In fact, I don't believe I've ever bought a kebab (at least from a late-night van-style establishment) at all. Even when they weren't poisonous to me (or possibly when I merely wasn't aware they were), they never struck me as a particularly appetising form of late-night fast food compared to a burger.
I was thinking about this on the walk to work this morning.
The aide is saying this to make Smith look normal. But rather like Tony Blair's occasional attempts to make himself look like a normal bloke, it's not convincing even if it's true. Tony Blair may really love foo'ball and playin' the guitar, but when he put on that ridiculous "common" accent and said that sort of thing, he just reminded everyone that he's actually a posh lawyer. Ditto Jacqui Smith. Also, buying a kebab is something which (I assume, not being a meat eater) is only ever done when you stagger out of the pub barely able to focus or stand up, so the image it gives of the home secretary is that she's likely to be found after midnight puking into a litter bin in a park, unable to remember her own name.
However, I wish to contest this view of kebabs: there are also proper kebab shops where the food is much better[0] than burgers; they often have vegetarian kebabs too, though I doubt they keep vegetarianfood well away from the meat (I doubt the burger places do either). And they are open during the day. Not necessarily near pubs. No staggering or booze was involved in the consumption of these kebabs. It's the meedja again, isn't it?
Perhaps wassername actually does eat kebabs from proper kebab places. If so, who cares?
[0] As long as one doesn't touch the processed thing onna big stick, of course.
I've never found kebabs remotely appealing (well, not the post-pub variety, the sort found on skewers on a summer barbecue are another matter entirely!), so my objection to buying one in Peckham is mainly down to lack of inclination rather than any particular dislike for Peckham...
When I say that I would do, I would probably *actually* get a jacket potato, because I'm veggie. I practically lived on 'bab van potatoes when I was a student.
Buying a kebab is a far riskier proposition than merely taking a stroll.
That having been said, I lived one stop up the line for a few years twenty years ago, and certainly preferred going the other direction of an evening if I wanted to come back in one piece. It may have improved over the past two decades, though.
Maybe if Jacqui Smith really feels threatened going out after dark, she might be better off not messing around with the police pay settlement. I'm just hoping for a home secretary who tells the tabloids where to get off and who doesn't think scare-mongering and authoritarianism is a productive use of anyone's time.
Under some circumstances I would be willing to buy chips, for example, in Peckham, but only from somewhere where it looked at least like the chips wouldn't turn out to be deep-fried cockroaches.
I have never and would never buy a kebab in Peckham, but that's because of the kebab, not because of Peckham. (I suppose I might buy one for someone else if they insisted, but I'd certainly never eat one).
Peckham in particular has a disturbingly high number of (a) ACME DISCOUNT MEAT shops, and (b) very full-on churches.
I have bought kebabs in Peckham, Dulwich, Brixton and Camberwell. The best ones were in Camberwell, from a lovely kebab shop that occasionall did chicken kebabs. Not chicken kebabs on sticks, but chicken kebabs on the big spit, with strips cut off.
I was a regular, they even knew what sauces and salad bits I liked. It was easy food after a late shift - three mins from ward to nurses' home to change clothes, then five mins to the kebab house, a few mins depending on the queue, and home again to eat. 20 mins from work to plate.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 12:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:11 am (UTC)The aide is saying this to make Smith look normal. But rather like Tony Blair's occasional attempts to make himself look like a normal bloke, it's not convincing even if it's true. Tony Blair may really love foo'ball and playin' the guitar, but when he put on that ridiculous "common" accent and said that sort of thing, he just reminded everyone that he's actually a posh lawyer. Ditto Jacqui Smith. Also, buying a kebab is something which (I assume, not being a meat eater) is only ever done when you stagger out of the pub barely able to focus or stand up, so the image it gives of the home secretary is that she's likely to be found after midnight puking into a litter bin in a park, unable to remember her own name.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:25 am (UTC)However, I wish to contest this view of kebabs: there are also proper kebab shops where the food is much better[0] than burgers; they often have vegetarian kebabs too, though I doubt they keep vegetarianfood well away from the meat (I doubt the burger places do either). And they are open during the day. Not necessarily near pubs. No staggering or booze was involved in the consumption of these kebabs. It's the meedja again, isn't it?
Perhaps wassername actually does eat kebabs from proper kebab places. If so, who cares?
[0] As long as one doesn't touch the processed thing onna big stick, of course.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 11:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 12:08 pm (UTC)That having been said, I lived one stop up the line for a few years twenty years ago, and certainly preferred going the other direction of an evening if I wanted to come back in one piece. It may have improved over the past two decades, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 06:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 06:40 pm (UTC)Under some circumstances I would be willing to buy chips, for example, in Peckham, but only from somewhere where it looked at least like the chips wouldn't turn out to be deep-fried cockroaches.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 07:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 09:13 pm (UTC)Peckham in particular has a disturbingly high number of (a) ACME DISCOUNT MEAT shops, and (b) very full-on churches.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-21 09:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 11:58 am (UTC)I was a regular, they even knew what sauces and salad bits I liked. It was easy food after a late shift - three mins from ward to nurses' home to change clothes, then five mins to the kebab house, a few mins depending on the queue, and home again to eat. 20 mins from work to plate.