Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Filming in Charlton

I popped down to Currys over my lunchtime to look for some networking gadgets and discovered that there's a film unit parked up in the carpark of Currys/PC World. There's about half a dozen white dressing room vans, a catering lorry and two buses that have been labeled "crew dining only."

There were some names on the doors of the changing rooms, I remember seeing Shaz, Rhona and Father Henry. I'm guessing that they are the names of the characters and not the actors. The catering truck seemed to be cooking stuff up so maybe they were getting ready for a break, other than a few people there wasn't anyone around.

The names don't mean anything to me, I was wondering if it's for "28 Weeks Later" (which I know is filming in London at the moment, I've got a friend who was an extra in it) but the names don't appear to be linked to it.

I did have a quick scoot off to the back of Currys to see if I could see any filming going on, not a thing.

I'll have to return with my glasses and camera at some point soon....

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Charlton vs. Bolton Wanderers vs. Roadworks

Well Charlton are at home again and this time I think the trains are working, so all's well then? Well no. Some company's been digging holes in Floyd Road, which is the route thousands of fans take to get to the stadium. There's at least one big hole and two coned off areas restricting access down the road. I'm wondering if someone's going to fall in. Where's the health and safety man when you need him?

Greenwich reuse and recycling centre

I've been doing a bit of DIY on my flat and decided to go down to the dump to throw away some of the bulky rubbish that I've produced. However it's not the dump anymore or the waste disposal site or the enigmatically named civic amenity site. Oh no. It's not the Reuse and recycling centre (I think that deserved to be in bold).

It's not just been spun a new name but there's been major changes. It's much easier to get into and out of plus they're set up loads of different skips into which you can recycle all sorts of things. Great stuff! I was expecting to have to throw my waste timber into the rubbish skip but they've now got a proper place for that to go into it rather than just landfill.

So anyway a big pat on the back to Greenwich Council, I'm really impressed with it.

A slight downside is that their web site is slightly out of date. The page for the centre doesn't mention that it can recycle wood, I've just noticed that it doesn't say it can do paint either, which is something else that I noticed that it does. Basically it's dead good and they seemed able to handle just about anything you'd want them to.

The page does say that you need a "Waste Permit sticker", well I haven't got one and I wasn't stopped. That said I did have a residents parking permit on display so maybe that was enough. I'll have to look into that.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Match day in Charlton

It's match day in Charlton all the trains will stop,
It's match day in Charlton the cash machines will flop,
It's match day it's match day in Charlton!
Hip hip hip hip hip hooray!

Thousands of people are flooding into the area and South Eastern Railways have stopped the trains between Deptford and Charlton. Well that's what their web site seems to claim...

"Deptford to Charlton. Bues will replace trains between New Cross and Charlton connecting with train services at Lewisham" (note the spelling error, we're dealing with muppets on a grand scale here).

The line between Deptford and here doesn't go through New Cross or Lewisham, that line breaks off outside of Deptford. In theory the buses should go from Charlton, through Westcombe Park, Maze Hill, Greenwich and then Deptford. So what's going on? Beats me. Probably beats those fans trying to get here for the game too. We're playing Watford so people are going to want to come in from the north and through town. They'll probably have to drive now. Thanks a lot South Eastern Railways, ingenious.

You might think that the allegedly environmentally minded Greenwich Council might have something to say about things like that. However they seem to be too busy threatening to take legal action against a blogging site for having a logo that looks vaguely like theirs.

On the subject of the train company and their engineering policy with it's seemingly random shut downs they're also the idiots who shut down the trains when Elton John played here. Thanks for that. First gig at Charlton Stadium for years, could have been the start of something special. Not when SE Railways managed to botch the day up.

I guess someone at that company doesn't like Charlton Athletic, or Elton John.

It's not just the trains though. There's two cash machines near the stadium that I know of. One at the grounds and another down at the BP garage on Woolwich Road. Both are out of order. Top. All those people flooding in and wanting to put money into the local economy, even if it's just the beer and kebab economy, are scuppered.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Antigallican

The Antigallican's finally reopened for days other than match days. It's been being refurbished for a few months now and has a sporadically open over the last few weeks. In all honesty it might have been opened for a little while and I've only just noticed it. However on Saturday there was a sign outside saying that it was open 12 to 12, I had some friends coming around that evening so I gave it a go.

So what did I think?

Well it's actually rather nice, the colour scheme reminded me of my living room so it all felt quite homey. There's a fair number of sofa's scattered around and they had nightlights lit all around. The owner's have been to Ikea more than once though, some of the furnishings look very familiar.

There was a downside though, it was dead quiet, I think there was only another two or three people in there. They were also playing some music channel that was up way too loud, it went even louder during the frequent ad breaks. Not pleasant.

After Saturday the chance came up again to revisit it with someone else. I went back when they were showing a football match and it was actually reasonably busy which was nice to see. He quite liked it too, I'm sure we'll return soon.

The big question I've got though is will it survive? They've gone for a quite an "up market" feel (or maybe it's just me that's very low market). It's in a bit of an odd place stuck between Charlton Village itself and the wilderness of the Yuppie Village. I guess in the end though they just need to pull in enough punters in the lull between match days when they're as full as a little egg. Fingers crossed.

Oh and get some nice guest ales on tap if you'd be so kind.

That and turn the music down.

Good luck though!