Monopoly Pub Crawl - London 2001

Whitechapel

Apparently the Blind Beggar was a notorious haunt of the Kray brothers in which Jack "The Hat" McVitty was killed. It certainly contained some interesting, very large skin-headed men whose pint you would not wish to spill. It had the appearance of a place where the primary focus was not the business of drinking but planning nefarious deeds.

Five preppy chaps ordering girlie half pints may not be someting these people are used to ... three minutes later we were out of there and moving on. At this point Wode was wearing the "hat" pin badge from Monopoly and there was some discussion as to whether we should make him go into the pub with a car jack in his right hand and a packet of digestives in his left ... common sense and practicality prevailed ...

Sinisterly I found a strange pound coin in my change later on in the day ... we chose to assume that this did not mean I was now a marked man (half a year later I am starting to relax).

By this time Wode was beginning to feel the ill effects of a) his cold and b) sinking two half pints he did not want at all. And, as we jogged back to Whitechapel tube station, he announced the need to stop for sustenance and proceeded to get stuck behind someone in a newagents for whom the apparently simple transaction of purchasing a newspaper and a Mars bar was an intellectual feat of almost intractable difficulty ... and the clock ticked on. After what seemed like an age, but was probably in fact only about two minutes, Wode emerged triumphant with a bottle of Vittel and two bananas (not a recommended choice for a pub crawl in my mind, but it takes all sorts).

Then, another tube journey (six stops up the Hammersmith and City line) to our first station of the day ...