Mile End's Ghostbusters

Mile End has a cemetery right beside the tube station, called Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. It's filled with victorian tombs, overgrowth, dead trees and crows that announce the rise of the undead. I feel ashamed for not visiting it before, in the nearly two years I've lived in this neighbourhood. Although it was muddy yesterday, and a figure dressed completely in black glided behind the trees like the spectre of death, I really enjoyed our brief wander down its many paths. I even managed to find my own grave. I was accompanied by i_love_craig and sarahofthedead, who were celebrating their shared birthday by lunching with me (at a fancy Fish & Chips restaurant) before I showed them the area.

I gave Craig and Sarah second-hand horror novels for their birthdays, which I bought at Fantasy Centre on Holloway Road (if you are ever in that neighbourhood, you must pop into this shop and buy something from them; let's help keep alive second-hand book shops!) I got Charnel House for Sarah (about a haunted house) and The Night Boat for Craig (about a haunted boat).

After the cemetery, we took a train to Walthamstow, where the undead never rise out of fear of the hooded figures gliding down its many dilapidated streets. They chose the pub the Pig & Whistle as a gathering place for many friends, who mostly arrived just before 8 p.m. Nobody got drunk, apart from dj_alexander, who insisted on visiting the theladiesloos as often as possible because of a bowl of pot pourri. I didn't get a chance to talk properly to many of those present, but it was great nevertheless catching up with some whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

Feeling Gloomy soon?