Top 10 Things To Do In The Borough Of Haringey | Londonist

Crouch End features very prominently on this list.

8. Best View: ‘Suicide’ Bridge
The views from North London are quite different to those of the South. The latter, of course, face north, with the sun, and so present a city lit up and inviting. From the North, by contrast, London is dark and hazy, more ominous than welcoming. For a full panorama, the vista from Alexandra Palace is the best in the borough, deservedly famous. But a more interesting view is seen from a point passed by thousands of cars every day, without much thought — Suicide Bridge, or Hornsey Lane as it passes over the A1. Here, by the dolphin lamp-stands taken from the Albert Embankment, three worlds intersect, in a unique sort of magic: lofty, leafy, moneyed Highgate suburbia, the gritty, commercial lower world of Archway Road, and the gleaming towers of the City in the far distance. The paths down — secluded steps to the east, late modernist back street by the reservoir to the west — only add to the multiplicity of urban texture.

Despite the ominous nickname and history, Suicide Bridge is also a great spot for watching fireworks.

The supermarket growing food on its roof | Environment | The Guardian

This is my local supermarket:

Of all the things you might reasonably expect to be doing on a blustery March day, standing on the roof of a supermarket and dragging a rake through a bag of decaying vegetables is probably not one of them. I am on top of Thornton’s Budgens supermarket in Crouch End, north London, which volunteers have transformed from a flat expanse of concrete into a flourishing potted garden and vegetable patch.

The project, called Food from the Sky, is an unusual exercise in the principles of permaculture and sustainable gardening, and is the brainchild of former silversmith and art consultant Azul-Valerie Thome. It opened last May, when a crane lifted 10 tonnes of compost and 300 green recycling boxes donated by Haringey Council on to the roof. Now the garden is producing enough vegetables to sell in the aisles downstairs every Friday, and has just won a community prize at the Co-operative’s annual People and Environment Achievement Awards.

Gotta be careful walking past this place, not unless you like wearing lettuce leaves for a hat.

Hot Chip/ LCD Soundsystem, Alexandra Palace - The Arts Desk - Arts Reviews, Features and News

With an event of this magnitude on my doorstep, attendance was mandatory:

Unlikely cool. It’s what unites LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip. They’re the geeks and outsiders who made it to being hip on the dancefloor. These improbable, subversive electro-pop heroes have united this autumn for what for fans has been a dream double-headline tour. Both bands have had albums out this year and both albums have been well received. But for James Murphy the rumours are that this may be the last tour he does as LCD Soundsystem. And last night he sure was playing as if saying a long goodbye to the ones he’d loved.

I love both these bands, but I didn’t enjoy the show all that much. To my mind, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem share the distinction of sounding much better on record than they do on stage. It’s headphone music, after all.

The fact that the event organisation was a shambles didn’t help either. The comments thread at the bottom of the review gives a flavour of how bad it was. Alexandra Palace has issued an apology and promises to improve things in future, but I won’t be going there again.

Spotlight on Crouch End | Hot areas | Property news | Homes & Property

The Evening Standard does a glowing profile of my neighbourhood. This worries me. Property prices will be driven up, and hip young gunslingers (like me) will be driven out. Still, the article is pretty well researched. It even digs up the famous story about Bob Dylan:

[Crouch End] is also the location of one of London’s most bizarre urban myths. The story goes that Bob Dylan came looking for his friend Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, but knocked on the wrong door. Dylan asked for Dave, but Dave the plumber who lived there was on a call; his wife asked him to wait and made him a cup of tea. Dave the plumber returned to find Bob Dylan drinking tea in his living room.

What it fails to mention, however, is the time Stephen King came to stay with a friend in the late seventies/early eighties. A walk he took down the old railway line was the inspiration for his short story “Crouch End”, a place where “the veil between our world and another more demonic world is at its weakest…”

Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries | Curious Expeditions

I am shocked - SHOCKED - that the Hornsey Public Library doesn’t take pride of place on this list.

Everyone has some kind of place that makes them feel transported to a magical realm. For some people it’s castles with their noble history and crumbling towers. For others it’s abandoned factories, ivy choked, a sense of foreboding around every corner. For us here at Curious Expeditions, there has always been something about libraries. Row after row, shelf after shelf, there is nothing more magical than a beautiful old library.