Amazing news. I’ve recently learned about an underground river that flows from Highbury down into the Hackney Brook Valley. Usually I spot these streams when I see cans of extra strong lager scattered about on the surface, but in this case there was a whole off-licence.
I was buying a few bottles of beer at Highbury Vintners and commented on the strange slope of the floor in the shop, which seemed to counter the slope of Highbury Hill.
“That’s because there’s a river that flows under the shop,” said the owner. “It goes through here and underneath the church.”
I expressed an interest in starting to go to mass, then fiddled about with the real ales before announcing to the whole shop: “I’ve written a book about underground rivers.”
The shopkeeper was not phased. “Bloody Highbury. Everytime I bring up some topic of conversation, one of our customers will go ‘I’ve written a book about that’.”