Trials, tributaries and tall stories
The
Groundwater Diaries is a heavily illustrated London travel book in which
I use old maps, hallucinogenic high strength lager, dream analysis and an
old coat hanger to help me find the city's lost streams. Over the course of
a year I walked the routes of many of these buried tributaries of the Thames,
drew some sketches and read history books. The book covers the great themes
of existence - punk, football, feminism, beer, nurses, 
politics,
free jazz, jellied eels, Dickens, offal, capitalism, sex and death.
The paperback version came out in March this year - one of the last Flamingo paperbacks - with a beautiful new cover 
by
the illustrator Steven Appleby. Meanwhile, The Herald claims it is "The oddest of books,
it is an endearing eccentric's humane outlook on life delivered with a rapier wit that can
unravel an entire culture as much through its tackiness as its deep-rooted histories." Blimey.
The trade paperback was published by Flamingo in June 2003, just in time for the vast majority of the cricket season (message to cricket fans - there is a paragraph or two about cricket. Owzat!, or whatever it is you lads say when you're excited).
"It's irresistible...bizarre but quite brilliant."
The Bookseller
I've built this
site partly to plug the book but also as a resource for people who want to
know more about the rivers. There are loads of links to sites with old maps
and prints that I couldn't afford to reproduce in the book. I'll be adding
stuff to the site - walking maps, photos, reviews - in the next few months.
Thanks to the BLUEROBOT.COM layout reservoir for cheap and easy-to-use HTML.
