Staffing at Loughborough Junction Station
Published by LoughboroughJunction | Filed under Guest Author, Transport
When I contacted Peter about the staffing issues at Loughborough Junction train station, he very kindly invited me to write a guest post. I am honoured to have the opportunity.
The ticket office at Loughborough Junction train station has recently been reviewed by First Capital Connect, who have decided to close the office after 12.45 noon and at the weekends. Their reason for this is reduced ticket sales in the afternoons. Unlike at other stations where the ticket offices are proposed for closure, Loughborough Junction will be left completely unmanned when the office is closed.
We are very concerned that this proposal will inevitably make the station attractive to criminal activity, affecting public safety and will lead to increased general vandalism. Users of the station including elderly and children should expect staff to be available to advise and provide support at all times the station is open. The station platform is also a very isolated place high above the streets below.
Please offer your support for the station and anyone that uses it by signing our petition.
http://www.petition.co.uk/staffing_at_loughborough_junction_train_station_sw9
As this affects so many locals, I would very grateful if you could inform your friends and neighbours too!
Thank you for your support
Nick and the Loughborough Junction Action Group
For more information please visit the Loughborough Junction Blog.
Oh the ups from the last blog and now the downs, I have signed the petition sent it to people on facebook.
I will also email Tessa Jowell MP for my part of SE5 the Mayor and local councillors. You can find yours all here http://www.WriteToThem.com
And to add to the woes, I hear that Cube hairdressers is likely to close shortly if the owner can’t find a buyer. I’ve been going there since its previous incarnation, and also to its once sister salon in Kentish Town; this is a real blow to me.
Just read on SE5Forum that Woolies has been turned into a 99p store.
Just what Camberwell was crying out for. Now if cube could be converted to a nail bar, we really will have wrapped up those long standing gaps in Camberwell’s shopping scene.
argh indeed — i remember there was some discussion/hope about camberwell having a town centre management/manager, did some googling and the first thing i found was a report by councillor ian wingfield stating “What is required is a broad strategy that lays out a vision for what the Council
would like Camberwell to become” — note that it’s ‘what the council would like’ rather than ‘what the people living in camberwell would like’.
Ground Hog Day
Roma Cafe near the Old Kent Road does good groundhog, slow-baked in clay. Woolies was originally a 3d and 6d store. It should have become a 99p store. It went wrong because it tried to become cheaper in quality, but more expensive in the money you paid. Woolies always rode shotgun to Marks & Spencer, who originally never sold anything over 5 shillings. Perhaps at one time Marks and Woolies should have married, like the Prince and Cinderella, become one, been fleshlily tied, sticked together — but the suture’s not ours to see, que sera sera.
I had my hair cut at Cube the other day and my regular hairdresser told me that the buyer has told them all they have to find other jobs within 5 weeks. I’ve taken her phone number as she plans to offer hairdressing in peoples homes. If you want her number Peter let me know. I think she’s very good.
Thanks Amanda, I’ll be in touch about that.
Couple of things:
1. I went to William Rose, the butcher in Lordship Lane, on Saturday. The queue was out of the door and round the corner — just to buy good quality meat! No-one can tell me there wouldn’t be demand for this in Camberwell.
2. I’ve set up a Facebook page for readers of this blog if they feel like identifying themselves:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Camberwell-Online/55184072216
I promise I’ll never post anything there that won’t be available here, so don’t feel that you’ll be missing out if you don’t sign up.
Cube as well eh. What’s happening there? Another nail bar?
The new 99p store in the old Woolies is the same chain as the Butterfly Walk one — good news, they are excellent. The new shop will be much better to navigate. There is a traditional Camberwell saying, “As slow, insensitive and bone-headed as the kine in the aisles of the 99p shop in Butterfly Walk.”
Part of the old Woolworth’s sign was standing on the pavement outside today — OLWORT. It was taken away in a lorry from Gee’s of Wakefield, presumably working for shopfitters working for 99p Stores. A South London Gallery exhibit worth its salt would be the word WORTH made from an old Woolworths sign. That would get the asthetic post-modernist grey cells grinding.
Nadir Lalani, the founder of 99p Stores in 2001, knows his stuff, having come from retail in Tanzania. He is accused of undercutting pound shops by a penny, but his spokesman told the Grocer magazine that for their customers, “Every penny counts.” They have taken over 15 Woolies recently.
The new show, a film, in the South London Gallery, “Flooded McDonalds”, is very restful, calming, charming and numinative, reflectoral and ruminutory, a bit like watching paint dry.
According to SE5 Forum Somerfield is to become a Morrisons — http://www.se5forum.org/forum/index.php?topic=1095.msg4655;topicseen#new
I cant find reference to it anywhere else on the web but if its true I give it two cheers as the range at Morissons is reasonable and the prices are cheap (unlike Somerfield). And I imagine there will be a Co-Op opening on the other Somerfield site.
