Kenwood House Eden I rode the line of misery, against an inner voice, ’Twixt Balaam and the Angel, with little other choice. Just a little further on – knee-deep in freebie news And smoking-cough late risers – emerged from blackened hues. You cannot flash yer Hampsteads without a bluish plaque Of pioneering vagueness, an armyContinue reading “Point 12”
Tag Archives: lockdown
Point 11
St Pancras Gardens Here Lies … Here lies Adam’s glory which ‘shall never pass away’! Here, though, come the martyr’s icy fingers every May. Here lies King Death’s last hurrah with his subcommittees. Here the dispossessed inherit the new rail of two cities. Here lies an architect, in one of only two. Here’s the thing:Continue reading “Point 11”
Point 10
Wood Street Plane Tree Last of the Mohicans (Mio Platano Amato) “Because it is a non-native hybrid, there is no mythology and folklore associated with the London plane.” The Woodland Trust A tree. A visible, living tree. Intertwining the occident and orient by accident. Rootless cosmopolitan shackled by its locks. Soaring eighty feet, yet it’sContinue reading “Point 10”
Point 09
St Foster’s Church Foster Father ‘Bloody ’ell! It’s so quiet. It’s bloody quiet in ’ere.’ ‘Yes, son, it’s very quiet. You really shouldn’t swear. ‘After all, this is a place Where people come to pray: A c-h-blank-blank-c-h. What’s missing, by the way? ‘What are you doing? Put that back! That’s Our Lord’s thorny crown. What’sContinue reading “Point 09”
Point 08
Postman’s Park The Truth Is Somewhat More Prosaic Sarah Smith, in pantomime, at the Prince’s Theatre, Died of the terrible injuries received Attempting to extinguish the flames on her companion, Twenty-fourth of January, 1863. This tribute, dedicated to heroic selfless sacrifice, Lends itself to poignant poetry. However, as the actual truth is somewhat more prosaic,Continue reading “Point 08”
Point 07
St Bartholomew’s Hospital The Italian Boy On a moonless winter island, we lurk among the tombstones, Honeycombing graveyards and hawking to the sawbones. Plunging down to dig my earth, beneath the watching tower. Use a noose to yank it loose within the quarter-hour. Jack will log the evening’s haul: four large, one small, a foetus.Continue reading “Point 07”
Point 06
Smithfield Seat of the Beast From Haunch-of-Venison Yard to Shoulder-of-Mutton Alley, Praise the lord of the loin and the leg. See Hogarth’s beef with the burghers of Calais, In the place where he hobnobs with Bacon and Egg. Carve your way round the City of Lud, Past Poultry and in from the east. Dripping withContinue reading “Point 06”
Point 05
City Thameslink Station, Newgate Street It Tolls for Thee “’Tis Saint Sepulchre’s bell. It tolls alas for human guilt.” Sunday: tavern, solo drunken, More’s the reason, more’s the pity. Evening: cavern, so low sunken, Pondering slices of the City: What a strange place for a station, West, the hidden Styx of Wen; Between, the fallContinue reading “Point 05”
Point 04
Redcross Way Big Daves Gusset ‘Where are we now? What place is this? Are we just passing through?’ ‘I’m not quite sure; all I know is we’re well past Waterloo.’ Near the ancient market where the train stopped overhead Sat a strip of wasteland and stood a burnt-out shed. Through the window darkly, beneath aContinue reading “Point 04”
Point 03
Hungerford Bridge What I Did (Obsessive Killing Disorder) London, spend the night with me. Craving over water, Lure with bondage and escape The gaze of luminary artists. London, spend the night with me. Craving over water, Dredge up the worst types: Psychotic, degraded, people on the edge. London, spend the night with me. Craving overContinue reading “Point 03”
Point 02
Westminster Abbey A Vast Unfinished Universe “All human things are subject to decay, and, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey.” What can ye boast of this illustrious sepulchre? A vast unfinished poem of marble, stone and glass? The ultimate majestic scene with all its crowning grandeur? Or an improper indulgence of Elgar and Bach? RecoverContinue reading “Point 02”
Point 01
Piccadilly Circus Children of the Revolution (The Urchins’ Parade) “Love sending forth indiscriminately, yet with purpose, his missile of kindness.” In eighteen hundred and thirty-three, A great procession we shall see, of poverty. And there’s the Earl of Shaftesbury. The champion of philanthropy and charity. He did so much to help the poor. He triedContinue reading “Point 01”
Soul City Wandering – A London Pilgrimage
AMAZON TRAVEL BOOKS TOP-TEN BESTSELLER – 5-STAR RATED “A great book… a great guide. Poems… music… history… and fantastic ways to… go for walks” Robert Elms, BBC Radio London Frank Molloy‘s Soul City Wandering was released in 2020. The aim of the book is to inspire travellers to engage as individuals with their journeys. ItContinue reading “Soul City Wandering – A London Pilgrimage”
Samuel Pepys: Forced Entry
At the time of writing, The recorded UK 2020 death rate for coronavirus (69,051) had just overtaken the recorded death rate for the Great Plague of London (68,596), the bubonic pandemic which broke out in the capital in 1665. The day-to-day accounts of the spread of that pestilence by 17th century London diarist Samuel PepysContinue reading “Samuel Pepys: Forced Entry”
London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (3)
Soul City Wanderer is enticed to a unique lockdown experience, an illicit drink at a south London ‘speakeasy’, where he encounters a modern secret society. This is part 3 of 3. Inside a clandesdine ‘speakeasy’ held in a south London pub, I am intrigued with the secret society I have encountered. My guide is happyContinue reading “London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (3)”
London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (2)
Soul City Wanderer is enticed to a unique lockdown experience, an illicit drink at a south London ‘speakeasy’, where he encounters a modern secret society. This is part 2 of 3. So, I have managed to gain entry into a clandesdine ‘speakeasy’ which is being held in a south London pub. A friend in theContinue reading “London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (2)”
London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (1)
Soul City Wanderer is enticed to a unique lockdown experience, an illicit drink at a south London ‘speakeasy’, where he encounters a modern secret society. This is part 1 of 3. A few weeks ago, in my lockdown boredom, I read Empire of Booze by Henry Jeffreys (Unbound Press, 2016). See review below. It’s aContinue reading “London Life: Return of the Speakeasy (1)”
WANDERING TOUR GUIDE 