We were supposed to meet "outside" Tower Hill Station at 7.30, for an 8 o'clock start. Now, "outside" a Tube station can mean anything really - so, with plenty of time, I decided to get there early. I can get the Tube straight there, but those engineering works between Earl's Court and Wimbledon meant I had to walk to Earl's Court to do it. Fair enough, it's not far. And I was just in time for a train that passed through Tower Hill.
When I arrived at Tower Hill, there was really only one exit, so I kept my eyes peeled as I walked outside. There are a lot of construction works, and hoardings, and I spied a sign pointing in the direction of the station entrance, which was apparently around the corner somewhere. Hmm. Anyway, I was early and had time to go that way if I needed to. First, however, I scanned my surroundings for anyone that looked like a group. Finally, I caught sight of the Meetup sign that the group organiser was rather discreetly holding. :-)
He turned out to be a gregarious, chatty fellow, there with a friend of his - and apart from them, I was the first to arrive. Bit by bit, the others dribbled over, catching sight of the sign - or maybe we just looked like Meetup people. There were about a dozen of us altogether, including a lady who'd asked was it ok to bring her puppy. And she wants him to have a Meetup profile, too. Why not, I say?! He was a gregarious fellow himself, introducing himself enthusiastically to all around him.
We waited for quite a long time for the guide, identifiable by his orange umbrella. Well, we were early. Meantime, we were in the curious position of being right beside a couple of guides on one of the paid tours, who led off a couple of groups while we were waiting. One of those guides even came over to ask whether we were waiting for their tour! There was a food stall, manned by an entertaining chap, and a beggar with another dog, nattily attired with a tartan scarf, sitting just over there. Our doggie was at first wary of that doggie, but they were soon friends. Yes, even canines get to meet up at these things.
Eventually, our organiser found our guide (at the entrance, round the corner), and off we trotted. It drizzled briefly at this point, but that was the last rain we saw. After the introductory speech, our first stop was just across from the Tower of London:
After setting the scene for us, he led us off into the backstreets of Whitechapel, and started to tell us the gruesome details of the murders attributable to Jack the Ripper. There was some brisk walking and quite a lot of standing around to hear the stories. Thing about this area is, most of the old buildings have been demolished, either through war or economic need. But he did his best to evoke the scene, bringing us to as many places as possible that were associated with the crimes. And a couple of atmospheric alleyways, one of which was, apparently, used as inspiration for the Harry Potter films.
So far so gory. Light relief was provided by all the other Jack the Ripper groups, crisscrossing each other simultaneously! (One tour given in Spanish.) As we crossed Mitre Square, where one of the bodies was discovered, we counted no fewer than seven other groups, standing in little knots at various bits, just out of earshot of each other. As our guide told his story in an alley just off the square, another group could be seen passing the entrance to the alley. As we stood and listened on a street corner, we watched another group cross the road, just before a third group headed down the pavement past them, in our direction.
Popular, then. I did notice one of the groups, whose guide was projecting images of the victims onto the walls at relevant points. I remember the ad for that. Sounds good, but frankly, in real life I thought these flickering photos looked a bit tacky.
One of our last stops was, oddly, in Spitalfields Market. I don't think there was a connection - apart from that it's in the vicinity. It's really to give the guide a chance, with good lighting, to take a group photo, which he'll email to anyone who requests it (you give him your email address). It was unfortunate that during his story here, music was blaring over the side as people did some setting up or dismantling, I don't know which. The photo would also have come out better, I think, if the stall frames had actually had anything in them - but they were bare.
Never mind, we finished back out in the dark, outside Christ Church Spitalfields:
Here, he led us through the dafter speculations about the identity of the killer, invited us to give him our emails, and asked for the tip that is customary at the end of a free tour. I did check my wallet, but honestly, the smallest note I had was £10, and I didn't feel like giving him that - and the largest coin I had was 20p. And I didn't feel like handing him a pile of change either. So I left it - although I would've given him something for his efforts if I'd had it. I do believe this tour is quite good enough that you can avoid paying the fees charged by others.
The Loose End Events group - what was left of us - duly trotted off to the Wetherspoon's in Liverpool Street Station, a short distance away. It was heaving, of course - a fabulously ornate space, apparently it used to be a hotel ballroom. After we'd all managed to fight our way through the queue at the bar and get a drink, we repaired to the far end of the eating area, where we clustered around a tiny table and had a fun time hanging out together.
Yup, this was a fun evening and I'd do it again. Looking forward to whatever this group comes up with next. Well, depending! ;-) Mind you, my feet suffered.. I'm out of practice at this length of walk, and barely managed to stagger to the Underground station. Turned out the Piccadilly Line, which I'd planned to take from King's Cross to Earl's Court, was closed on that section because of a broken-down train. So Tube to Edgware Road it was, and the District Line from there to Earl's Court. That's the thing about having to travel right across town - you have options. And I was lucky, again, that both trains were ready on the platform for me when I got there. Mind you, I was confused for a minute at Edgware Road, where the train destination read "Kensington Olympia" - before I realised that it must go through Earl's Court to get there. And so I survived to get as far as home.
Hours later, my feet are still killing me, although I've had them up for ages. Which means I'm very glad that the Ken's Events walk scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed, on account of the aforementioned engineering works. Instead, I'm heading back to the Leicester Square Theatre - figures, never been there before and now heading there for the second time in four days - where they're running Death Ship 666, a parody of the Titanic disaster. When I checked, it was about half sold out - so I booked. Woe is me, though - it's a matinee; I could really do with a lie-in. And on Monday, I'm finally going to Made in Dagenham - cheapest tickets available on the official website.
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