When I was in Eritrea in December, I very randomly ended up sharing a taxi to an obscure location with an Eritrean man who turned out to be from Camberwell. We spent a pleasant half hour contemplating the best replacement for Somerfield, and came to the conclusion of Morrisons: if it’s true, we’ll both be happy…
Avoid the ridiculous queues at Wm Rose by buying much better meat, properly butchered and with lovely service from Mr Sparkes’ van on Northcross Street. He’s there Fridays and Saturdays…
Know anyone looking for a room to rent?
Bright double room available in 2 bed flat near to Myatt’s fields.
Lovely flatmate!
Morrisons would be really welcome but since the Peckham one would be equidistant it’d be nice to have another option — Asda would be good. They do some fun stuff.
Can’t wait to get rid of Somerfield. Co-Op usually disappointing I find.
I might have been in the queue with you on Saturday Peter! Nuff said. Did you buy some Rose of Roscoff onions from the French chap outside?
They’re getting Welsh salt marsh lamb April/May. A true British delicacy. Please leave me some.
Wm Rose has Moxton’s the Fish opposite and delis wine merchants and cafes within brick-throwing distance. Who cares if it’s a cliché, it makes a pleasant change.
ED does very well by Camberwell, as does Ocado. But it’s not to the majority’s tastes.
Will check out Mr Sparkes. Didn’t know about him. Thanks SpikeyD.
@SpikeyD : Do you mean Northcross Rd in E Dulwich? Nice tip, thanks.
@ Phil G : I don’t mind Morrisons, either; have a better selection of fresh stuff, and a very good range of beers (at least the Peckham one does).
@ Copeywolf : I was there at about 4.30pm and yes, I did buy some onions from the onion man! He was selling at the Oval farmers market before Christmas and I bought some then, too. Lovely onions.
I’m very jealous of Lordship Lane; a butcher, fishmonger, cheesemonger, and greengrocer, all within walking distance; a proper high street, IMHO. Mind you, there’s a lot of overpriced nonsense there too.
Sad to hear about Cube.
Hope Tadims reopens soon.
Tried the new chinese place near Caravaggio — very popular and busy, but we weren’t impressed by either the menu selection or the food itself. It’s probably an acquired taste.
Looking forward to trying the new noodle bar that will be opening (or is it already open?) in place of Mazzarella Pomadoro.
And yet another rave for La Luna, it really is the best Italian within walking distance of the Green.
Has anyone else tried Pasha apart from the helpful soul, perhaps Gay Camberwell related, who flagged it up recently?
Pasha the restaurant that is, not the club.
@Peter — sorry, I meant Rd of course. For some reason, I always think Northcross should go with St rather than Rd — perhaps ‘cos I don’t want it to be associated with Northcote Rd in Clapham, from whose apalling grasp I escaped a few years ago
You’re right that there’s some nonsense there, but Sparkes and Pretty Traditional greengrocers are really worth frequenting. Better and cheaper fish than Moxons to be had at Sopers in Nunhead, btw — but it’s a bus ride away…
Pasha was reviewed in Southwark News last week — http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/home/reviews/00,news,13894,6490,00.htm
Apparently Kylie was in Camberwell at Christmas time -
“During Christmas the whole Minogue family, including sister Kylie, gathered in Camberwell for an Aussie barbecue, followed by another barbecue for friends on Boxing Day.” http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24960322–5012974,00.html
If only Danni and Kylie came to gather in our Camberwell too!
It is our honour to have Erin O’Connor who is a real woman.
What a pleasure it would be to see Kylie in the Doves or the Hermits and shopping in the 99p Store!
We’ve been to Pasha a couple of times and really enjoyed both visists. The food is good as is the service but it’s really the bean bags and small stream running through the room that makes the evening.
Excellent ptogramme on BBC Wals last night called ‘Over A Barrel’. David Morgan, one of the co founders (along with Camberwell’s very own licensees — Steve Corbett, Nicky Francey and me) of The Fair Pint Campaign http://www.fairpint.co.uk figures highly in the programme. It is THE best programme aired so far on the realities and inequities of the tied pub system in Britain.
Really worth watching:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h9tsl/Week_In_Week_Out_Over_a_Barrel/
If anyone can tell me how to save the programme onto disc — I mean a cd that I can send to friends, then please tell me!
mark@sunanddoves.co.uk
Good to see you last night Drew.
You can actually see Erin O’Connor, the 6-foot beauty from Brownhills, West Midlands, in the alehouses and eateries of Camberwell, when she is not respresenting us all over the world. She has an original mind as well as look.
