Gay Camberwell

By Layla

Well, it has been a morning of frustrations. One was that, having written a blog on my parents’ computer from the exotic shores of Glasgow, their computer crashed and said blog vanished into the ether (leaving me wondering what on earth I’d written). The preceeding frustration was that, having been charged with writing this blog, I realised I haven’t actually been in Camberwell for almost a week! The festive delights of Christmas having summoned me to Barcelona and Scotland, my most recent memory of Camberwell is last Monday night, eating delicious sausages and mash (at a very good price, I might add!) in the Sun and Doves, accompanied by what was perhaps my 8th bottle of fizz in 4 days. The champagne-inspiring occasion, dear reader, being that... Roz and I are engaged! Oh yes indeed, so start thinking about charming, quirky, fabulous wedding venues in SE5 (and beyond... it may be necessary...) and posting them on this website, for Camberwell is clearly the epicentre of romance.

I am very much looking forward to my SE5 homecoming tomorrow night - after all, there are 2009 Gay Camberwell events to plan (the year, not the number... I hope)! Especially film programming for the Castle’s Sunday afternoon gay film screenings (post a comment if there’s a film you’d like us to show!). I think 2009 is going to be a good year. Must think up some resolutions...

Well, dear readers, Gay Camberwell has hit the big time: last Tuesday I was a guest on the new LGBT monthly radio show (1st Tuesday of the month at 6pm) on South City Radio in Peckham. I shuddered in disbelief at the extreme Scottishness of my accent on playback! Hear it here. 

by Roz

We last blogged whilst waving a drunken goodbye to Camberwell and then danced off to Eritrea.  Having returned to London on Sunday night, we've already got going with Gay Camberwell plans, having popped into the Castle (which was looking very cheery and Christmas-ey) for a word with the lovely Winston last night about the weekly gay films that will be shown from January... and whilst there bumped into the divine Michael Twaits (who compered the launch party, and also performed at Club Wotever at the Sun and Doves and the closing night party at the Cambria) and immediately began hatching glorious plans for the next few months.  And today, Layla will be talking to local comedian Rosie Wilby on 'Make The Yuletide Gay', a special LGBT Christmas radio show from 6 pm on South City Radio (www.southcityradio.org) before heading to book club tonight. But that's not to say that Camberwell was completely out of our minds in Eritrea - though I cannot deny that there was more of a focus on which of the numerous 1930s cafes in the captial (Asmara) to choose for each day's breakfast cake.  Particularly bizarre was Layla's chat with an Eritrean man on a bus to a remote town... regarding which supermarket would be optimal to replace Somerfield's in Camberwell (since one of them has been sold to an unknown bidder).  Out of fairness to Layla this wasn't random Camberwell obsession/withdrawal but due to the fact that this traveller, by a curious quirk of fate, turned out to have lived in Camberwell for the last 12 years; he was returning to Eritrea for the first time since the war.  It may not reflect well on my Camberwell credentials that I was more interested to hear about how Eritrea had changed whilst he'd been away...

In any event, it seems that absence has opened my eyes to further glories of Camberwell. Deviating from my usual route to work to go into the post office this morning, I noticed shops on Clarendon Terrace that I've never seen before, opposite the Bear (could it be that in the past my focus has been too much on arriving at the Bear?!). A couture clothes shop, Kamera Obscura (www.kameraobscura.com) and an enticing looking deli. Intriguing, and to be investigated this weekend. Even if I don't have that great a need for couture clothes...

So all in all, despite the cold weather and the horror of returning to work, and the fact that I've had to cut back on the cakes, it's really rather cheery to be back.