6/21/2019 0 Comments Becoming brilliant brixtonI’d only just moved to Brixton when my gentle, loving little dog was savaged by a staffie while its owner looked on, saying “You’d better get your dog out of my dog’s jaws.” We were both left bleeding and heartbroken while the owner casually shouted “Run, or he’ll attack again!” After lots of expensive, distressing surgery my dog learned to walk again and is now doing well. But for the past year, both of us have walked in Brixton without loving it: on high alert for attacking dogs, for smashed glass from passing revellers that has cut his paws, for discarded chicken bones that have choked him.
But now I want to change this narrative. These things may continue to be risks, but that’s not what Brixton is. Brixton is brilliant. And I don’t want to miss it. Brixton is many things to many people because there is huge diversity of every kind. It is a youthful neighbourhood, yet in my block alone live people of every age. It is diverse in terms of race and nationality. Just over half of Brixtonites were born in England. The others come from places like Jamaica, Nigeria, South America, Ghana, Somalia, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and the US (I come from Scotland). After English, Portuguese, Spanish and African languages are the most commonly spoken here. There are numerous different places to worship. There are specialist shops and facilities catering to the needs and preferences of masses of different sub-cultures present within Brixton. There is poverty and affluence and everything in between. The shopping and nightlife attracts locals and people from across London. Living in Brixton is many things to many people. This blog will be about what it is to me, to my wife and to my little dog. It’s called Brilliant Brixton because I’ll talk about what’s brilliant to me. In homage to Electric Avenue, the first market street to be lit by electricity, back in the 1880s, I want to shine a light on what makes Brixton the best place for me to live in London. And hopefully you’ll get some inspiration too.
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AuthorI moved to Brixton in 2015 with my wife and dog, from faraway Camberwell, via Washington, Tokyo and Hong Kong... Archives
September 2019
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