Edgeware Road

It would seem to me that a larger percentage of you lot will have been to or through Edgeware Road than the other destinations I'm visiting. But it is technically the terminus for the Wimbledon-Edgeware Road District Line, so despite having been there many times before, off I went.

It is, of course, a huge Middle Eastern area, full of Arabic and Lebanese cafes, where you can smoke sisha pipes, and restaurants (I had a lovely chicken shwarma at Beiruit Express). But did you know it was also the site of Great Britain's first curry house, the Hindostanee Coffee House, in 1809? I didn't either.

The station was part of the world's first underground railway system between Farringdon and Paddington, which opened in 1863. It was also one the sites of the 7/7 bombings. Had I not stayed at my girlfriend's place the night before, I would have passed through the station on my way to work.

Instead, having been kicked off the Central Line, I found myself standing at the bottom of Edgeware Road as the 30 or so emergency vehicles rushed up it.

This end of the road, near Marble Arch, is perhaps the most historically interesting. Edgeware Road is a Roman road, a fact that becomes obvious once you realise that it is straight, a feat successive road engineers in the UK have failed to match. It had been laid upon an ancient trackway in the Great Middlesex Forest (a forest? Here?). And it was at the end of this road, where it joined two other Roman roads coming out of London (now Oxford Street and Park Lane), that the medieval village of Tyburn stood.

For reasons that aren't entirely clear on Wikipedia, it was here, in this little village outside London, from 1196 until the 18th century, that executions took place. Indeed, for hundreds of years, it was the primary place for executing people around London.

And that was because of what became known as the Tyburn Tree--a three sided gallows that allowed up to 24 executions at once. Or, at least, that was the highest number ever achieved.

At the very bottom of Edgeware Road, in the median, you can see, if you can call it this, the memorial to what used to happen here. The name Tyburn is still in use in the buildings around the area (there's a Tyburn Abbey, even), perhaps most noticably, it is the name of the dodgy pub on the East side of the street.

When I set out for Edgeware Road, knowing it was a big Middle Eastern area, I thought I would try to figure out why Arabic peoples settled here. I never did.

Because now I want to know is what it would have been like to grow up and live in the village where they executed people.

Cockfosters

The lastest journey involved the end of the Picadilly Line. I actually found the history of Cockfosters far more interesting than the place.

It really is just a collection of houses with a few shops and eateries. Suburbia. And it's been that way its entire history. It started out as houses for the people servicing the large manor houses of what was to become known as Trent Park, which itself started out as a royal hunting ground. The Picadilly Line reached it in 1933. The station itself is a Grade II listed building.

Interestingly, it's only a couple of miles from the M25! Putting it, of course, smack dab in the middle of the Green Belt, the introduction of which apparently halted any further development. You might also note that Potters Bar is just on the other side of the M25. You may remember it as the scene of a rather terrible train crash a few years back.

Two other things of note about the area. In 1471, Monken Hadley village, King Edward 1V defeated Warwick the Kingmaker, who died on the battlefield, in a massive victory for the Yorkist army.

And, during WWII, German POWs were interrogated in Trent Park, in buildings now part of Middlesex University.

You wouldn't know it had such an interesting history by looking at it today:

My literary companion on this journey, was, in many ways, an exact opposite of the trip. Chronic City, by Jonathan Letham, is a story set in a sort of alternate universe NY. Highly, highly recommended, just maybe not while you're trying to experience specific parts of Britain.

This weekend, I may make good on my promise to go to Brixton. Which would require learning the name of the famous pizzeria there. Does anyone know the name of it?

West Ruislip

?...?... I don't get it. Why West Ruislip is there. It's right between Ickenham and Ruislip, both serve by their own Tube stops. Though someone cared enough to give it its own Wikipedia entry. Which was, well, esoteric. Apparently, there used to be a US Navy base right next to the station, which is now being turned into a load of flats. It's part of a planned extension that got scaled back right after WWII. There's also a golf course called The Fairway, which might as well have just been called A Golf Course.

Had a wander down to Ickenham, and had a lime and soda in the Coach and Horses. It was one of those places that only charges you, in this case, 35p for a soft drink, instead of like a pound fifty. Me likey. Not much to report about Ickenham, but there were a number of posh cars about and, more importantly, an inordinately high number of very attractive middle-aged Indian woman. Sadly, usually with kids. And SUVs.

Thinking there had to be another reason for the West Ruislip station, I wandered the other way from the station. Which took me to Ruislip.

Which seemed pretty nice. Clean. Nice stores. Even had a Baskin Robbins 31 Flavours (I went to uni with Sarah Baskin. She never wanted to talk to me.) A High Street with really wide pavements for the pedestrians, which I took to be a good sign.

Best part of the trip was easily my book, The Polish Officer, by Alan Furst. He writes historical thrillers set on the eve of WWII. Really enjoy him; his depictions of Warsaw before it was destroyed by the bombing are really good.

Glad I got it out of the way. Where to next?

Epping

I think I chose Epping, as my first destination because, to my knowledge, it's the furthest out of all the Tube termini(?). Indeed, you actually have to cross open farmland to get there. And it's surrounded by Epping Forest, which apparently used to be Royal hunting grounds, after it was home to a number of Iron Age peoples.

I was accompanied by 'Beneath a Marble Sky', by John Shors. It's about the great love that led to the building of the Taj Mahal. I don't recommend it to anyone, but I had to read it as it was a Christmas present from my mum, because I had just fulfilled a childhooddream of seeing the Taj Mahal last Autumn. And I much prefer the real story of Shah Jehan to this fictional goo.

Epping is apparently apparently famous for it's sausages, a fact that has managed escaped this foodie for the entire decade he has lived over here.

My cursory visit there sparked no thoughts of revulsion. While not that interesting, it was actually a nice little market town.



Next destination is West Ruislip, the opposite end of the Central Line. Yet another place I know absolutely nothing about.

To the ends of the Tube

Inspired by my friend Tom, I am going to go to the end of every single Tube line in London. You see these final destinations on the notice boards, and you rely on them to know which way you are going. But I, for one, have not been to most of them.

The rules are simple. I must arrive by Tube, and I have to exit the station, have a look around, and visit at least one shop, coffee shop or pub. Preferably the latter.

Armed with a book and an Oyster card. My first destination is Epping.