the City
of London
With your book trilogy of hidden London we set out on a psychogeography trail of the City of London starting from Blackfriars Bridge and specifically room 411. To plan the day's walk we feasted on eggs, sourdough, avocado and smoken salmon at the sumptuous Hoxton Hotel: while you poached, I scrambled:)
We crossed Blackfriars bridge and went up and down some steps I never knew existed. We wandered the hidden alleys south of St. Paul's Cathedral from Carter Lane to the peaceful hidden courtyard of Wardrobe Place; it is where the Monarch's wardrobe was kept since 1359 established by medieval king Edward III after being moved from the Tower of London. The building was burnt down by the Great Fire of London in 1666 as did most buildings and churches in the City of London. In 1709 the office of the Wardrobe was abolished and the garden of the great house was converted into the courtyard.
Walking down these paths I was reminded of the dark alleys of Šibenic and other Croatian cities despite their obvious difference in architecture and weather. You pondered how wonderful it would be to own a small flat in this historic part of London, how Blackfriars is another hidden tzem:), how deserted these streets are at weekends just like Victoria, another area you've admired for a long time. You actually did view a rather spacious flat while I was in Greece last summer, I suspect the only drawback was that it was dark?
After briefly exploring a beautiful and imposing sadly abandoned church we headed to the back of St. Paul's Cathedral towards Cheapside where you showed me the mighty plane tree, the oldest reportdedly tree in London on the junction of Wood street and Cheapside. Immediately afterwards you took me to the secret garden of St. Vedast-alias-Foster on Foster Lane; you had discovered both the tree and the garden in your previous exploration of a Clerkenwell walk almost three weeks ago when I was in Fletching with Karen.
A few times on our approximately 3.5h walk, we peeked inside churches to momentarily soak up Sunday mass only to walk out again not wanting to insult with our brief stay. There were such few people inside, I suggested we go and pray for the people in Ukrania but we decided to move on. From Guildhall, Kings street (you wondered how many King streets exist in London and I noted the sign missing an apostrophe), up Coleman street we reached Finsbury Circus where we sat on a bench for some lounge lizard recharge directly facing the sun sipping filtered water.
We did a bit of a loop - spotted Randox gangsters (!) on Blomfield street - down and around the back of Liverpool street station - unimpressed by the Essex vibe and distinct lack of soul. Through Broadgate Estate and the fancy new shopping centre built in brutalist style architecture, we walked to Holywell Row and Phipp street in Shorditch where you paused to contemplate the sale of a warehouse you liked on Christina street. You grabbed an almond croissant from the Veggie Prêt on the corner and we stopped at Fix for a prolonged oat flat white.
We made our way down the back of Liverpool street - Randox dejavú - to Thorgmorton and Copthall avenues - BlackRock, you exclaimed, pointing your middle finger at their camera! - (read today that Blackrock is the world's largest asset manager with US$10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022) - down Angel Court to the Bank of England, back on King's street (another dejavú) leading to Queen street and eventually the river Thames. Half-way somewhere we spotted another hidden alley, took a picture of a lion that looked rather displeased; you said, he'd rather chill in the savannah than freeze in some stuffy old façade. My picture of you is a complete blur which is what happens when you move the camera too quickly after pressing the button photographing in poor lighting conditions someone who doesn't really want to be photographed:) I said, it's good to mix it up with some pictures of us so you posed and smiled. Sorry, I messed it up.
Another sneaky peek into St Michael Paternoster Royal on College Hill, where we both witnessed the funeral of a man quietly being conducted which made us both think about funerals and the approach to death and dying and how more cheerful they can be than the solemn dread of many religions, certainly Greek Orthodox. Another pretty and unexpected oasis next to a busy road. The original church dated back to the 13th century but it was also destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, the acclaimed British Architect responsbile for rebuilding 53 churches in the City of London including St Vedast-arias-Foster; St Paul's Cathedral being his most celebrated masterpiece completed in 1710.
I admired the large window of the Grade II listed Innholders Hall with its frosty white heraldic symbols of the ram, the eagle, the horse, the cross, the sun, the dragon ...) - you remarked no erections on the coats of arms above the main entrance unlike its naughty counterpart at the King's Arms pub in London Bridge:) I looked at the green doors and the arches across College street originally called Elbow street and wondered about the spider web motif also seen on many Georgian doors. What did the spider web signify? Was it meant for protection, the capturing of bad spirits preventing them from entering the house?
From Cousin Lane we made our way to the Thames and once more enjoyed and photographed the mosaic wall depicting the history of London which stops abruptly at 2012. Quite a bit of wall left but is it enough to cover the last 9 years and years to come? No doubt at some point it will feature humans wearing covid 19 masks and hopefully no end of the world scenes following the recent invasion of Russia in Ukraine.
The sky was a continuous luminous blue deceptively Californian Spring but the air was decisively February in Old Blighty: biting, dry lips, coarse weathered skin and frozen smiles.
Another adventure together savouring this mighty City we have both called home for a good thirty years or more.
Further reading
Check the John Rocque's detailed map of 1746 and 1869-80: