pecknam blog – adventures in SouthEast London

It’s summer! I grabbed my new GPS phone and my BMX and went out exploring.

First discovery was this huge piece of land behind Sainsburys on Dog Kennel Hill. I assume it’s privately owned as there’s a fence all around it, but this has a few sections completely removed and there’s well-trodden paths across. The lighter green area on the gmap view is an artifical football pitch.

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Riding on through Dulwich Village I wasn’t distracted by Dulwich Picture Gallery (it closes at 5pm), but did find Belair Park nearby with a nice lake and small skatepark. Now I’m typing this I can’t help thinking of the Fresh Prince; especially as this huge house sits in the grounds.

Soon after came a slightly uncertain turn onto Grange Lane which is marked as a private road and leads up past Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Club, a Scout building and some lovely allotments. A bit of a squeeze got me into Sydenham Hill Wood which is a lovely place for a wander. Spot the ‘ancient’ ruins there, and see the strange contrast of perfectly kept golf grounds just behind the fence:

From there it’s almost all downhill back to Peckham, that made me happy.

I loved having access to an online map and using the satellite view to head towards green spaces, and GPS tracking is a New + Exciting thing for me let’s go all the way and see my route:

Sunny days, bikes, and pocket technology are great.

Intense HDR photos of South East london in this photoset by bakermz

There’s some newcomers to SE5,  metal sculptor Leigh Dyer was commissioned by Southwark Council to create a wolf, ram, sheep and lamb.

I’ve just discovered that Peckham once had an art-deco Odeon cinema; this wonderful photset includes a the above shot from 1938 and more recent images of its destruction in the 80′s. It proudly stood on Peckham High Street where the Jobcentre is now to be found. More information here.

More recently, the Peckham bike polo team make good use of the multi-story carpark. I hope to join them for a match sometime!

It’s been a day of friendly snowball fire, chats with strangers and time with friends who would ordinarily be behind desks on a Monday afternoon. I got momentarily lost not three streets away from my house; everywhere looks so different! Loving this shot on Peckham Rye by Celie:

In other news, Santa is happy the weather has finally sorted itself out:

Stay warm everyone.

The area was namechecked on the xmas episode of Have I Got News for You, their photo story round-up at the end of the show included:

“At a shopping centre in Peckham, Father Christmas regrets telling a 12 year-old gang leader he can’t have the latest Playstation.”

Should we be laughing while the media associates our area with gangs (again)? Could I ask a more obvious question?

In fact what I’d really like to know is:

• was the bendy Santa actually photographed here (Peckham Square perhaps?)
• and WHY DOESN’T HE HAVE A BEARD?!  All the SE15 Santas I know would consider this grounds for a brussel sprout pelting.

It’s that time of year again, come one, come ghoul, shake your bones and rattle a pumpkin. Here’s a tune to get you in the mood for Halloween:

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Mr Fab and His Bag O’ Heads – Skeleton Crew On The Graveyard Shift

Plenty happening,  first up tomorrow World Zombie Day hits the streets of central London.

All Hallow’s Eve falls on a Friday in perfect party fashion. We can recommend Urban75′s Offline Party in Brixton for FREE. Elsewhere I’m DJing at a huge party alongside many other vinyl junkies and live acts, but have been politely asked not to reveal the location. However anyone who’s anyone in Pecknam will know where I’m talking about :-)

True zombies will see it through til Saturday and join us on the Crawl of the Dead V up in town.

Brainnnnsssss…

Just wondering, how many of you lovely readers know that these are for sale in Docklands every two years?

Defence Systems and Equipment International
“The world’s largest fully integrated defence and security exhibition, bringing together senior international trade and military experts from across the entire supply chain in an optimal business environment.”

In other words, a tradeshow for machines that kill, maim and torture. This is their promotional video from the last one in 2007.

And here’s Mark Thomas speaking at the protest there:

The next one is September 2009, although you won’t read about it in the papers. http://www.dsei.co.uk/

Yarrrrr! Saturrrday last there be 100 scurvy Space Hijacker dogs trap’d 20,000 leagues under the Thames with a samba band and plenty o’ rum. Spy the bewitched portrait below, m’hearties!

We saw Nouvelle Vague on South Bank last Sunday, as part of the Coin Street bossa nova festival. They were magical, have an MP3:

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nouvelle_vague-blue_monday.mp3

Also was pleased to catch Smoke City (who’re now called Zeep) performing Underwater Love. Very apt lyrics for the weather that day!