“Doncaster PSB 1981–2002″ is one of the Class 66s made in London, Canada, known as “Ying-yings” amongst gricers. Doncaster Power Signal Box was the third modern box to be built after King’s Cross and Peterborough and is very imporant for the London-Edinburgh line. The locomotive may not be romantically named, but it hauls with it tons of austere functionality through our dreaming-spire purlieus.
Can anyone recommend a good garage to service an old S reg Renault Clio in the area?
I recommend Pullman Garage on Carew Street (just off Lilford Road) which I have used several times for servicing/MOT of our 8 year old citroen. http://www.pullmangarage.co.uk.
You can also try Tudor Garage right next door to The Sun and Doves. Ian and Billy have been there for donkeys’ years and are leaving soon because their lease is uip. Kings are turning it into a wheelchair repair shop and admin offices, shame. The best mechanics I’ve ever had. Been using them since 1995.
The end of an oily era.
It looks like the Camberwell Grove development is close to completion — providing lots of new homes at a cost of up to £999,950. Also providing new tennis courts for the Butterfly Tennis Club.
Camberwell MP Harriet Harman and the sports minister visited recently (after their visit to the Camberwell pool) — see http://www.easier.com/view/UK_Property_News/London/article-230244.html
For those who didn’t read the Southwark News review of Pasha, linked above, can I recommend it, particularly the section in which our scribe gratuitously insults his long-suffering wife/girlfriend (“…and the missus didn’t even have a cross word, a rarity indeed.”)
I’m all in favour of local paper restaurant write-ups; they have a much more immediate impact for most outlets than a mention, good or scathing, in the national press. They’re usually much more fun to read, too. A friend who began his journalism career in York antagonised a number of the city’s restaurateurs, most notably one where he described a dish as “so dry I half expected to see Peter O’Toole galloping across it on a camel”.
Local newspapers are great. Shame the business model is so screwed.
There’s a photo of Pharoah’s pub going up in flames on the South London press website.
http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=3425&headline=Huge fire in Pharaoh pub
I worked in local papers as a journalist. They’re disgraceful employers, really awful.
Their pennypinching and lack of vision has run the industry into the ground. The BBC’s neverending expansionism is partly to blame.
It’s a terrible shame about local papers as they’re so great at building community fabric and identity.
Whay do you think of Southwark News, PhilG?
I always thought that the local papers (Southwark News, The South London Press, Bingley Advertiser — you get the picture) was where the trainee “journalist” honed their “skills” to become fully-fledged prostitutes of the written word. However, as they’ve alienated Phil G, I’m feeling a new warmth for them.
Mush, I’ve just deleted my great response to your prod. I looked at it and thought — nah, there’s really no point. Plenty of animosity in SE London already, so why bring it here.
Hi Dagmar — the South London Press is not bad and I read it now and then. I’d have to read it more regularly to give a proper opinion on it. I’d like to see more council and crime coverage. That it’s a biweekly is unusual in the local rag world. I’d prefer a weekly. Funnily enough two ex colleagues used to work there, though they’ve left now.
Southwark News I’ve never really looked into. If it were good I’d be more minded to buy it as it’d be more local, in theory. I’m guessing it doesn’t have the budget or staff of the SLP.
Silk Road.
Yes, it’s very good and is the closest thing to Xinjiang food I have ever found in the West. Tripe kebabs were a revelation. Lamb kebabs a bit overseasoned but reminiscent of China. Big plate chicken enjoyable. I’ll go back and try the dumplings and noodle dishes another time.
The owners aren’t Muslim Xinjiang Uighurs but are ethnic Han Chinese who come from the Xinjiang region.
Every dish we had was excellent and they have totally transformed the way the Xinjiang stuff is marketed and laid out on the menu. This is in sharp contrast to six months or so ago when I went in and it was buried in the menu and there were fewer dishes.
I discussed this with the owner who is aware that he’s onto a good thing with his rare offering, for now. To put this in context, Camberhell is probably the only place in the UK offering this cuisine. Foodies will travel from across London for it.
Having said all that, it’s not an astounding cuisine so if you haven’t tried it don’t expect too much. Quite simple, hearty stuff. I just like it because it reminds me of travels in China, and is a nice change from the usual Cantonese fare. Tasty too.
Anyway, I’d recommend it. Along with Caravaggio, Tadim when it reopens, Taste London, and the fish n chips place, there’s quite a strip of decent food there now!
