Walkin' in the rain

A co-worker invited me to meet her for a guided walk called Hidden London this morning. We met at The Monument, an imposing structure erected to commemorate the rebuilding of the city after the great fire of 1666 (not, as our guide pointed out, to commemorate the fire, because who'd want to do that?). It rained pretty much the entire time we were out, and it was kind of cold, but it seemed to underscore the theme of the tour quite appropriately.

Our guide took us up a narrow lane near the old fish market, which at one time employed Sir Michael Caine and George Orwell as fish porters. (Charming, no?) The lane also illustrated how closed and cramped old London was -- and how easily disease would spread because people would just toss waste out the window into the open sewer running down the street. This is where we think the British expression loo came from, because people (if they were nice) would shout out "Gardez l'eau" ("Watch out for the water") before they threw the waste out.

The tour also included several churches (almost all of which were closed) including St. Clement's and St. James Garlickhithe, and some that were destroyed in the Blitz and are now just paved over squares. I also learned the origin and meaning of the term, "at sixes and sevens," which to my dismay is NOT in the English to American Dictionary. It refers to a couple of guilds who would always argue over which was the sixth guild to be founded. So the Lord Mayor decreed that they would alternate years; one year one would be six, and the next it would be seven. In the current lexicon, it means to be in a quandary.

By the time I got back to the flat, it was sunny and warm. Figures! But I highly recommend a two-hour walking tour from this group.