#SE23 Christmas Shopping No. 4: Doopo Doopo

Probably one of the more interesting gift/arts/crafts shop to open in Forest Hill recently is Doopo Doopo on Dartmouth Road. The owner has a good eye for fun and funky items that you want to live with and can afford.

There is quite a varied stock in and some new items for Christmas which makes it a good place to pop into regularly for a mooch around. The stock includes some lovely material embroidered bags, some housey items, lots of crafty bits and some really nice clothing with great t-shirts in the window at the moment.

There are plenty of smaller items for stocking fillers and I have found a few things here to get me going on my gift list, though my favourite things are probably the bags and some of the lighting and furniture. If I was buying lighting - I would buy one of these:




All the walls are adorned with art for sale. Most of this isn't really edgy enough for me, but probably fits better with most local tastes! The kid's stuff does however float my boat, though being child free, it doesn't really fit with my decor.



In the new year, the owner's husband is hoping to extend the business downstairs into what apparently is an enormous basement - cinema, theatre space and tattoo parlour have all been mentioned (if you can think of a name for the tattoo parlour, contact them on @doopodoopo). In the meantime, in the run up to Christmas, look out for the forest hill fiverfest totally locally offers as well as some specific events for the kids - I'm tempted to borrow a child!

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#SE23 Christmas Shopping No.3: SEE 3 Christmas brochure

The local Portas Pilot scheme has created a brochure of Festive Events for Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill. Obviously, only one of these is in SE23, so I can only take advantage of this for my Christmas shopping, though I may pop along to a couple of things if I'm free. It isn't all about shopping, as the brochure includes information about carol singing, christmas light events etc too.

The one thing I hadn't so far realised is that the Forest Hill shops look like they will be open late night on the 13th and 20th December - the two Thursdays before Christmas (there is a typo as states Wed 20th, but I'm assuming they meant the Thu). This could come in useful.

In the main though, it probably doesn't help me too much in my quest. There seem to be a plethora of craft and food markets in the area, not least being instigated/ supported by the Portas Pilot money. These look like they could be fun for a potter around, but I need some convincing that they are actually going to sell things that I want - let alone need. Don't get me wrong, I can fritter money as well as the next girl, and I do enjoy and support the leisure element of local shopping. I suspect that I will actually see things I want to buy for myself - but I could probably do with that not being in December.

  

#SE23 Christmas Shopping No.2: Best of Both Boutique

Come on. How cool are these Willy Wonka sunglasses?

The 'downside' of the SE23 Christmas shopping decision is that I need to do some research... I have to be honest, Best of Both Boutique on Dartmouth Road opposite the pools is unlikely to be where I'm going to find the perfect present for my Dad. In fact, I've never actually been in the shop until this weekend, assuming that the clothes are all for nubile nineteen year olds (I'm more of a chubby forty year old) and the clothes really aren't for me - very young and also very glam - I'm more a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl. 

The accessories on the other hand, I really like. As well as the glasses (which get a mixed reaction), there is some nice jewelry and absolutely fabulous clutch bags. If you are young at heart and like some funky accessories, it is worth going in for a mooch around.

If my husband is reading this......

#SE23 Christmas Shopping No.1: 'Decided. This year, I will only buy Christmas presents in #SE23. Who's with me?'

Last week on twitter I posted: 'Decided. This year, I will only buy Christmas presents in #SE23. Who's with me?' 

So now I need to follow through.

The idea came to me whilst in Luton airport waiting for a flight. I had done a quick scan of the shops there, with half a thought to Christmas, but was uninspired. Over a glass of wine, I thought harder about who I was buying for and where I might shop. As I am increasingly keen to shop locally, I mentally thought through local stores and then decided to commit to just SE23 as my shopping limit for presents this year. Living on the SE6 border, I was tempted to add this in, but felt that I would end up buying everything in Argos and that would take the fun out.

My initial thoughts are that this could be difficult - especially for the men. (I suspect that Dad will get what I want to buy him rather than what he would like.) To be fair, I don't have a huge number of people to buy for: husband, Mum and Dad, Grandpa and lets assume the Secret Santa present for work - so I think that this becomes quite achievable. The more I have thought about it, the more optimistic I am. My aim is to get good value gifts that suit the person I am buying for. I am not precious about small independents - they just need to be in SE23. The one concession I will allow is that I can make something outside of SE23 - but that's not buying (well, you know what I mean).