Being a regular reader of the South London Press and Southwark News I think Southwark News is far superior in every respect — it actually reports local news in a straightforward manner rather than the sensationsit tabloid style of the SLP. It also benefits from having a clearly defined area to cover — the SLP tries to cover all the boroughs ranging from Lewisham to Wandsworth and is too thinly spread. Incidentally I wouldnt be surprised if the SLP became once weekly soon given the doldrums of the newspaper industry and the lack of property adverts in the Tuesday supplement. I wish there was an equivalent Lambeth News for those of us in Lambeth
yup, slp is full of ‘cops’ and ‘perverts’
Just been looking at SNews site. It’s an independent, which is q rare, and is to be applauded. Most have been sold to the handful of big groups, which are the ones that are shedding jobs.
Will buy a SNews this week. They’ve got quite an easy website to get round, unlike SLP.
SNews has a reporting team of 3. This is small, but adequate to cover our patch I think. We could offer up some pro Camberwell stories to our beat reporter. I speak his language.
If anyone’s interested, the SNews circulation is around 9,660. SLP 22,582.
I thought the difference between them would be greater. Both are quite small in regional newspaper terms.
To Phil G:
Tadims? a good place to eat?
I went there twice on the recommendations of people on this site and the SE5 forum as well as people I met in the street.
Inedible, rubbery tired shit. Both times. Wouldn’t eat there again if you begged me. And the 3 or 4 friends I have who have also been there agree…Is there another Tadims I don’t know about? And the croissants were awful too.
Second point…Camberhell? Really.… Can we have some more positive thoughts please.… see previous post
Finally: Liked the new 99p store. At least the shelves are well stocked and it’s clean and the staff are friendly and it actually has things I want to buy. Unlike Woolies which it took over. Got a Belkin i-pod sleeve for carrying your i-pod when running for…you guessed it…99p. Oh and a hip flask for the lady.
Monkeycat:
I do know what you mean about the Tadims rubber stuff — lasagne or whatever it was.
However, I’ve had a few dishes there and it was usually good. So no, it’s not a standout place, but at least it’s an option. Also the lahmacun makes a good and cheap walkaround snack.
More positive thoughts? The whole post was about how great it is to have something unique in our area. Spelling it out that SE5 is a UK first. Or did you miss that bit? Jeezus, why bother, honestly.
Woolies? I’m confused. I couldn’t give a stuff that Woolies closed. It should’ve failed years ago. It was rubbish. While I don’t hate the 99p store and I would like a cheap hipflask, we have a 99p store already and it’s a shame that something — dare I say it — more aspirational hasn’t moved in.
Too many posts from me today, I’ll watch awhile…
Cheers.
I’m not really allowed to make comment on other eating places because I own an eating place and loads of people assume I just make comment to try to get more business for my own.
I’m really very objective and have terrible problems at times about what comes out of The Sun and Doves food-wise (that’s my place although I don’t own the freehold by the way) but what I can say about S&D is that I’ve had some of the best uncomplicated unmessed around food ever there — as well as some scary moments which have REALLY freaked me out even when as owner the staff have known they were sending food out to the owner and they all know what I want is to get what any regular customer wants — good and consistent…
I don’t get out much any more and that’s the way it is but I can say that catering is my life and I lived with a Raymond Blanc trained chef (the first woman to ever work in his kitchen) for five years and worked front of house in some of the best popular restaurants in Britain for ten years.
That said. I’ve had many awful food experiences in Camberwell. I’d rate Tadim near the top of the worst — for hard inedible cardboard pastries particularly but say that visually it promises way more than it delivers. Their food is big though and takes ages to eat so I suppose that represents good value as long as you can get your teeth out of the first bite.
Hoa Viet has been good and alternately awful. Seymours has gone and that’s no surprise, I tried to buy into Becky a few years ago but she wouldn’t go for it. And Johanssens I’ve not had a chance to try.
Caravaggio I;ve been to twice and I think it;s revolting but then I know loads of people who think it;s good and they always say how cheap it is and how big the portions are. I know Frank and admire his steely uncompromisingly basic attitude to food and business but that doesn;t stop me from wanting to spit out the stuff I get on a plate there. Cheap or not. There is a difference between cheap and good value and Caravaggio does it very well.
Woolworths should have got their act together a decade ago
Curtailed post due to unexpected arrival of best friend at door.
the one thing that i saw in S&D a while back was the chef came out of the pub into the front garden to pick some rosemary. i really liked that.
haven’t eaten anything in s&d though, apart from a friend’s chip or two as i’m not sure how much vegan stuff there is on the menu?
Not enough!
Tadims. I’ve got fond memories of that joint, Eaten there often enough. Always looked at it as a cheap, unpretentious eat. Unfortunately, the last two times I ate there I practically got sawed in half by the malignant eye-beams from the ultra-surly waitress who handled our orders. Sigh.
Carravaggio: Nice to sit out front, coffee’s alright, and cheap, and I remember my pasta dish being not bad for the price. They serve vinegary piss for wine, though.
