Video by Paul Evans on YouTube showing the finale from the fireworks – looks like a good one!

I’ve just been into PrimeTime. It is absolutely mobbed with people grabbing all of their DVDs. It’s not even that much of a bargain- each disc has a coloured sticker that determines its fate. I asked when it was due to close -”when it’s all gone”. I also asked what was going to replace it – “well, I don’t think it will be a DVD shop”. My shopping bag was full of all the films I’d intended to watch everytime I’d wandered in there. It’s a real shame. I guess the onward march of Internet rentals will offer more choice eventually, but it’s not the same. It was a great place. Maybe the Travel Lounge will become the Film Lounge? I doubt it somehow.

Fireworks being prepared on Blackheath – photo by twitter user niponravel

Interesting piece by Transpontine on E. Nesbit (author of The Railway Children), who spent some time living in Blackheath.

Yet again I won’t seeing Blackheath’s fireworks. I’ve never seen them, as BugleDad’s birthday is this time of year. If anyone can think of a convincing argument for Blackheath’s fireworks over Epsom’s, I’d love to hear it- god knows I’ve tried everything I can think of!

As simonj007 pointed out, there are expected to be 65,000 people at the Blackheath Fireworks, so best turn up early, and think of an ingenious exit strategy at the end! The council’s official page on the fireworks is here. It starts at 8pm.

No, I didn’t think you would.

Is it the Berlin Wall (very topical)?

No…

It’s the boundary line drawn across Blackheath. Hand me the honeycomb.

I sometimes imagine a Great Wall of Blackheath slapped right down the centre of the high street. It’s a really daft border – I only realised how daft it was when I wandered to the wrong polling station at the last local election. Greenwich is the bit on the right. Lewisham’s on the left. You can see the full boundary using this ingenious openstreetmap tool.

I’ve just been trying to find out whether Prime Time could be be turned into a bookies, as suggested in the comments page – so I’ve been to Lewisham Council’s planning pages, and typed in “3 Blackheath Village, London, SE3 9LA”… The cryptic messages suggested that we are actually talking about GreenwichLand, so I hopped over the border (without my passport) and went to the Greenwich Council planning website. Nothing there either. Which either means that

a) it hasn’t been sold yet
b) local council planning websites are hopeless, but planningalerts.com has been shut down
or
c) As shown below:

“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”

“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”

“But the plans were on display …”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”

I hope this is a typo. Wandered back home last night to see “Closing Down Sale” signs plastered all over the strangest and best movie shop in the world. This could be disastrous. I even cancelled our LoveFilm subscription on the basis that poking around Prime Time’s dusty shelves was more fun than waiting for a film that you didn’t care about to land on the doormat. Perhaps it’s just a renovation? I’ll find out more.

The best review of Blackheath’s pubs for a long time… He’s right, you know.
http://bealing.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult/

This problem has come up before, and has been solved!

The rail cuts are going ahead. I think it’s a great idea – those trains are so spacious during rush hour, I never know what to do with all that leg room.

Local councillor Godfried Gyechie reckons we should go and grumble at the managers on 12 November at Cannon Street. I’m not so sure that it will make any difference. The train companies are only doing what they can get away with, based on legislation drawn up by government. If they could stick us all into a single cattle truck, I’m sure they would. So his other suggestion of emailing the transport minister is a much better one – or you could tweet him.

Tin of Sardines by House of Sims

The usually excellent Dispatches series goes for a cheesy, CSI-style documentary, written in that tedious breathless style, suggesting that something very violent is about to happen, but then nothing does…

Bits about Blackheath at 2 minutes 43 seconds in.

Guardian review of the programme here. Angry activist review here.

What an amazing photo of Blackheath in the fog. Looks like the beginning of a detective novel to me. Completely terrific foggy photos of Blackheath by Changwoo Ryu. Have a look at all the others too… Great stuff.
(Photo used by kind permission).

So, looks like I’ve missed a lot since I went away to get married. Here’s a one of the more interesting Blackheath bits:

853blog had a great post criticising the weakness of local media in the SE, and Greenwich Time specifically. Also raises some very good points about the cost of entry into local societies, such as The Blackheath Society and The Westcombe Society. Whilst these groups have reasonably low membership fees (Blackheath’s is £15 per year – can’t find any record of Westcombe’s), it effectively acts as a barrier to entry for all local residents.

In some respects there are comparisons to be made between local papers and local residents societies. Both began in a similar time in history, when distribution and organisation of information was expensive, and had variable costs depending upon the number of users. The changes needed for the press to adapt to the information age have been endlessly written about, but maybe the same is true of local societies? There could be a case for making them entirely free – most of the infrastructure costs that they used to rely on are now available online next to nothing.

I don’t understand why they don’t open up their historical archives for everyone, not just subscribers, or a few people in a small room to admire. The Blackheath Society has a spectacular collection of historical photos, that should be made available to all. In this era, to restrict them to analogue only copies is backward at best, and runs the risk of alienating younger potential volunteers getting involved.