Flats entertainment

The Kennington Flats: they don't quite have the resonance of The Stockwell Flats, but this was quite a nice one, from earlier this evening.

The Kennington flats

"The Stockwell flats? Nah, sorry mate, never heard of 'em."

Goodbye Stockwell Flats

Oh, Beckett House. I have to say goodbye to you. I'm moving to Kennington, and you're not coming with me. This may be the last photo I ever take of you, and the last time I ever stumble across a strangely fitting Beckett quote with which to caption you.

"Finished, it's finished, nearly finished,
it must be nearly finished."

"Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly,
there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
I can't be punished any more."

"I'll go now to my kitchen, ten feet by ten feet by ten feet,

and wait for him to whistle me. [Pause]
Nice dimensions, nice proportions..."

The Stockwell Flats: Pamuk

"Were the streets empty because of the snow, or were these frozen pavements always so desolate?"

Orhan Pamuk, Snow


Stockwell flats slideshow

Stockwell Flats: Dickens

"Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Stockwell Flats."

Charles Dickens, Bleak House

Stockwell flats slideshow
Dickens congratulations

Stockwell Flats: Beckett House

"Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining."
Samuel Beckett, Molloy

Stockwell flats slideshow

Stockwell flats: panographies

How? What? Huh?

They have names!

Got bored on Sunday, so I went for a walk round Stockwell. And I made an interesting discovery. Walking past one of the Stockwell flats, I noticed it was called Arden House. Got to the next one, and it was called Pinter House. Playwrights! I wonder why.

I had to know what the third flat was called - the one I've been photographing - so I doubled back. Inevitably, it was named after one of my favourite writers; it was called Beckett House.

World Cup fever

Two days to go, and even the Stockwell Flats are getting in on the act...



More madness

"I look forward to the point where we don't discuss Rooney's foot any more, very much so." Sven-Goran Eriksson (Reuters, June 7)

***

COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE SCAN
Daily Mirror headline, on the crucial foot scan that will determine Rooney's World Cup fate

***

Subbuteo to rush out dancing Crouch model
Peter Crouch and his robotic dance are to be immortalised in a Subbuteo figure. A spokesman said: "The Crouch bop has really made its way into the public consciousness so it seems like the right thing to do. We are working flat out to get the figure out." (The Guardian, June 6)

***

William Hill offered odds of 50-1 that Crouch would win TV dance contest "Strictly Come Dancing."
...
"I was goaded into it by the rest of the lads," a bashful Crouch said of his impromptu display before [Prince] William, second in line to the throne and honorary president of the English Football Association.

Shaking his head in amused bewilderment, Crouch said: "He's the future King of England and I've just done a stupid dance in front of him. It's all a bit surreal to be honest." (Reuters, June 5)

***

Odds on Eriksson to perform 'The Robot' dance on the pitch during any England match during the World Cup: 25-1 (Paddypower.com)

***

Bayern Munich midfielder Martin Demichelis says he has lost the will to live after missing out on a place in Argentina's World Cup squad.

"It's not only that I don't have any desire to play anymore -- I don't have any desire to live," Demichelis was quoted in German media as telling an Argentine television network. (Reuters, May 17)

***

Churches offer World Cup half-time services
World Cup visitors can pray for divine intervention if their team is losing in special half-time religious services.
...
The services will feature football related sermons and hymns that resemble team anthems allowing worshippers of the World Cup to pray for victory. (Ananova, June 7)

***

"I would steer clear of it personally."
Crooner Tony Christie on the Tonedef Allstars World Cup song Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgen Klinsmann? (BBC Sport, June 7)

***

PARAGUAY are using basketball tactics in a bid to tackle England beanpole Peter Crouch on Saturday.

The South Americans’ first choice centre backs are both under 6ft — while Crouch, 25, is a towering 6ft 7ins.

Paraguay’s fitness coaches are now strapping WEIGHTS to players’ ankles in training.

New Jersey basketball coach John Cardozo said: "It could increase their foot speed as well as jumping." (The Sun)

***

"They change the offside rule, more or less, all the time," sighed Eriksson. "You remember the goal scored in the Premier League, Djibril Cisse against Blackburn, when he jumped over the ball? In the past that would have been offside, but now Fifa do not want it to be offside. (The Telegraph, June 7)

***

"It's a different ball, obviously... It's more like a volleyball, it's very light, moves a lot in the air. It's got a plastic case around it so when it's wet it's not ideal for goalkeepers... They're bringing out new balls all the time. It's not goalkeeper-friendly this one." England goalkeeper Paul Robinson (BBC Sport, June 7)

***

The Stockwell Flats: another Huw

You may have missed this, but a few posts down, Tufnell Park Huw (do read his My Thoughts Exactly blog, it’s wonderful) has alerted me to the existence of one of his pictures of The Stockwell Flats, which you can see here.

Huw also pointed me in the direction of onionbagblog, which is written by someone who actually used to live inside the Stockwell Flats. For some of onionblog’s pictures of the building, go here.

Here's another one of mine, breaking from tradition and looking in a more southerly direction.



Want another angle? Here’s how it looks from space.



I think this'll be the last Stockwell Flats post I do for a while. It's getting a bit tiresome now.

Another view

Entries for the Stockwell Flats: Different Perspectives competition are flooding in. Here’s one from Nicole (her blog is here) taken on her way home from work. Puts my pictures to shame, I think you’ll agree.

The Stockwell flats: a new perspective

A nice surprise from my friend James (his blog’s here) on Monday: he’s emailed me a photo of the view of the Stockwell flats from his bedroom window. As I’m sure you know, here at Electric Goose towers, we’re always willing to publish other people’s perspectives / bow out to public pressure, so here it is:


Hurrah! This is the perfect opportunity for me to turn this blog into a 360-degree interactive community experience! Anyone who lives south London way, send me your Stockwell flats pictures now and I’ll publish them here!


Hmmm. Despite Venn Diagrammatical evidence to the contrary, we can still do this. Nicole, Jamie, Eleanor? I’m talking to you. Go forth.

Stockwell flats slideshow

Stockwell flats: spring is sprung

Lo! The park has turned as green as a young damsel

Stockwell flats slideshow

The Stockwell flats: April pictures

6 April 2006 Afternoon

19 April 2006 Evening (last night)

More Stockwell flats pics here

Stockwell flats: blue sky/grey sky

On Sunday morning I was lying in bed looking up at the clouds through the window at the head of my bed. The sky kept alternating between patches of blue, swathes of white clouds and a murky grey mass. But, as always, the point is best illustrated through the medium of the Stockwell flats: in this picture it’s like the building is cutting the sky in half, like a big ruler.

The Stockwell flats: gloom

Here's one from a couple of weeks back. If you're reading this from somewhere that isn't England, you're a lucky bastard.

The Stockwell flats

Since we moved into the flat, I've become enamoured with the flats that we see from the terrace outside our kitchen. These three whiteish-beige towers dominate the Stockwell skyline and catch the light in a way that's occasionally quite breathtaking. Their appearance seems to change on an unusually frequent basis, despite their collosal immovability. Anyway, my project for 2006 is to continue to photograph the flats from roughly the same position but trying to get in as much variety as possible. You can see a slideshow of my pictures so far by clicking here.