Afternoon Blogpeeps,

Rather late this week - sorry about that.

Today, I've been concocting my February schedule of tours and, as I must have been sleeping awkwardly, I've got rather a stiff neck and right shoulder, so typing has been literally a pain in the neck. I did slap on some Deep Heat, but it hasn't really helped much, so I'll have to resort to Voltarol.

Having posted pix of Bogart and Oscar, I tried to take one of Nicholas the other day while working, but he's not as sedate as the other two (which is why he's less of a tub), so I managed to get only unsatisfactory photos, but here's one, taken using webcam technology:

Last Friday (31 Jan), I previewed my new walk, 'The Dark Side of the Green', with an enthusiastic audience despite the cold and the rain. The tour looks at stories from the criminal history of Bethnal Green: the twentieth-century (mainly, but not exclusively, gangland stuff), but also eighteenth and nineteenth century stuff. I need now to work on the City law and order walk.

One sad story from last Friday's tour was that of Frances Shea: she married into the Kray family only to find out too late what that meant. She tried to find her way out but couldn't, even in death.

Frances and Reggie Kray on honeymoon in Athens

We finished in Paradise Gardens - if ever somewhere failed to live up to its name ...

I'm now officially on the New Enterprise Allowance, which means I have to come up with a projection of what my income will be over the next quarter. Hmm.

The schedule of tours I've devised for February can be seen on Eventbrite:
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/david-charnick-5331953223
I've sent this out to my loyal mailing list followers, but there's always room for new fans: I can be reached on charnowalks-bgn@yahoo.co.uk.

The website is getting updated nicely, since Graham Starling (its creator) walked me through the processes. I'm still getting the hang of it, and there's much to learn. Once I master the secrets I shall stamp it more forcefully with my own personality!

The Tower Hamlets group didn't meet last week, allowing time for us to work on our walks, but we're reconvening this coming Wednesday. All being well, we'll welcome William Palin to speak to us. He's the man behind the East End Preservation Society. The group seems to have shrunk somewhat, but we're pushing towards the goal of creating a supplementary programme of Saturday morning walk for the April rerun of Walkie Talkie. More information as and when.

Well, that'll have to do for the moment: I need to go and slap on the Voltarol before I seize up completely.

Keep smiling!

Love,

Dave Charnowalks