River prance

Why are these people standing around what appears to be a drain cover in exaggerated listening postures? Turns out this is no ordinary drain cover. In fact it’s in the middle of a Clerkenwell sidestreet and if you listen carefully (while avoiding being run over by rat-running taxis) through it you can hear the gurgling of the long-culverted River Fleet, one of London’s lost rivers.

If you want to try it for yourself, you’ll find it outside the Coach and Horses pub in Ray Street EC1. But watch out for those mad drivers!

Yours,

“Fleetfoot”