Gay Camberwell

I had a phone call from Great Expectations (art gallery/framers on Denmark Hill) on Friday, telling me my picture was taking longer to be framed than expected due to the snow. Which is really quite annoying as I’m sure one ought to be able to frame a picture in less than a fortnight! Of course I’m not a framer and thus am clearly wrong.  But as a Scottish girl, I am quite disconcerted about how much angst and disruption the snow has caused, or is blamed for. Most amusing was TFL’s complete cessation of any bus service for most of the day. I’ve never seen Camberwell so pretty and serene. But after an hour and a half’s walk to work, I rather wished that TFL would get their act together, and that the council (pre-warned of the snow, note), had managed to grit the roads and send out a snow plough or two. I saw them gritting outside the library at Elephant and Castle. Is SE5 not good enough to merit grit? At least it meant that those working slightly further afield than me got to make snowmen without the disruption of the number 12 bus carrying them to work... I was also impressed to note that contrary to my Glasgow experiences, the local youths did not pelt me with snowballs, and the ones throwing snowballs at each other did not seem to have embedded rocks inside them. Camberwell is clearly a civilised snow destination... 

The snow having cleared, Roz and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire at Peckham Multiplex last night. Having booked by internet, we had some doubts about whether our tickets would be waiting, but indeed they were. As an ex-Peckham girl, I do miss the Multiplex. Though I love the Brixton Ritzy with a passion, there is something nicely local about Peckham. Indeed, it previously took me five minutes to walk there. There has been some talk on the SE5 Forum about how lovely it would be if Camberwell had a cinema. It would be my dream, but I do think I overestimated how far away the Peckham Plex is: it took us less than half an hour to walk home last night, most of which was spent by Roz bitching about the pretentious and overrated nature of the film. It’s interesting because I’m currently reading White Tiger, this year’s Booker Prize winning book (and Camberwell Gay Book Group’s book of the month). Both deal with a similar subject, i.e. poverty in India, but the book is in a whole different class...

In typical film-overload weekend style, we saw La Vie En Rose this afternoon at the Castle. What a really lovely film, about a little French transexual 7 year old boy. As usual, I commandeered the bowl of Maltesers, but even without them, I’d have had a lovely time. I think the Sunday film screenings are my very favourite thing about Gay Camberwell. 

Having walked past Johanson’s aka Seymour’s last night, I noticed it looked as though the Thai menu was exactly the same as previously... and yet it was empty, where previously it would have been full. Intriguing... Perhaps people are just staying in because of the dire forecasts of snow! Personally, I’m glad I’ve set Roz to work making dinner...

This has been a bumper week for gay films in the Camberwell vicinity. It started with Shortbus last Sunday at The Castle, then 8 Women on Tuesday at the Sun and Doves, then Milk earlier today at the Brixton Ritzy (to which I cycled: my most daring journey since my acquisition of a bike two weeks ago - the only other being the canal path to Peckham, where I managed to brake incorrectly and was duly propelled over the handlebars...), and then later today we saw My Beautiful Laundrette at The Castle. As though that was not enough, Love Film also dropped an array of gay-themed films through my letterbox: people have been recommending all sorts of films to show at Pink Screen Sundays and Roz and I have been sampling them to pick the best... after careful research, we can tell you that A Touch of Pink is NOT the best (though if you like a fake Cary Grant starring as the main character’s imaginary friend, this film may be just for you!)

Respite from the gay film onslaught was found last night at the Sun and Doves’ queer tango workshop: I was most entertained, though saddened that, contrary to my hopes, I do not seem to be hiding a secret tango-related talent... but they do seem to be able to teach enough that I had a decent dance around the floor! They’re having another workshop on 21st March, so I’m looking forward to honing my skills... There is something very lovely about Saturdays at the Sun and Doves at the moment, with Club Wotever providing a friendly, interesting, entertaining evening, not to mention the best place to dance in Camberwell at the moment.

On a further Camberwell note, I visited the new 99p store the other day and found it, well, very much like the 99p store in Butterfly Walk. Except bigger. Which is not necessarily a bad thing - I found everything I was looking for. Am crossing my fingers that the rumours of a Morrisons coming to SE5 will be true. Somerfields seemed to have hardly any food when I was shopping there yesterday - though luckily nearby Cruson supplemented my groceries. I also popped into the library who are now regularly stocking the Pink Paper, have revamped the LGBT book section, and specially e-mailed me to ask me to advertise it. They have a good collection too: do visit and use it!