Cafe San Remo on Streatham Common,
A cold morning on Streatham Common but I chose a good moment to go out and actually caught some sun. Yesterday there was a large film crew making an advert for McDonalds, it was bucketing down and thoroughly miserable despite the enforced jollity of the fake fun-fair set in the paddling pool. In fact the bright colours and balloons just made it worse, like one of those torrential, hellish, Streatham fun days.
In the afternoon I walked on a very soggy Tooting Common and had lunch at the cafe there. I sat outside next to two older women with lots of madly bouncing dogs. I often end up sitting next to professional dog walkers. They seem happy to gossip about their clients - not the dogs - the people. It seems like a difficult relationship, the dog-walker owner one; in fact I'm reminded of Jean Genet's maids, or, more topically, Heather Mills's Nannies. They seem fascinated by their rich clients but also enraged by them, it leads to very interesting conversations. I highly recommend sitting next to dog walkers (if you can bare the yapping and barking) to all my fellow Flaneurs. Though I'm fond of this cafe and Tooting Common there's something a bit inferior about it, altitude wise. I like the giddy heights of Streatham common and the fresh air. On good days you can smell sea breezes blowing in from the South coast. Tooting is too flat, but quite nice for running on, and of course, fantastic for swimming. I hope to go there in the summer and draw the lovely cafe and art deco fountain. If you look out of the train windows when chugging towards Balham you can often see people swimming in Tooting Bec Lido, even in winter. I can relate to the stiff-upper-lip spirit of the Tooting swimmers. I try to bring the same attitude to my cafe visits, more or less disregarding the weather. Its quite true there is no such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing choices. Since this principal has sunk in I've been able to eat outside in London's parks throughout the whole year. In the right hat you can easily train yourself to enjoy a bit of drizzle.
Below, the cafe on Tooting Common 30/03/10
Below, the cafe on Tooting Common 30/03/10
It's not just my drawings that are wonky, the building on Tooting Bec Common is also strangely irregular, you can imagine a Hobbit living in it, but I checked the cafe owner's feet and they looked perfectly normal.
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