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...

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