?
Gypsies are a recognised ethnic minority under the terms of the Race Relations Act - see the Guardian Style Guide for usage http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/page/0,,184837,00.html
And anyway its only a name - I dont think anyone is going to be offended.
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February 13th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Re Southwark
Being cynical is there also a political motivation here? The cuts will be occurring in areas which are strong Labour and where the Liberal Democrats have little chance of winning. So it is Camberwell and Old Kent Road facilities that are being cut not Dulwich or other areas where the Liberal Democrats are strong or which are Liberal Democrat held marginal seats
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February 13th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Exactly, Reg, that is precisely what I was more detailedly trying to say, but without the technical bits, because I do not want to be dumboist.
In other words, Tony Brown, where are ye? What was the name of that restaurant where ye agreed to be successive, successful prime ministers?
The Roma Cafe, near the Old Kent Road, eh?
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February 13th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
@ Alan: If it’s ok for Cher to say it, it’s ok for you to say it.
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February 13th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Not if I really mean Irish travellers..
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February 13th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
… and Cher’s father was Armenian, her mother Cherokee, German, Irish and English, so there could be a lot of apologies going down.
A trip to the Horniman in the Cadillac Escalade, Porsche Cayenne, VW Touraeg, X5 or similar will prove educational - all the above species are on view there, stuffed. Disadvantaged children in the Old Kent Road area can get stuffed.
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February 13th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Sorry to hear about your break in Hannah. The house opposite us was broken into last Thursday and the people inside held at knife point - we were questioned today by police - and only just after they left - someone from was spotted climbing over our wall - i reported it - assuming that the police may be interested as it could easily have been related to last weeks break in - but Brixton police couldn’t have been less interested - so you can’t win really
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February 14th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Who wants to win?
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February 14th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Dwaine.
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February 14th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Pikeys is racist. And so is Angels as far as I can tell.
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February 14th, 2008 at 12:40 am
The last (only) time I went into Angels and Gypsies they weren’t at all sure about what was going to happen with the ground floor or when. They were concentrating on building up hotel trade. That was last September probably. I lose track.
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February 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Yeah, Dwaine lose track, now ‘e’s back.
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February 14th, 2008 at 8:40 am
They should let athletes use any drugs they want. Make it like the American wrestling. Imagine watching the superfreaks shatter old records. 6s 100m.
That would make it more of a spectator sport. At the moment it’s a bit dull.
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February 14th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Somebody tried to break into our bike shed yesterday (we have a communal garden) and broke the lock and door of the shed
From what I can see they failed to obtain any bikes, but were trying to cut/file down the chains securing them to their racks…
It’s almost an annual to 18 month occurence though, so it’s nothing we haven’t seen before (sadly)
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February 14th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Can everyone make an extra effort this weekend to find something out or notice something or have an adventure in Camberwell please?
We are a low on good material recently.
Maybe I’ll get a pass out on Saturday and go to the Buckle…
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February 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Did anyone see the (I presume) attempted heist on Tuesday?
I came along at lunchtime to see Police tape around a Securicor van outside Barclays Bank next to the Butterfly centre along with three or more Police cars. Anyone have any further information?
(I dont get many opportunities to use the word heist in day to day life!)
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February 14th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
OK so this is a Peckham story, but it’s my nearest “school”. With suspensions running at this rate some classes must be empty. What a failure. What a truly desperate hopeless place we live near.
http://tinyurl.com/222tuq
Caravaggio is about the best thing going in the past year, but even that’s just a little restaurant. Cool tho.
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February 14th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
On the council cuts. I am very very TIRED of hearing the annual bleat “we don’t get enough money from central govt so we have to put your taxes up again, sorry bout that, don’t blame us.”
I worked for local government once. I left after 9 months cos I’d had enough of it. I have honestly never seen so much money wasted on doing so little.
And so many worthy, smug people thinking they’re “serving the public”. Yeah, some are, and who would begrudge the binmen a pay rise, but many more have non jobs and they’re along for the nice job security and bloated pension at the end of it.
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February 14th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
mark51 - you’re in a better position than i to judge, but if i had a limited pile of cash and wanted to realise a hotel with ground floor restaurant, i would have done it the other way round.nespa?