So far, my list of likely places to procure fall into two categories - local fairs and then shops: 

Fairs:
Havelock Walk artist community on 1st/2nd December; Horniman Museum has a Craft Fayre on  8/9th; Forest Hill Food Fair on Sunday 9th; SEE3's craft fair on Saturday 15th.

Shops:
Bunka; Shannons; Sugar Mountain; Doopo Doopo; Maplins; Neroli; Aga's Little Deli; Finches;  Dapper; Hills & Parkes; Jumping Bean and the pound shop that isn't a pound shop on London Road.

Others: (currently discounted due to who I am buying for but still in the frame):
Travis Perkins (bet I change my mind on that one); HOP framer; Best of Both Boutique; Marie's bags (or whatever it's called); Stag and Bow; florists; Topps Tiles; Sainsbury's; Boots.

Of course, the other difficulty is keeping the presents secret. So Mum, if you don't want to know what you are getting for Christmas - stop reading!

To Infinity......and beyond! (Well SE23)

I have been watching the cable laying on Brockley Rise with interest and it looks like it is now coming my way. The 3 white vans in this shot are all BT OpenReach bringing fibre optic cable to SE23. (There was in fact a 4th van just out of shot!).

Our internet service is pretty abysmal. Poor on most days and utterly useless on weekends or the school holidays. This is made especially difficult as I have to work from home one day a week and to be honest, its a struggle to stay connected.

I like to think that BT Infinity will help me out - though as my real issue is connectivity rather than speed, I'm not so sure. Recent checks on a speedtest show I have about a 3mbps upload and a pathetic 0.78ish upload - but that is when I can get on.. The speeds are actually better than I expected (nowhere near that nirvana 8 I keep on getting told about), though nowhere near the 100mbps I used to get when I lived in the US 7 years ago.

So we definitely will switch when it comes - July per the BT website, but I need to be realistic about what it will bring - and a slight word of caution came from one jgdoherty on the SE23 forum (who seems to know an awful lot on the subject).

I think I need everyone in SE23 to express interest, but no one sign up but me!

Still excited though - so much so, I felt obliged to photograph my new local hero:

Hop and a skip to Hopscotch for a burger

Hopscotch on Honor Oak Park has really grown on me.

The first weekend they opened, I got as far as the door, then ran at the sight of buggies and screaming kids through the steamed up windows.

Since then, it seems to have settled into a more adult affair. Not that kids aren't welcome, but adults are welcome - so many places round here seem to have to chase the buggy crowd for midweek revenue - but lets face it, if I want a quiet cup of coffee with a read of the paper, I wouldn't go to a creche.

It has more recently opened up on Thu, Fri & Sat evenings. I have passed a few times when it has been crowded, but last Friday it was just me & hubby. We both had a drink and a burger, and they were superb. The burger with stilton and bacon hit the spot for me. (The lager hit the spot for hubby!). Despite the fact that the place was empty on this visit, the music and ambiance honestly meant I didn't notice.

I hope this becomes a winner for the area, cos it sure is for me.

Looks like they are on twitter @hopscotchbar - I'll be following.

Forest Hill Society

It's funny, when I moved to SE23, I rather thought the Forest Hill Society (FHS) was a bunch of old fuddy duddies - which may actually be down to the logo and the odd things I picked up from the SE23 forum (which it turns out has nothing to do with FHS).

Last year, I decided to go along to their AGM to find out a bit more. Having spoken out (on what topic I can't even remember - ah yes, may have been internet communications and blogs...), Richard Hibbert, the Chair, suggested I get involved. I was adamant I was too busy, but he has a way of getting you involved, just a bit.

The aims of the society are set out in their constitution, which roughly translates to an interest in:

- promoting public interest and civic pride

- planning

- amenities

Whilst it may sound dry, depending on your area of interest, it is quite easy to get involved and actually do something. I have limited interest in planning or transport from FH (I use HOP or Catford Bridge), but I am keen on more amenities in the area and lets face it, I love bars, restaurants and shops!! For all of these, I think SE23 has plenty of room for improvement.

So far, I have helped organise the Burns Night at the All Inn One and the Royal Wedding Party by the Old Post Office. I've really enjoyed both. If anyone else is interested, I seriously suggest getting in touch. The FHS is a broad church and really is only limited by its resource pool - ie active members.

Ironically, the bit I think I still need to work on is there internet presence (lets see if I can sort my own first eh).