Canal Routes

A reader once pointed out that every single one of our books (up to that time) had featured a canal. They're irresistible, really, like secret tunnels through the middle of the city, part rural idyll, part urban dereliction. You can walk along them, run along them, cycle along them (you can even go along them in a boat - but I've never done that in Britain). One of our favourite cycle routes takes us along the Regent's Canal into the East End. And one of our favourite spots in the East End is the building above. It's always intrigued us. When it was built, presumably in the 18th century, it must have been an elegant Georgian country house (it was there before the canal was built). Almost every equivalent house in Hackney has been gentrified but this one presents particular problems. On one side is a bus garage, on the other are a pair of spectacular gasometers. 

All of which makes it more interesting from our point of view. It would be a good place for a body to be found, or for someone slightly strange to hang out. Imagine our irritation then when, over the weekend, we watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and found that it played a prominent part. It's the house where the 'mole' is finally captured. We felt like someone had stolen our idea. (The fact that we hadn't told anyone is neither here nor there.)

Two more fun facts about the area in the picture:

Walk five minutes in one direction and you get to the scene of a murder in Blue Monday; five minutes in the other and you get to the place where Nicci and I got married.