Real Places In Fiction Part One

Week Eight can wait to be blogged about. I went for an epic walk today and have lots of things to tell you about. However, I do need to go to bed soon so I can function at work tomorrow, so expect numerous posts through-out the week.

London is a famous place and it's not surprising that it's the backdrop for many books, movies, and other fictional stories. There are a few places that I want to visit here because I seen or read about them. The first is Waterloo Bridge (all of these photos are taken from the bridge).

There are many bridges in London that stretch across the Thames. They range from pretty to utilitarian and ultra-modern to antique. Waterloo Bridge is not the most spectacular structure to look at. However, it is the main meeting point for fictional detectives John May and Arthur Bryant.

The Bryant and May mystery series is written by Christopher Fowler (who also happens to have a very interesting blog, you’ll find it here http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/). They are funny books about a group of misfit cops working for the Peculiar Crimes Unit, a police division that solves murder cases that are too odd for conventional methods. I just re-read ‘The Victoria Vanishes’ which is about a serial killer attacking women in pubs, one of which occurred in a pub that doesn’t exist. The books are hilarious and London is firmly a character in all of them.

At least once in every book, Bryant and May meet on Waterloo Bridge. So I had to go there. Today was a typical British day: gray and just cold enough to make my nose runny (but no rain and the odd ray of sunshine, which I am very thankful for). There wasn’t much foot traffic, so I had plenty of time to take in the view and imagine (just for a moment) that I had two of my favourite detectives standing next to me.