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February 14th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
@ Drew: That’s what I thought; with a decent restaurant, they could keep cash flowing for the hotel. Maybe that’s not the business plan, but I can’t really see why.
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February 14th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Alan, tomorrow is private view night at the South London Gallery. This means that the Hermits Cave will be packed with extraordinary, brilliant, charismatic creatures. It’s good. The edgy, twitchy, cutting-edge arterati will rub shoulders with the nutterati and others living la vida local. A huge proportion will spill onto the street to smoke. Despite the cold, the denim miniskirt worn with black tights quotient will be high - and that’s just the blokes.
You are right. Anarcho-cynicism is good. One man’s downfall is another man’s yang. One door closes and another doesn’t.
I still think shutting the Livesey is a little bit mean, but hey, it’s the weekend.
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February 15th, 2008 at 12:11 am
@61 Alan I’m babysitting another Friday night. I want to meet you one day and have a drink in the Buckle.
@59/60 I think you’re right. But what do we know?
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February 15th, 2008 at 12:12 am
@ 62 after looking at the minskirted boys of course.
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February 15th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Not worried about high rate of exclusions at the Academy. I would be more worried if a school with difficult kids had a low rate of exclusions.
Thanks Dagmar - not sure I’m going to get an exiat tonight but I’d love to see the mix.
@Phil G - definitely agree about a pay rise for my bin men. They have finally started keeping the recycling separated and they have stopped sifting through and leaving anything not in a black bag.
Definitely would like to see someone at the Maudsley sacked over the disgrace of Windsor Walk though. That’s a good example of public sector lethargy.
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February 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Mark if I see you in the Buckle I will say ‘hiya’. Warning -I cut a pretty unimpressive figure.
Can’t promise I’ll be there this week but may be.
I usually head there after the Hermit’s so pretty late and tanked.
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February 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
The forecast is that the air pressure will hit a crystal-meth-strength 1044 millibars over the weekend which, along with the sunshine, will even make the misanthropists amongst us as high as a kite. Camberwell dwellers will be acting extremely happy and only a few cycling bloggy anoraks will know why.
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February 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Umm,
I can’t think of many exciting Camberwell things at the moment - apart from teh fact we all seem resigned to the fact that a small minority of our fellow Camberwell neighbours like robbing us with depressing regualarity.
Well it looked like they were painting the Redstar green and advertising for new promoters.
Oh and thanks for the sympathy but it wasn’t me that was broken in to but our third floor neighbours!!
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February 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’m eagerly awaiting the opening of the Spice and Nice resturant at the end of Denmark Road!
I will be absent from Camberwell this weekend, though I’m sure it’ll battle through admirably without me.
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February 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Spice and Nice
They have been decorating and renovating for quite some time now and it looks like they have done a fine job
I hope the food is as good as the effort that they have put into the nice refurb…
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February 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
‘We don’t won’t your kind round here!’
Happy to update the escape. Cunning plan. In our part bedsits sell!!! Need to get planning to turn the house into bedsits and install some loos and we can max the price. All going well. Then we’re off! Funny place this. Folks rush to protect the trash and turn on the hard working taxpaying types who call a spade a spade.
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February 15th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Told you! The high-pressure weather has cheered everyone up. The spades round our part are by far the friendliest people in the street, John, even when the barometer’s plunged to 960 millibars.
Sometimes I feel life would be better in Tunbridge Wells or LA, but everything is here in microcosm: Camberwell Grove is like Tunbridge, Angels & Gypsies is straight from LA.
[Adopts Dick van Dyke cockney accent, sings:]
“All’s a-well in-a Camber-er-well…”
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February 15th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
@ JohnnyM: Let me begin by attacking your (false) dichotomy, one which is favoured by many such as yourself; your position is that by not agreeing with you, we are ‘turning on the hard working taxpaying types’; making implicit that we are not. I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but I believe I fall into that category myself; I have a full-time, permanent job, at which I work hard, and I pay my taxes. One of the regular visitors to this blog is Mr Mark Dodds, who works 60 hour weeks as well as getting involved in all sorts of extra-curricular activities - and I’m pretty certain he pays more than his fair share of taxes too. I’m sure other people here would fall into the ‘hard working taxpayer’ category too.
