The Crazy Rants of Samantha BurnsA Night On The Town, Pt. 4
Our party bus was now heading towards London's Clapham area - an area pretty much down on its luck and apparently home to "Britain's Busiest Railway Station" .
(except at 3am when I wanted a train home!)
Although I didn't realise it at the time, Clapham was totally the wrong direction for me, and I had in fact been on the wrong bus: it had the right number, but was heading in the opposite direction...
Clapham is the kind of London suburb that is characterised by row after row of terraced Victorian properties - built cheaply for the now-inconspicuous "working class man" of the early 1900s and struggling to be re-adopted by the young professional of the 21st Century.
Apparently.
I probably wouldn't go as far as far as comparing it with New York's Harlem, but it's not dissimilar. Clapham is in fact a rich source of material for those that would wish to study the British Class system in the early 20th century.
Clapham street decor
However, to get to Clapham you have to go through Brixton, at least on the Night Bus...
Brixton is very similar in nature to Clapham except that it also has the dubious distinction of also hosting one of Her Majety's Prisons and more than a few famous nightclubs. Although at a different level to the aforementioned Chelsea, our Night Bus passed by groups of late-night party people, spilling out of clubs and looking for somewhere to go. In Brixton though the mood changed - not on our bus you understand, but on the streets.
While our bus was filled with Shiny Happy People, the clubbers outside were in a harder, street-level area. A group of youngsters congregating around a bus-stop boarded our bus which was still buzzing with a party ambience. Bottles were still being passed around but I sensed the mood was cooling somewhat. The "youngsters" in their hoodies boarded the bus and didn't bother paying fares: no cash problem this time, but maybe it was a little too close to home for our driver.
The posse tried to swagger through the bus as if they owned it, but with "standing room only" and packed to capacity, swaggering was nigh-on impossible, and in fact looked slightly silly. I simply noted the occurrence, smiled inwardly, switched the 'Shuffle to DJ Kompulsor and the Night Bus rode on..
As with any inner-city area of that nature, street crime is apparent. The largely-invisible police presence had done a fine job of keeping visible crime off the streets, and in fact I didn't knowingly see a single instance of drug dealing going down, but they'd obviously not managed to tackle prostitution.
Groups of young girls of about the same age as the aforementioned goth/punk party were strutting their stuff in the brightly-lit street and at the same time attracting considerable attention from the bus passengers.
But still the bus sped on toward Clapham.
By now it was approaching 4am and the coffee I'd had earlier was starting to wear off. I checked the 'Shuffle battery which was now showing yellow, and the cellphone battery which was starting to get worryingly low. I resolved to just take a few more pictures until the battery finally ran out - I wouldn't be calling anyone at that time of the morning; not if I wanted to keep my friends!
Clapham at 4am
To be continued...
Comments
::Clapham is in fact a rich source of material for those that would wish to study the British Class system in the early 20th century.""
I find the class systems interesting in society, we all have those societies although in some cultures it is more pronounced.
"Bottles were still being passed around but I sensed the mood was cooling somewhat."
Cooling somewhat, perhaps because people from a differetnt class or age group had boarded, although England is not as structured by class as it once was, it is still more divided than the states from what I have read, although I have not experienced it first hand.
Posted by: Ole Blue | June 1, 2006 10:54 AM