Fair play to the man like Mark for attempting to ‘switch up the game’.
Incidentally, I have been reading Gregor Muir’s account of rolling with the YBA pack in the 90s (Lucky Kunst), and his evocation of Camberwell under Thatcher makes its current incarnation sound relatively benign. Take heart, friends.
Man, chilling here, smoking rollups, listening to Steely Dan. Life aint so bad.
Does the Sun and Doves serve pigeon? That would be a good addition to a new austerity menu: Greene King IPA at 99p a pint and as much pigeon as you can eat for £2.99.
I had pigeon in The Bear in December. It was superb. £12 or so though.
Tadims. “visually it promises way more than it delivers” — very well put. It’s been a while since I ate a full meal there. Maybe they’ll improve it when they reopen.
S+D offers good fare and I look on it as a reliable standby for when I want to sink a few pints and eat in one go.
@Mark, we ate lunch at S & D a few weeks ago and have to say it was excellent. Large portions, very tasty and you got exactly what you ordered.
Agree that Tadims is probably overrated, lukewarm coffee, stale croissants — but the cheese and spinach pastries are nice even if microwaved.
Caravaggio does excellent paninis, great for lunch.
Hoe Viet has to be the friendliest place in Camberwell though!
Sun-dried doves are an Ethiopian delicacy, which taste like Bombay duck, which is not a lizardfish or “grinner” as fishingmen call them, but a duck.
Yesterday lunchtime, gricers would have been astonished to see about six diesel engines passing through all linked together, making up a short train composed entirely of locomotives. One of them was “Railway Heritage Committee”. Can it be that the post-bust reduction in goods traffic means that locos are being mothballed?
@tadims…stick to coffee. Dont think you are meant to eat there.
Allow me to weigh into the great Tadims debate: I’ve only been there a couple of times, and both times I ate the lamachan(?), the Turkish pizza, which I found very tasty. Other than this, no comment.
Lahmacun that’s the puppy. Great for a snack and v cheap. It’s the only reason I call into Tadim’s.
Hoa Viet the crispy noodles with duck is great, especially if you’ve had a few, though it’s not strictly a Viet dish.
@Liliana
Not so long ago I bought some fresh rosemary in Cruson’s; it was 99 pence for 20g. Wandering back along Coldharbour Lane and passing the S&D I noticed the forest of rosemary outside and, apart from regretting not having filched a handful on the way out to Cruson’s, I calculated that there must have been about 20kg of the stuff. Now 20g into 20Kg X 0.99 pence = not far off a Grand! So memo to Mark: there’s gold in dem ‘erbs. “Infused with the aroma of Coldharbour Lane and King’s College Hospital Incinerator” could be the USP for such a product. Or perhaps not…
The “sails” of the plumed basilisk lizard and Malaysian sail-finned lizard are served dried at that funny little restaurant “Ho Fuk” on Church Street. You have to ask for them — they don’t widely make it known that they are available there. Both these lizards can walk on walk using their feet and tails. For this reason, in Costa Rica the plumed basilisk is knowm as the “Jesus Christ lizard”.
Silly! They can walk on WATER. The lizards can walk on water. The plumed basilisk can swim underwater for half an hour. Water, earth, fire, wood and metal is are the five elements according to Chinese philosophy. The lizard sails taste quite metallic, funnily enough.
Is are was. Talking of water, rosemary (rosemarinus) means “dew of the sea”. 94 Bushey Hill Road has a really bushy rosemary bush that overhangs the pavement — I am surprised the council has not dropped them a note about it. But it is kept in check by passers-by who need a sprig for their lamb.
Rosemary: Merrick you’re right, and that’s why the rosemary outside has constantly struggled to GROW properly. Many people filch it and others stand on it which doesn’t work as good husbandry. I just spent an hour putting slow release fertiliser into the planting medium a couple of days ago. Hope it’ll perk it up a bit by spring. ON reflection I should have planted pyracantha instead but I’m a romantic.
No lizards there.
Back to the food thing, The Bear is good. Not eaten at Cambria but I’ve heard good things. Dark Horse good too but unatmospheric.
on the pub front if you’re interested in pubs and culture please look at http://www.fairpint.org.uk to see why so many pubs are closing across the UK.
My own experience of pub life is fairly long and I’ve had a lot of run ins with my freeholder in my time at The Sun and Doves but YOU would NOT believe the stories I’ve come across with other lessees of pub companies — pubcos — it is hard to believe that ftse companies behave the way they do towards the people who earn them ALL their income and profit.
If any of you care please join the facebook cause: Save The Great British Pub: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/74309?m=ab07ea1b
Even if you HATE facebook it’s worth signing up just to be part of this one cause.