The reason you don’t seem to be popular on here is not because you’re the plain-talking voice of reason, but because you’re frequently insulting and because you’ve made it perfectly obvious that you’re only here because you can’t afford anywhere else, and you want everyone else to improve the area for you, without you lifting a finger, so the value of your property will go up and you can move on to wherever it is you feel befits a man of your status. To call a spade a spade, you are a parasite.
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February 15th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Hear Hear Peter
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February 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am
leave the lad alone. johnny - make sure you permission from your mum and dad before you start converting their house into bedsits.
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February 16th, 2008 at 11:36 am
My Camberwell Society membership is up for renewal. What should I do?
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February 16th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
As best as I can tell, Camberwell Society is the only Camberwell community-based action group with a proven track record of actually doing something to improve the community. Given there are no other real options of such groups, I would say you should support them. What other group is actively working to improve the area?
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February 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Go for it. The mag is great. The Society is an excellent part of the fabric. OK, it’s not an off licence, turf accountant or daft chicken outlet, but it is the charcoal and silver-grey streaks in the Camberwell rainbow.
Did anyone go to the Redstar dance night last night? The flyer looked interesting.
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February 16th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Johnny M is the problem of crime increase, It’s all his fault!!!
In Camberwell letting temporary accomodation as bedsits is why no one invest in thier community. they could be thrown out at any moment and are not allowed to work becuase of the higher rent vs housing benefit.
He is keeping poeple in the position of not paying tax and having to “scrounge” so they have to look elsewhere for extra income so we all get burgaled by his tennants.
Johnny M I wish you negative equity and not return on yield xxx
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February 16th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
No return on your yield
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February 16th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
johnnym - You really can be an unpleasant character can’t you? - Ok things are far from perfect but maybe just maybe on occasion, you might want to pull your head out of your anus and acknowledge the fact that totally unregulated free-market economics causes a considerable amount of damage to a highly diverse inner-city communty like Camberwell.
I’m not an anti-capitalist anarchist - but when I can see with my own eyes the negative effect that the current lowest common denominator free market practices cause ie: - all these highly destructive side-effects on society that persons like you are too ignorant to understand and make the obvious link between the two…
I think it’s only right that we consider the prospect of a more cerebral way of doing business for the good of us all
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February 16th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Muriel Spark lived in a bedsit in Camberwell, found for her by a Catholic priest. Perhaps a return to the grim rigour of the bedsit would bring out the barely concealed, quivering desire of the Dame Maggie Smith in us all.
Alan, did you get to the Buckle? Most people with children I know are laid low by vicious viruses.
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February 17th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Jeezy Peeps, dagmar, are you sure? I’d always gone safe in the certainty that the sainted Muriel lived out her days in marchmont, Edinburgh.
I was shocked to discover, in his obituary, that the great nationalist historian John Prebble lived most of his life in a mansion flat in Clapham.
what’s next? Rabbie Burns lived in a Peabody up the Elephant?
my culture is falling around my ears!
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February 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Where do all those Kirsty tv & radio culture girls live, Drew? I never see them in the 99p shop in Butterfly Walk, which continues to be an Aladdin’s Cave of delights, e.g. yesterday:
“Snot my fault there’s nothing in ‘ere - it’s all crap. CRYSTAL! I’m not spendin’ money on a load o’ shit. I got yer a Kinder Egg, it’s got a toy in ‘em.”
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February 17th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
On the mighty Camberwell Church Street today early afternoon I saw some guy in a high vis jacket affixing a large red plastic arrow with ‘KFC’ written on it on top of a phonebox, pointing up the road in the direction of the colonel’s place on the next block.
It’s dog ugly, retarded advertising. As it runs parallel to the road, it’s hard to see from passing cars, so one assumes its target market are the people directly opposite in The Castle, something I’d be fuming about if I was the manager of that place.
