Ah, I had a lovely, long lie-in.. unusual for me, as even when I'm in Ireland, I have to get out and collect my mother's pension. The Irish government, you see, in its wisdom, has neither a system of remote collection (people might abuse it), nor the public transport infrastructure to enable those without their own transport to collect it. It's also in the process of closing the post offices where you have to collect it, so your options become more and more limited. Hence, every second Saturday, when I'm in Ireland, I needs must get myself out of bed and drive four miles to collect her pension before the post office closes, which it does at lunchtime. I must be grateful for two things - firstly, that the post office opens on Saturdays at all, and secondly, that they allow me to collect on her behalf. I can't leave it any longer - apparently, they cut you off if you haven't picked it up in three weeks.
So, today's lie-in was a real luxury! I also got my toothbrush charged, and dug some clothes out of bags and boxes where they've been since I moved. And then I moseyed down to the office, which is on the way to London Bridge - where the walk was happening! Picked up some food in the Co-Op by the office, ate there, got some more organising done online, and headed out in time for my walk.
However, I'd cut it fine - so it was a blow to discover that my bus stop was closed! (Yes, now that I look on the TFL website, I can see it - Google Maps wasn't as well informed.) Anyway, time being so tight, I said I'd better take the Tube - which whisked me down to London Bridge lickety split. Now, the Tube station has very informative exit signs, with a list of what you can access from each exit. Unfortunately, that list is so long that it can take minutes to read - which is tricky, with swarms of people trying to get past. In retrospect, I can tell you that, for St. Thomas' Street, you take Borough exit, East Side.
Google Maps, of course, went to sleep while I was underground - and when I emerged, the little blue dot, which rarely finds me exactly, was having problems. Which is an issue when you really don't know which way to turn! Happily, I figured it out myself - right from the exit, and the Bunch of Grapes pub, outside which we were to meet, is right around the corner. Mind you, I couldn't see our guide - and it now being very close to time, I messaged Funzing about it. (They got back to me, during the walk, to say that the group were there, and had I found them..?)
I'd walked the length of the front of the pub - unfortunately, there were loads of people outside in the now-fine weather (although there'd been a heavy shower before I'd set out, the walk stayed fine). But I couldn't see anyone that looked as though they were hosting a walk.. until I returned to where I'd started, and now there was a chap with a rather discreet sign, and a couple of people near him!
Yes, that was him, and I got my name checked off. And then the fun started.. I really don't think it was his fault, but a complete mess had been made of the booking. People had been sent confirmation for the wrong walk - there's another in Covent Garden that had been mixed up with it - and a couple arrived who had booked for the Haunted London Pub Tour, but had been signed up for this, to their dismay! so they left. Not to mention the lady who asked was it ok if they finished their drinks and ciggies first.. and the family whose mum decided the kids needed to go to the toilet first.. and all the folks who didn't show at all, probably having gone to Covent Garden, or elsewhere! Honestly, despite arriving on the dot, I was probably the least trouble of them all.
More photos here. Well, our first stop was outside The London Bridge Experience. Our friend, whose girlfriend had had to drag him away from drinks and ciggies, was very vocal from here.. dismayed to learn that these were never real dungeons, he persisted in asking about the real dungeons, whether we would be going to them, whether they were open to the public at all.. as one of the group remarked, this is the London Bridge Ghost Walk, you know, not the dungeon tour!
And so onto London Bridge itself. That couple hung back, taking photos, before joining us - whereupon he had to ask the guide to repeat himself, not having been listening the first time. The guide went on to tell us about Edward I's expulsion of the Jews in 1290, and how the boat on which they were exiled went on fire and all were killed. This, of course, wasn't at all detailed enough for the man that wanted dungeons. The guide explained that he couldn't go into a huge amount of detail on a time-limited tour.
And so on to Borough Market, where the guide was notably wary of what he said, given the presence of small people, and the nature of the doings there. As he gingerly explored the topic of the exploitation of even children, our loud friend was to be found making a silent gesture towards the family, as if to imply, "well, here we have a sample" - for which his girlfriend rightly thumped him. I was beginning to worry that this "lad about town" was going to ruin the walk - but they left the tour quietly at that point, to all of our immense relief.
The rest of the tour didn't, honestly, tell me anything I didn't already know. We wandered down by the Palace of Winchester, the Clink, and Crossbones Graveyard - where there was an exhibition new to both me and to the guide! Honestly, I've been on too many tours of the area, though, for this to have been really interesting - there were no specific ghost stories, just lots of general descriptions of sleaze - but he was very professional, and did cover the bases. And quite briskly - I got a decent workout on the first walk I've been on in a while! Got the bus back, and was surprised, upon sitting down, to discover that I was a bit stiff.
Now then. London Social Detours was off to the Scoop tomorrow, where King Arthur is playing. Not that I'd have paid them £3 for what is a free event! However, when I checked the weather forecast.. well, it's supposed to rain all tomorrow afternoon, continuing till after this starts. So I said, not really - it's outdoors, and might be cancelled anyway: and all Meetup was offering as an alternative were walks. So I consulted my £3.60 club, who had tickets to a few plays, primarily in the Hen & Chickens, on the last day of the Camden Fringe. Behold if one of the plays wasn't A Tale from Transylvania! Well now, I couldn't resist that. Their discounted tickets were sold out, so I just bought a full-price one - they're cheap anyway. (And London Social Detours duly decided to cancel for the Scoop.) And here I was, thinking I was done with the Camden Fringe for the year..
And on Monday, I'm finally off to see Julie at the National, having got a cheaper ticket than I could have managed on earlier occasions. Would you credit it though.. the cheapest ticket I could find was from.. Ticketmaster!! Never known for their cheapness in the past.. with this, and them scrapping the Get Me In and Seatwave ticket reselling sites, maybe they're turning over a new leaf!
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