I usually grow all my own herbs…
Cruson is a wonderful emporium…As long as I can rely on them for some lovely juicy Lemons then I’m happy…
Good Citrus fruit is hard to find these days — You won’t find it in a supermarket, that’s for sure (M&S/Waitrose apart that is)
i’ve been growing giant basil and lettuce in our window boxes (it just grew very tall for some reason) — i think what was lovely was the idea of picking up fresh herb/veg from your garden when you’re cooking.
@mark — is there nowhere in the back you could plant the herbs/even veg? there’d be maybe marginally less pollution & probably considerably less damage due to people being stupid?
Croissants are plenty fresh in Sophlocles this morning. Coffee is only 80p. Great for people watching. Can’t complain.
Liliana
Ahhhhh! The age old question which has baffled all the great thinkers since time began…
How do you stop people from being stupid?
I have thought about chucking the TV in a skip and I don’t read newspapers anymore…well apart from the sports section — i can’t let go of my football even though stupid people have stolen and sucked all the fun out of it
The old leather footballs used to be turned into dried-squid fritters on that old cafe on Dog Kennel Hill.
You can get Black Country Pork Scratchings in the bar at Dulwich Hamlet
Mmmmmm…None of this Mr.Porky’s rubbish
Black Country? Pork? Scratchings? You just about offended everyone there, comrade, you just omitted that Millwall were beaten at home yesterday by Scunthorpe. The Iron. Cockney rhyming slang, iron, iron hoof = poof. This theme is followed through when they Miwwaww play Brighton.
The Horniman is a great place to save on heating. The TURBO SNAILS in the aquarium are great, the fastest snails on earth. There’s also a caption, SHARK TRUST. If you don’t trust sharks, in pc terms you’re a pussy. For more information, visit http://www.sharktrust.org.
How different Camberwell feels coated in sound-proofing snow, with no buses and only the occasional car skidding along the roads. There are little kids (of African origin, I think) outside, running, jumping and rolling about in the snow. Takes me back to the first time I saw snow and my Dad took me to Clapham Common, where the pond was frozen over.….….…..
Strange sight last night was the Zampa Fish van trying to turn from Shenley Road into Linnell with the rear wheels spinning and the van sliding perilously towards the parked cars and the van man’s helpers. He was 50 yards from home, so I suggested he parked the van. No-one would nick the foul-smelling Zampa Fish van, ponging as it does with the odour of shark fins, killer whalemeat, conger eels, stingrays, Portuguese Men o’ War, spiny sea urchins, cuckoo wrasse, zooplankton fishcakes, krill fritters and other delightful gourmet comestibles to pacify the angry fans of Millwall FC, New Den, Zampa Road SE16 whose team have been beaten by Scunthorpe.
Dags — Isn’t there a football chant about something to do with “who put the (something beginning with c, 4 letters) in Scunthorpe”?
Dagmar…
Millwall’s biggest rivals are West Ham who I support (hey I’m a proud South Londoner, I just decided not to be so parochial when I chose my football team!)
West Ham’s nickname are the Irons so Millwall have always taken great pleasure in reminding us of their interpretation of that word…
However like West Ham, the mighty Scunthorpe United also play in Claret and Blue and were founded by steelworkers, so it all ended rather nicely with the Millwall losing to them on Saturday
Don’t you agree?
By the way, I went to Broadway Market in E8 yesterday (London Fields area) and had an Argentinian-Style Alpha-Male meal at Buen Ayre restaurant…
How I wish Camberwell had a simular establishment…Mmmmm I can still taste those buttery sweetbreads melting in my mouth…
I recommend it to anyone — well worth the trek
Scenes you seldom see:
I have just walked past Somerfield in the Butterfly Walk shopping centre and the security man on the door was having to turn people away it was so popular.
“Worst snow in 18 years” = Best snow in 18 years. Are Somerfield have a snow-themed sale? Or does the lack of all wheeled transport mean people are having to be and shop local? Regenerguru, perhaps Sarah Palin is right. The snow has been sent to make us more folksome and loco, or whatever she might say, localsome and folkso.
Great isn’t it? Plenty focalsome.
The phone rang early this morning. Our youngest thought it might be Santa Claus (it wasn’t).
Focalsome, that’s it! Good looting weather. “We are having a sale here at Somerfield — the shop has been sold, our souls have been sold, now the customer focus is not just on low prices, but no prices. There’s snow business like no business!”
Dagmar, the Russian arctic wind has temporarily localised us, with the disbenefit of oversized teenage fokusniks involving unwilling citizens in snow fights. Locus folkusniks, pokeus refuseniks.
