Tonight, a break from film - I found a new walk! Courtesy of Walking in London, as usual. The Blood and Tears Walk (I guess there isn't supposed to be any sweat) has been running for 20 years, it seems. And the guide seemed to have a good sense of humour, which promised to be interesting as he trailed us around, looking for serial killers. I just hoped it'd have warmed up a bit by then.
Well, it hadn't, I noted as I traipsed down to Barbican Station, where we were to meet. I arrived around the time he suggested, and sure enough, there he was stood outside, as he'd said he'd be, complete with red and black backpack. Well gee, you'll never guess.. I was his only customer. (Oh, for goodness' sake..!) Now, this time, he didn't give me the option of cancelling, but he did give me the option of switching to tomorrow night, when a few people have booked. Nope, I said, I'll take tonight if you don't mind. Well, so we stood there till 7, the official start time - just in case someone else materialised. Which they didn't. And I noted that, for a fellow who was most gregarious through most of the tour, he was quite silent beforehand - ah well, perhaps he isn't used to only having one. Who then refuses to cancel.
And off we set. Now, sorry, but this is the first guided walk I've ever been on where I actually didn't take any pictures! No, none at all. Well, we spent the first part of the tour going through areas I was well familiar with - St. Bartholomew's and Smithfield, anyone? He offered me the chance to yell "photo!" (after he'd finished speaking) if I wanted to take a photo - but I didn't. And once we moved away from there, we spent most of our time down atmospheric - but non-photogenic - alleyways. So there wasn't any point really.
Overall, I'll say this - this was one of the most entertaining walks I've ever been on! Tons of detail - not gory, mind, in general, even though his topic was serial killers. Indeed, he's written a book - of which he carries signed copies in his backpack. (I passed - I didn't have any cash on me anyway, and a book about serial killers doesn't really interest me.) Anyway, as we dealt with serial killer after serial killer, the walk was enlivened with several pop quizzes! Now, I'm not the most informed about serial killers, and my record of getting questions right was fairly abysmal, but it was most entertaining.
As we trotted around, it also emerged that he's quite the film buff - and with me having gone to so many lately, that made for some great conversation. In particular about horror films. I say "trotted".. we went at a fair lick, and it still took us just under two hours! He finishes off with a very interesting story about the person he thinks was the real Jack the Ripper. I tell you what, though - I wasn't too impressed with him trying to pass off Sweeney Todd as a historical figure! Despite that, this is a walk I really recommend. Maybe go for a weekend outing - the atmosphere would have been better with a larger group.
Desperate cold seeped into my bones over the course of the walk.. so I was delighted to see my bus appear just as I needed it! And equally delighted to discover that we have hot chocolate back in the office - just what I needed. Tomorrow, back on my first proper Meetup for two weeks, as I meet Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Cougar, at the Orange Tree. Got one of the last four seats on the lower level.
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