literally another aussie in london

There’s no milk in Camberwell

The man in front of me must be in his 70s or 80s, he is in this very busy line because he wants to put his lotto numbers on.  Considering that all the other people in the line are buying panic foods, it’s an odd decision.  Obviously he thinks that a potential riot again tonight is not enough reason to miss his lotto, or even that most people in London won’t be playing, which may even increase his chances.

Last night I entered London and the closest thing I saw to violence was a young guy casually walking down the street with a bandana in his hand.  Other than that, an a few sirens, London was eerily quiet.  It wasn’t until I was woken by youths (that seems to be the word used for the rioters no matter what their age is) coming home at around 3 in the morning.  A old West Indian accented woman abused them for being involved in the foolishness.

Today I was a bit pissed off to find that my wife’s work was open. That was because she works in Croydon.  She works in an office and not a store, but with stores there still smoldering, most not opening (including the banks) and a shopping centre apparently being shut down, I’d rather she just wasn’t there at all.

Being that I hadn’t made my trip to Brum for the cricket, I figured I better take a look around my local area, and with what happened in Brixton fairly well covered, I thought I’d head down the road to Camberwell which I also live only 10 minutes from. On my way down I stopped at my local café, I half expected all the shops there to be smashed up, but they were all ok, although only a third of them were open.

In the café I had a chat with the owner, who was very angry.  I couldn’t get to the bottom of what exactly happened because a yelly old woman joined in the conversation, but it sounded like there were a bunch of youths around at the front of the café, but they ended up making their way toward Camberwell.

I made my way down towards Camberwell the same way the rioters had the night before.  On the way down a couple of shops looked like they’d be smashed up, but it was hard to tell. They’d been completely boarded up with wood, perhaps it was a precaution, but it sort of looked like there was some damage.   Other shops were just shuttered up.

It seems ridiculous, but when I actually got to Camberwell, I was happy that the place where I get my vinyl, rat records, looked ok. However, right opposite a goldsmith place had been smashed up, but not broken into.  The further I got into Camberwell the more you noticed that while there was a window that had been cracked every few shops, none seemed to have been broken into.   Unlike in some of the other centres, Camberwell doesn’t really have many shops like currys, JD sports and the like, but it was the phone stores and goldsmith that it looked like they tried the hardest to break into.

The people in Camberwell seem to fit into three categories.

The scared were just on constant look out, looking around them waiting for something to happen.  They were also the ones who were running around, causing more panic, as everytime someone ran, all three groups of people would stare, half expecting something to kick off.

The business as normal people seemed quite oblivious to what was going on.  There was jogging, some people sitting in a Camberwell café sipping coffee as the pub down the road was boarding up its windows, and one woman was really upset she couldn’t shop at Morrisons without even seeming to understand why it was shut.

Then there were the people on the green. Some were kids, some were youths and there were more than a few adults.  All of them looked very relaxed.  Perhaps they always stay there, and I just never look over at the green all that much.  But it just felt all that more sinister.  And Camberwell can often feel sinister, I’ve seen many a copper chasing a kid there, and there is always a strong police presence.

It was 2 O’Clock by this stage, and far less than half the shops were closed.  The Morrisons was shut, a bunch of wooden crates were up against the window in perhaps the lamest attempt to stop people from rioting I could think of.

With Morrisons and another supermarket shut, I suddenly realised that if this keeps going, then we will run out of food at home.  So I went looking for some milk and bread.

Even though there is generally not a shortage of places to buy food in Camberwell, with half the places shut or boarded up, I couldn’t find any bread or milk.  Eventually I found the CO-OP open, barely.  All their shutters were down, except for the one that let you into the door. I walked in half expecting to see people rioting, but instead saw a shop that was largely empty as people either walked in and then walked out, or went around looking for anything they could.

It was panic shopping.  All except the man buying his lotto ticket.

Everything in the cool shelves was gone.  There was fresh produce on the ground and people were just jumping over it.  No fruit, bread, or meat was anywhere.  In the cold shelves all that was left was big blocks of cheese.  There was a crowd around the frozen section, so like the others I just grabeed a few things that I could freeze as well, just incase things just happened.  And somewhere on the ground I found a loaf of bread.

I paid for the last loaf of bread with the very scared assistant manager, and then headed back out of Camberwell.

The one thing I didn’t see today was any police.  Not one.  Every couple of minutes a cop car spread through Camberwell, but none of them seemed to be close to stopping.  Camberwell wasn’t lawless, I didn’t see any actual laws being broken, but it felt off, and it’s hard to feel too comfortable as shopkeepers close their shutters at 230 in the afternoon and some are nailing wooden boards on their windows.

I’m posting this late today, and other than a few sirens, I’ve got no reason to believe that Camberwell has gone off tonight.  It just seems like it might have been spared of the majority of the carnage. Now all I can hope is that old man who braved Camberwell off feleing and the obscene shopping scenes at the CO-OP wins with his lotto ticket.  Like Camberwell did last night.

August 9, 2011 Posted by Jrod | living in london | camberwell, london riots | 1 Comment