Personally it pisses me off as it’s right near where I live. Presumable the local council gets some kind of kickback for this, but personally, I’d like to find whatever pen-pusher rubber stamped this and ’stick that sign where the sun don’t shine’.
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February 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I dropped a mail to the people over at Angels and Gypsies a couple of weeks ago out of pure curiosity. A cahp who owns the place got back to me the following day with quite a nice email. I enquired as to whether the bar was open to non-residents and when the tapas bar would be open. He stated that the tapas bar would be open ’soon’ and that it wasn’t open to residents for a drink.
So it’s either doing incredibly well and there is no rush to open for food or even let people in for a drink. Or they really haven’t a clue.
The former would be nice….
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February 18th, 2008 at 12:51 am
It’s simple. They are having financial problems.
Otherwise they would be open by now.
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February 18th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Angels & Gypsies is enigmatic & therefore not to be too closely interrogated, perhaps eventually yielding its secret. Rooms may be rented there as we like - perhaps we should volunteer a couple of bloggers to report back. We can hardly blame them for not throwing the place just yet to the flotsam and jetsam. Class is to be had at the Dark Horse any time. The bar staff are enchanting.
The Enchantment - Aubrey Beardsley & co. - show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery was good - last day today, long queue - exquisite, carefully crafted, yes almost obsessive, and that was just the queue.
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February 18th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Did indeed Dagmar. Had the viruses already I think.
Have you heard the song Soulja Boy Crank Dat ( Superman dat ho)? It’s a hip-hop tune with an accompanying dance routine that has taken the US by storm. Saturday in the Buckle was the first time I’ve heard it in a bar. If you like hip-hop and rnb then the £3 entry fee is a bargain. That’s only on Saturdays though - normally it’s karaoke-in-the-community.
To really appreciate the song you need to look up ‘Superman dat ho’ on Urban dictionary.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=superman+dat+ho
While you’re there you might want to check out Spiderman too so that you can enjoy the reply ‘we don’t superman no mo we just Spiderman dat ho.’
We did manage to befriend one couple who we sat near. He was a middle aged black guy in shades and a gold sequined blazer and she was an attractive large bosomed late teenager in a revealing open shirt and with an afro comb in her hair. We were sharing a table when the bouncer took exception to the pair of them simulating sex.
Initially that may sound like a fair complaint but this behaviour is commonplace in the Buckle. I suspect that the bouncer’s real complaint was about the couple’s difference in age or even perhaps the nature of their relationship. Or maybe he was jealous because she was lovely.
After his reprimand our man got really angry in ‘hold me back’ kind of way and ran off in search of the doorman. Luckily for all he couldn’t find him. I guess he didn’t check the door.
Subsequently whenever the doorman walked past our man got up and protested, waited until he left, chased after him and then returned to his seat unscathed.
We reassured our pal that we had no objection to their sharing of affections and that the bouncer was overreacting and needless to say we became friends.
As we witnessed her willingness to crank dat I’m confident there were no superheroes invoked in there house on Saturday night.
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February 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
correction: their house
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February 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Great dispatch, Alan. “Mr Kurtz, he alive!”
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February 20th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I’ve bought Heart of Darkness on eBay so I can check what I’m being accused of…
I forgot to mention that they’ve got one of those toilet guys in the Buckle now so the lavs are a much cleaner and safer place.
I usually tip £1 after my third slash. Up to then I just smile and say thanks. Only had two pees on Saturday so I’m 66p in defecit.
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February 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Strangely enough, I passed one of those free bookshops on a brick wall the other night where someone had put out a load of books for people to take.
The institutional penury in the Dagmar house hoovers such books in for our mental enrichment. We may be poor, but we are rich in irrelevant detail.
One book was ‘Exterminate the Brutes’ (another quote from Heart of Darkness) by Sven Lindqvist who is not that rally driver but a Swedish travel writer and cultural thinker - the Granta-published book comes with a quote from John Berger. Lindqvist travels through the Sahara with his laptop and fine mind - this is a long way from the Buckle.
Basil Davidson, we like, of course.
But at the moment what we really like is the rough music of Konono No.1 - not Rough Guide music, but really rough music.
What a sound! The mice are scared to death by it. The racket! The racket!
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