Sarah Palin’s is a protectionist project built on ignoring the weaknesses of the US economy, whereas our Camberwell localist project should be one of abolishing the artificial local on-street parking subsidies which mask the efficiencies of local business, and the demand for better quality services, as testified to by Mushti.
Regeneguru
I suggest we start with the Butterfly Walk centre…
Demolish it and replace with a town square with units on the periphery
and
Re-Instate a cinema in central Camberwell
Re-Furbish the snooker hall or Gala bingo — both were once cinemas — the Gala bingo would be ideal as it has an extension on the side that could be used as a flash bar to help subsurdise the cinema
That would be great…
As would a Buenos Aires type grill like the one I visited in Broadway Market yesterday…
Oh it is my dream to have a cinema in Camberwell (though am enjoying the gay Sunday films at The Castle!)
Do come along to the new comedy night at the Joiners Arms on Thursday (£3, 8:30pm) — good acts, good compere, good venue, and if you all come along, it’ll be a monthly event! And should we find ourselves snowed in all week, then so be it: it is reassuring to know that we shall be entertained in the heart of SE5 rather than traipsing elsewhere for our comedy fix…
There are guards at the Somerfields because there are few staff there and customers are being asked to queue. Most of the shops have few staff. People are piling into Sophocles because there is a bread shortage. Cars are piling into each other because of a common sense shortage. One of our local street sweepers who is normally taciturn was extremely jolly today as we heard another crunch as two cars collided — “I’ve seen worse today!” he hollered cheerfully. Folks have built a magnificent igloo in Lucas Gardens.
Igloos = on my way.
Enjoying the photos on the SE5 flickr pool. I see my neighbor is posting. Hi dickdotcom!
Probably because I is a saddo, people’s twitter updates on the snow in Cambwerwell, Peckham and the rest of London are worth a look.
Lucas Gardens is like a Labour Party Christmas card, delivered late but fit for purpose. The snow coming down is not settling and soon there will be slush, which will freeze overnight, nasty. Slush is the smog of the snow world. The Inuits have one word for it, innit, slush. The Castle pub has been filling up all day. It has been acting as an emergency creche, with beer.
the small somerfield is closed and the queues in the butterfly walk one remind me of the postwar/a communist country queues
macdonalds virtually deserted (albeit for a wrong reason)…
@eusebiovic — and ask the non-local chains and banks to leave?
SNOWBALL FIGHT AT THE GREEN 7PM. The Red Nose Day Pinotage/Shiraz is acceptable at £4.99 from Somerfield with a quid going to poor volk in Africa and UK. You’d normally pay about £3.99 for it. The more you drink, though the betterer a person you feel. Bring some to the Green. It is screwcap and ideal for the gig!
Nice one for the igloo tip, Dagmar. The kids were well impressed. We liked the gorilla more and the snowlady with large breasts. Thanks art student people.
Mini tobogganing on plastic bags in the play area at Warwick Gardens was fun. With the faux gas lamps it was like a scene from olde London Towne this evening.
THE RED NOSE RED gets better with airing, a young 2008 wine well worth the waiting while the wind, as it were, of the West Cape works wonderfully to unwind the weary woman once winsome, now losesome. There was a snow-woman near us wearing a headscarf, a really nice muslim chic chick, apart from her bright orange nose!
Walking around Camberwell today is like crunching through sheets of Kendal Mint Cake.
Snappers may be interested in the white van with its engine burnt out and bonnet open, stranded right in front of the Town Hall. There is a blackened but intact Crazy Frog fixed to the grille. It makes for a really crazy shot!
Kitson Street is also a hidden Camberwellian Gem but Sansom Street is the daddy!
Went into the new 99p shop today — It is the new Woolworths, they practically sold the same stuff…got lots of household cleaning goods and a kilo of sugar plus kitchen towels for £4.34p…what a bargain
The best thing about Woolworths were their Prestige Pots and Pans — Indestructible and would last forever those bad boys
Come the nuclear holocaust only 3 things would survive
Cockroaches
Prestige Cookware
and
Norman Tebbit
Crazy Frog van has gone. Did anyone get a shot in?
Tebbit does well, Eusebiomate, his wife not so. We need him now in a national government with his how-to austerity tips. “On your bike!” A man ahead of his time.
Enoch couldn’t tie his own shoelaces. You could hear him blubbering on “What the Psychiatrist Saw”, it was awful.
Harriet Harman is great. She is a proper duck.
Walking around Camberwell today is not like it was yesterday. Revealed is grubby, dull, miserable, the potholes have all exploded, gravel and chippings being hooked out and spread all around.
Embrace the grey, Mark. The fashionable color this season, makes us look slim.
Went to the Gowlett last night for Magic 7s. Haven’t been for a while – it’s not as happening as I’d remembered. Mostly 30 something office-job types earlier in the evening
The other thing, you have to put up with people bringing their favorite tunes to play. I realize that’s the point of the night, but there are only so many times you can handle “my boy lollipop” or some 80s chart topper.
