Heelin’ down the road
Last weekend we walked up to Greenwich for a walk in the park. Once you’ve made it across the improbably congested Blackheath, the park surrounding the Royal Observatory is pretty darn good – the only Royal Park in South East London, so well maintained with trimmed trees, a rose garden waiting to burst into bud and even a gallery in a mansion – the Ranger’s House.
Walking down the steep hill of The Avenue, that takes you from the Observatory to the town we were over taken by a boy of about 10 with a blond bowl haircut with a pair of �heelys’, those shoes with wheels in the heel. He must have been going 10 miles an hour, but managed to come to a controlled halt without falling over and doing himself a horrible injury. A minute or two later dad, wearing a baggy polo-neck, beret and pushing a pushchair, followed by a younger brother sped past too. Looking down the hill one could see the whole park turn their heads and gaze at them for a few moments. If they had been close enough they would have noticed American accents.
After eating we caught the bus home. I expected quite a long trip, but it only took a few minutes. I’ve looked it up on the web and now I’ve found that if you miss out the park and walk straight to Greenwich from there it is only a little more than a mile. Not bad, but even better was one of the sights out of the bus window – The Greenwich Picture House cinema. Woo hoo! When I moved down here I had worried that South East London was a bit of a cultural wasteland compared to East Finchley (the South Bank of Norf London – innit). More specifically I was leaving behind the East Finchley Phoenix and the recently discovered the Gatehouse pub theatre in Highgate. Well, it might be a slightly further walk and not be able to claim to be the first (equal) oldest, purpose-built cinema in the UK, but now I find I have a cinema not far from my front door. Not only that, but there is a pub theatre about a mile in the other direction too – the Brockley Jack.
South East London might not be so bad after all…