Another late afternoon lockdown walk. We’ll miss them whenever this Covid shit disappears.
Yeah, right.
I say late afternoon - it was more like early evening. Work was finished for the day and it was still light at 5:30pm. I had no plan, apart from walk, and hopefully buy a new bin for the bathroom. All the lockdown essentials…
The bathroom bin quest dictated the route. It looks like I’m walking towards Clap’ham, then. The best it got was a non-terracotta coloured plant pot. Nope. That’s not going to work. Let’s keep walking.
I pressed on up to Clap’ham North, and then headed up Bedford Road. There was no sign of life in The Falcon. This was the Sunday afternoon boozer of choice back in the day.
Further up Bedford Road and the old builder’s merchants is, yep, luxury apartments. It served me well with planks of 7*2 and a wheelbarrow of bricks. Hey presto! A contemporary urban bookshelf. Still just about holding its own.
Brixton was in sight. I headed along Acre Lane and towards the town centre. It was incredibly empty. What’s alarming is not the expected lack of life in the centre of town, but the number of empty shops that don’t look like they will be returning.
Electric Avenue, the Rec and Pop bloody Brixton. Nothing. I do wonder what the future might hold. Some local landmarks we need more than others.
The skies were bruising and so it was back to base along Stockwell Road - the road that refuses to gentrify. We’ve been saying this for the past twenty years now. If the phrase gets another five years of use then I’ll be happy.
Strava tells me that the ->stockwell ->clapham ->brixton circuit is 5 km - or a Saturday morning Park Run. Gosh. It felt longer than that.
Bathroom bins can wait. I had photos to edit.