But still, fairly lively and good for a Thursday night out.
Where is the Gowlett?
It’s Peckham / East Dulwich borders, though technically it’s SE22. Named after the street it’s on.
It’s OK. Bit of a change. Overrated.
Gowlett is on end of Gowlett Road in SE15 Peckham/East Dulwich.
Up side of Goose Green towards New Cross Gowlett Road is left turn left opposite the Tesco Local, past the Jet garage on the right over the crest of the hill before Peckham Rye.
They do very good pizzas.
The Sun and Doves does Magnificent Sevens on the first Thursday of every month and My Boy Lollipop and 80’s trash don’t figure highly.
If you want to be on the mailing list for invites to S&D send a note to mail@sunanddoves.co.uk
thanks for the information all, I’ll try and stop in sometime.
It’s my first time at the Jazz at St Giles tonight, I’m excited but a little apprehensive as I’ve never been. Any tips?
Jazz is a nice change. Booze cheap. Been twice. First time more impressive than last. It’s a bit of a lottery to folk who don’t know their jazz, like me. Great venue but cramped and difficult to get a seat. As the night goes on though opportunities do arise, so my tip is to be hawkeyed! They do food too, but not all night.
Instructions for Jazz in the Crypt:
1. Get there early.
2. Don’t eat beforehand.
3. Even then share a meal with someone else as the portions are huge. *
4. Don’t be shocked if you get change for a tenner for a round of drinks. Bar prices really are reasonable.
5. Enjoy.ª
.
.
* This also means there is more to round for everyone else as they always seem to run out of food.
ª Unless it happens to be “thrash fusion jazz” in which case throw your food at them and tell the band to grow up!
Oh yeah, nod lots too. Closing your eyes and nodding also good, but don’t do it too much.
Last time some jazzheads on the table next to me derided the gig as “masturbatory”, so you could try that too!
BIRD LIVES
“Jane Austen Arrives in Manchester’ is not just a great Smiths song title but a superbly atmospheric video on YouTube.
Jane Austen 92004 passed through Camberwell yesterday — how cool is that? — drawing a long train of prefabricated heavy-girder reinforcements, presumably for construction, probably pulled all the way fom continental Europe.
This is massive metalwork, not the relatively spindly fabrications done by Thames Reinforcements of Sheerness — put “reinforcements Sheerness” into Google and you will just get an explanation of sheerness and denier in hosiery, but that is an another story, compelling in a different, Rowan Pelling sort of way.
The buldgingly phallic Class 92s are really something — powerful, complex and expensive. They were built 1993–96 mainly by Brush and were completed in the Brush erecting workshops in Loughborough.
They have a massive, massive power potential of 6,760 horsepower and were designed to haul heavily industrial-weight goods trains through Eurotunnel. They are all named after European writers and composers — Beethoven had the honour pulling the last train to run under the British Rail flag.
Perhaps he will join Jane Austen once more in a nationalised rail network! Perhaps Jon Cruddas, the brilliant, clear-sighted and crystal-minded MP for Dagenham, born in Helston, Cornwall, will be the next Labour leader and Prime Minister in a world where socialism has been totally vindicated — who would have thought it?
Who would have thought the evils of capitalism would be most grotesquely and grimly showcased in the former Soviet Union, of all vast places?
VIVA JANE!
BIRD LIVES!
Jazz in the Crypt can make for a great alternative Friday night. Was there last night. Did you spill my pint Genfink?
Music ranges from sublime to, as Phil G says, masturbatory. Signing up to their newsletter and getting the heads up on who’s playing makes it a little less hit and miss. I hadn’t checked before going last night and my heart sank a bit when I got in — as far as I’m concerned the only place for a jazz flute is a bottom. There was some nice moments nonetheless. Stayed for the first set, a bit of scoff and a couple of cheap beers then went home for an early night. I’m getting old.
RUGBY RUGBY RUGBY!
rugby indeed jim; do you know who’s showing the scotland/wales game?
I wasn’t around Drew, otherwise I’d have been on your case
Most, if not all, of the places who have tellies but no Sky seem to be pushing it. Otherwise the best bet is the George Canning, a rare example of a rugby-friendly pub and the unofficial clubhouse of King’s College Rugby.
Also the Hermit’s Cave were showing the rugby.
Love that place.
Does anyone know what’s going on with ‘angel and gypsies’ tapas y cerveceria?
I’ve mailed them a couple of times and keep being told it’ll be open in a couple of months, but don’t see any progress when I peek in through the newspaper!
I wish we knew, Robp. Been looking forward to it for years.