When I was very, very young I remember watching Only Fools And Horses with my parents and brothers. I was so young that I barely understood it, although I remember it making me laugh a great deal. One thing I do remember though, was that it was set in a place called Peckham. At the time I had no idea where that was: I probably assumed it was another town out in the countryside somewhere, a bit like my own. I could never have imagined that one day I would know exactly where Peckham was, visiting it fairly regularly.

Peckham is a vibrant, fascinating part of the capital. I am currently sat in it, waiting for John to meet me here to watch a film. The thing is, I can’t help wondering how it matches up with it’s depiction in Only Fools And Horses : that old BBC comedy was set forty years ago, so it must have changed quite a bit. Like the rest of London, it is now extremely multicultural, throbbing with African and Eastern European shops. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to have undergone the same gentrification and investment which is happening in many other parts of London, so it still feels very working class. There is still a raw authentic feel to the area, so I can almost imagine that Delboy Trotter might still be around here somewhere. I wonder, is this a place he and his brother Rodney would still recognise, or has it, like the rest of the metropolis, been propelled into the twenty-first century so far that it has become a completely new area?