Day 42, Level 1: Electrics, Stop Making Sense, The Ritzy, Peckham, A Mugging - and the horrendous price of Cheese!

Dan, our lovely electrician, arrived this morning to do some finishing work and put in another powerpoint. 

I asked how he was and he laughed and said "tired". 

Oh, big weekend, I asked?

"Kids and all that," he said. I understood. He has three young kids, aged 5, 3 and 8 months. 

Tiring all right!

He worked on wires and electrical things, fiddling with this and that, while I tapped away on my computer, researching and writing. We chatted along the way. Had coffee mid-morning. 

I completed a few articles and he completed his work around 2.30pm.

It was an okay day outside, mostly, after a miserable morning. Not at all cold. 

I thought about a beach walk but then got on with more work. 

By evening, I was feeling as tired as Dan!

Had pesto tortellini for dinner, watched some tv.

Then I put on the 1984 concert movie "Stop Making Sense" (Talking Heads) and did a bit more work on the computer while Dave Byrne jumped and twitched and marched on the spot, and sang all those fabulous songs with his band. I can never watch this movie or listen to these songs too many times and will always remember going to see it upon release in London - at the Ritzy in Brixton I think.

The Ritzy was/is an institution. It was opened in 1911 and is one of south London's oldest picture palaces. Back in the 1980s it was hip and edgy, never afraid to screen controversial films that picked up on films with themes such as politics, activism, homosexuality etc - and films that were just plain kooky. Being the scene of the 1981 riots, Brixton had put itself on the map around the world. 

The Ritzy, Brixton

One of my favourite Talking Heads songs is Naive Melody (This Must be the Place) ... and the version in the film is outstanding. It's one of those happy/sad songs depending on your mood. Byrne plays with a standard lamp as he bops and hops to the catchy beat.

"Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me around"

Talking Heads, Naive Melody - from Stop Making Sense

The song's theme is "home" and I think I mentioned the song in an earlier post - when we were all locked down at home. 

When I first saw this film, south London was my home - Peckham, to be precise! This was only because my boyfriend lived there and to live with him I moved there. We had some great times in that grotty flat, although we didn't live there long. We hot-footed it over to Twickenham, south-west London (our flat was just near the rugby grounds). Then to Harrow where we bought and renovated a lovely garden flat. 

I loved my days in Peckham though, with its ethnic diversity (large African-Caribbean population), markets and street culture. I discovered the good and bad and enjoyed getting to know this part of my beloved London. 

Far from its early wealthy Saxon roots, Peckham went through a period of decline in the 1970s, with redevelopment and high-rise apartment blocks being built that wasn't for the better. Crime was pretty rife during the 80s and I remember someone was attacked in our street. The area definitely wasn't at its best when we lived there, although it regenerated itself during the 2000s and these days is a respectable place to live. 

Whilst it couldn't quite be described as respectable when we lived there (mid 80s), my days living in this eclectic neighbourhood are etched in my memory and I'm so glad I was exposed to the many facets of what Peckham offers as a small part of what makes a city like London so enthralling. 

NB: For much of my time spent in London I lived in Maida Vale, also Harrow, and Hammersmith. 

Funnily enough, I survived an attempted mugging when visiting London in 2004 (I think). I was staying with a friend in Maida Vale (very nice inner city area) when someone lurched at me and tried to grab my handbag. He almost got away with it but it had my passport and everything in it, so I held on tight. No way was he having my handbag! Screaming loudly, I got thrown to the ground, very hard, while my friend bashed the attacker with the grocery bag she was carrying which had a large bottle of tonic in it (for our G&Ts). Anyway, the screaming and bashing worked, the guy ran away when he realised we weren't to be messed with! 

OMG, I had a huge haematoma on my bum for weeks! But I still had my handbag!

We called the police and they came immediately. Suddenly we were in a Police Panda car, zooming around hunting for the crim. We were careering up curbs, screeching around corner and we even drove right through a small park behind my friend's house as we'd seen him run off in that direction. Then suddenly the policeman got a call about a more pressing crime, lurched back to Lyn's house, dropped us there and zoomed off. 

Boy did we need those G&Ts!

There were a few other layers of suspect behaviour leading up to the attack involving a tall swaggering black man who looked like he was up to no good (we assumed he was the ringleader), and a kid who must have been the lookout for unsuspecting females on their way home from the shops. Then the crim could swoop upon us. Thankfully we'd spotted all this in advance, had a quiet word of warning between ourselves, and held our bags close. That no doubt made the difference, we were semi-prepared.

I had to go into Scotland Yard a few days later to look at mug shots, but none of the ones I saw looked like the guy. 

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:

The price of cheese ...

Last week Judith Collins (new National leader for overseas readers) was asked the price of a 1kg block of cheese. She said "$4 or $5, something like that". And then muttered about liking the tasty cheddar (more expensive) variety. 

Wrong Judith, very wrong!

Think $18 for Tasty - and even more for Vintage - and you'll be in the ball-park. 

It's a disgrace a) that she has no idea the price of cheese, and b) the fact that the price of cheese is that horrendous. 

Why? Why? Why is cheese so expensive here?

I love cheese and have been lamenting the high price of it (and other grocery items here) for decades. 

I love going to the UK, where cheese (and much more besides) is cheap and delicious.

Out of current interest, I just did a quick real-time price comparison between UK cheese prices and ours - comparing New World (NZ) and Waitrose (UK). Here's the horror story ...

• Vintage cheddar 1kg
  NZ $28 / UK £8 ($16)
• 
  
• Blue Castello (my favourite blue) 150g
  NZ $8.50 / UK £1.85 ($3.60) - for the very same cheese!
• 
  
• Parmigiano Reggiano 150g
  NZ$14 / UK £2.60 ($5.20)
  This makes it almost $100/kg in NZ yet only $36/kg in the UK (converted). Why!?
• 
  
• Mozzarella (the proper stuff) 150g
  NZ$5.50 / UK £0.80p
  This makes it $36/kg in NZ yet $10/kg in UK (converted). Again, why!?

So to buy a block of each of these 4 cheeses:

In NZ = $56

In UK = £13.25 = NZ$26

It costs more than double in NZ. We make cheese here. What the ...?

Average Salary in NZ = $50k

Average Salary in UK = £36.5k = NZ$73k

You do the maths!

I've been harping on about the ridiculous cost of living here for 30 years, but it's only now that everyone is aware of how out of whack we are, especially in comparison to wages. 

As the lyrics from Talking Heads Naive Melody say ...

"The less we say about it the better" !! 

But I'll keep harping on ...!