Local characters, fake ads, and a woman with a bag on her head – Walthamstow International Film Festival 2026
At the weekend I spent a couple of hours at the lovely Walthamstow Trades Hall for the 17th Walthamstow International Film Festival, which was showing some 80-odd short movies over the course of a few hours. One of the things…
Adieu to the Bell (for now… again)
At some point I posted a picture of where I was living in Walthamstow, and a friend replied with something like: “In other news, man spends five decades never living more than 10 minutes from the Bell.” And it’s true….
Come and see m-orchestra in Walthamstow in the middle of the night!
This won’t be the first time I’ve played an m-orchestra gig at the witching hour, as during lockdown I did a livestream from my garden at midnight, but I’m excited that Sunday night/Monday morning I will be playing my haunted…
A lovely article about people who vanish from football terraces reminded me of familiar faces from long-lost record shops
Another post in my occasional series of “Well, I enjoyed this, so you might enjoy it too” series, this time with a football and record shop theme. There was a lovely piece on the Guardian website a few days ago…
Come and spend a night in June dancing to the Fall in Walthamstow
Long-time readers will know what a huge fan of the Fall I am, and I am excited that in June I am helping to put on a night in Walthamstow dedicated to the band. Yes, 10 June 2025, come along…
A Black Friday plea from a small independent retail business
In the past on Black Friday™ I used to live blog it for the Guardian, initially as a pseudo-affiliate marketing link ploy, and in later years with a view to promoting small sustainable businesses in the UK that got in…
The incredible secret of the London Overground rebranding
I am 100% on-board with the London Overground being split into six different lines with individual names. It is infuriating to see there are delays on the Overground and have no clear idea of whether they might be on a…
![[Walthamstow FC at Wadham Lodge]](https://martinbelam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/walthamstow_fc_at_wadham_lodge-150x150.jpg)
“Walthamstow FC exist and they’re playing on Saturday, and that’s a start …”
Do you remember when bloggers just sometimes did short posts about things they had enjoyed and just wanted to share them? I know, I am such a boomer*. Anyway, here is one of those, with a couple more to follow…
It was forty years ago today …
It isn’t every day that you realise you know exactly what you were doing forty years ago, but today I do. It is forty years to the very day since Depeche Mode released their 11th single, Master and Servant. And…
A review of my football season 2023-24
I have resisted the temptation to start adding one-line reviews of every football match I go to, alongside the existing series of one-line gig reviews and one-line movie reviews, but as part of this blog having morphed into my outside…