Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Hell that is Wood Green
Yesterday, I had the misfortune to find myself in the shopping mall. Walking out the big automatic doors and into the crowd of Star Wars pub extras who were smoking, spitting and squabbling on the footpath I witnessed what for me sums up the whole carbuncle on the arse of Haringey that is Wood Green High Road. One of the characters stormed through the crowd with his status dog in tow. I was reflecting on the fact that ‘status’ dogs don't seem to work (as the people who have them only ever seem to be what everyone else in society would consider low status). Everything suddenly went quiet except the ever present sirens. The status dog had stopped and released its copious bowels all over the footpath. It was like turning on the light in an HMO; the cockroaches screamed and scattered. The dog owner laughed and walked on. It was probably one of the most disgusting things I have seen or smelt in London. Eventually the crowd returned and watched the next horde trample the mess up and down the road. There was no-one to turn to, no-one to clean up and more importantly no-one with the authority to challenge and/or shoot the dog owner. Things just returned to normal.
The whole experience made me think how the council, local police and traders believe that we're all animals if they are happy for us to have to deal with this every time we go to the High Road. It's easy enough for me to hop on a bus and head off to Crouch End or Islington or even Enfield to shop but if you're older or disabled and have trouble getting around or not enough money for the bus it must be pretty grim to face it every day. Imagine how the standard little old lady dreads heading out into the crowds, litter, phlegm, smoke and anti-social behaviour of Wood Green every morning to get the milk.
Short of manning water cannons at each end of the High Road and employing some mercenaries with batons to control the crowds, I don’t know what can be done. Are there any clever ‘nudges’ or interventions that could improve Wood Green? Is it a matter of tarting the place up and hoping that the crowds respect their new surroundings? Is it signage to remind, and in many instances educate, people that spitting, littering and barging into other people is just not the done thing? Or do we just give up, bulldoze the lot and install a waterhole in the middle and let the law of the jungle and the status dog owners prevail?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by doug on
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If Holy Joe, as you refer to him, is the same elderly guy that I regularly see shouting outside the library, then it is clear that he has ' issues', which maybe, as you suggest St Anne's can help with. Throw away the key and melt it down?? Is that really any less offensive than what Holy Joe comes up with???
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Passing the church at the end of my road always gives me the heebie jeebies as they want to kill me too. And they don't pay Council Tax.
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Calm down, Pamish, no need for heebie jeebies when passing your neighbours. They only want "to share the unspeakable love of salvation" - so clearly they're not going to spout or even whisper as they kill you quietly. All unutterably ineffable, don't you see? (though some might say the opposite.)
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Yep. And in Oxford Street you can usually find a small crowd watching someone "play" i.e. betting on "Find the Lady" ("Three Card Monte"); or the "Shell Game" or some variant. Do they know it's a con? Do they realise there are shills and maybe a pickpocket or two? Or that there are references to such card games going back to the 14th and 15th centuries after playing cards became widely popular.
So let's demand the demolition of Oxford Street and move on all those awful people who walk up and down and hang around there.
And while we're at it, why not dig up and ceremonially demolish the 14th and 15th Centuries? As we know from TV history programmes they were terrible shit-holes. Even inside Royal Palaces.
As for "Giving it large in the Name of the Lord" in the street !#*@*! Truly shocking eh? And yet another reason to demolish Oxford Street - 14 seconds of video in 2008.
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Other people have, Reggie.
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I would happily have called out the Goon Squad to pick up the ranters in Seven Sisters yesterday. They make it 1000 times worse by amplifying their message. I have tried reasoning but they are beyond reach. The message is overall pretty putrid, and breaches the Equality Act in many of its manifestations.
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It's all about fear. Not suitable for little children. Or grown humans.
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In the past, Pam, I've called Haringey Noise Team. That worked. But right now Central Government funds need restoring. Otherwise we're back to stone soup.
Or perhaps getting the train to Westfield at Stratford. Do they have "goons" who can quickly descend on street preachers there? Dunno. I've never been. Nor to the Westfield in Shepherds Bush. But in 2010 Kate Belgrave filmed their security heavies trying to stop a few librarians protesting about cuts.
Personally I've always been fond of the Shepherd's Bush market. Though it needed better toilets last time we were there.
Know what? Deep down, I'm really, really greedy. I like it all. From the poshest shopping streets to the dumpiest most dilapidated street market.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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I went to Westfield just to see for myself (like going to South Africa in the 60s). I hated it, but maybe I'm insufficiently soaked in the need to shop. Didn't see any ranters, but there were goons, very polite ones. Loads of people but NB no-one was actually buying anything except drinks + snacks. Plenty of window shopping and browsing. The 'mall' is as doomed as the chain-store High Street, if that outing was anything to judge by. Wood Green works presumably because the chain stores are well mixed in with the indies.
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Permalink Reply by Lauren on
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We nearly had a very nice time in Wood Green today.
Breakfast at Canteen was ok, I'd give it 7/10. Nice place but points knocked off for the fact they'd run out of black pudding, the poor excuse for sausages and the lack of tomato choice (fresh only - no tinned option).
I visited the fabric stall and came away with some lovely duchess satin (enough for two different blouses), some wool viscose (to make a dress), corduroy offcuts (to make two skirts) plus all the notions, threads and interfacings, a couple of zips and some hooks & eyes for about £60. I had some nice banter with the family who run it and discovered a treasure trove of fabrics and notions for future projects.
I had a chat with the nice man on the "vintage" jewellery stall outside Primark and he showed me some lovely compacts that reminded me of the ones my grandma used to have.
We went to Tiger and bought a watering can and some little chalk-on plant labels that look like little tiny blackboards.
We went to Wolves Lane and visited the cactus house and the rainforest, saw the terrapins and came away with a car-load of plants for less than £30.
We were having a lovely afternoon til a pair of thugs in a £100,000 blacked out Range-Rover decided we weren't driving fast enough in the 20 zone and decided to cut us up and then get out and kick the side panel of our car in and threaten to beat us up. We went to report it at the police station where O'Rafferty's used to be but it was shut. It then took us about 40 minutes to drive from there to Pemberton Rd with more morons trying to cut us up with their aggressive driving.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Just to put this back on the board , cos it's a bit lost back on page 2
Reply by John D
I'm serious. If you ( and others ) are going to sneer at " middle class " people, it would be interesting to know how you define them. I personally thought that class distinctions were meaningless nowadays but you obviously don't. Is a middle-class person just someone who holds different opinions to you ?
I think we should be told
Reply by Sharon
John D, There's plenty of sneering at 'low status' people on this thread and definitions to boot, also assumptions about their intelligence 'less articulate'. I didn't define them though, nor have I mentioned the M word. As Phil pointed out, bad manners cross all social groups. Class is how we identify ourselves, not for others to doReply by John D
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Really ? I thought you did - " the middle classes and their fondness for public farting! "
I would still like to hear your definition of " middle class "
Maybe James Kellow could contribute too.