You can take the man out of Croydon ...



... but you can't take the Croydon out of the man. It is hard to contain my emotion at this film noir tribute to the town where I grew up. It is the best Croydon ballad since Captain Sensible. It is also a promo for a film called Limbo which is actually about purgatory, where purgatory is in fact Croydon. I dare not recommend the film but I did enjoy some of the lines in the trailer.

The tram didn't exist in my youth, but it has essentially taken over much of the railway which used to run from Elmers End through Bingham Road and on to Sanderstead. The bridges were knocked down and a new line built with level crossings. Such determined serial modernising futility sums up a lot of Croydon's post-war history and has a charm all of its own. I actually saw one office block on Wellesley Road built and later demolished during the course of my schooldays.

It really is time I made a pilgrimage to Croydon to see how everything has improved.

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