Secret London Lunch Breaks

Part 1 Today we were going hunting.  No, not for the Peregrine falcon - the fastest animal in the world and devourer of dirty London pigeons, nor the rare London variety of the Bolbitius fungus.  Today we were in search of London's largest subterranean river - The River Fleet.  Largest?  There's a smaller one - I hear you ask?  You may be surprised to know (or you may not, depending on your general subterranean river knowledge), that there are around SIXTEEN, yes, sixteen, so-called 'lost' rivers running underneath our Capital - many of them having played an important role in the development of our City.  These rivers have sadly been mostly forgotten, as the metropolis of London grows, buildings being built upon buildings - pushing them underground, forced into culverts and flowing out of the people's consciousness altogether.  It is somewhat surprising that these rivers have been forgotten, especially when they have affected the City's t

"Did you ever get the feeling that you wanted to go, And still have the feeling that you wanted to stay? You know it was right, wasn't wrong, Still you knew you wouldn't be very long. It's tough to have the feeling that you wanted to go, And still have the feeling that you wanted to stay. Start to go! Change your mind! Start to go again but change your mind again! It's tough to have the feeling that you wanted to go, Still have the feeling that you wanted to stay, Do re mi far so la ti do, I go...!" Good old Jimmy Durante  couldn't have said it better - this is exactly how we felt about our lunch time jaunt today (although I'm not sure Deborah would have put it quite the same way, but Deborah can express herself when it's her turn).  It was pouring with rain.  The sort of rain that comes down horizontally, whips up underneath your umbrella, makes your mascara run and soaks you to the skin.  It was windy.  And generally gr

It was a beautiful sunny day, a good day to get out and about and rain had been forecast for the rest of the week, so we decided to seize the moment and hop on a tube to Borough (one stop beyond London Bridge), where today's adventures begin! Sometimes, we're so excited we forget to alight at the appropriate stop but, today, we were on the ball, eyes on the prize. Disembarking at the correct stop, we were doing well and, map in hand, we wandered along deserted Redcross Way, anticipation mounting. Almost at the very end and just before an old railway arch, was some London Underground hoarding, and just next to that were the cemetery gates of Cross Bones Graveyard  that we had come to see. Cross Bones Graveyard is thought to be the final resting place of about 15,000 destitute children, single women and prostitutes. The unconsecrated cemetery in Southwark was used from the 16th century until it closed in 1853 to bury the remains of prostitutes who were licensed by