Hello blogfollowers,

The final meeting of the Walkie Talkie group took place on Wednesday, so that we could debrief and finalise our project, to provide five East End walks which will constitute a supplementary programme to offer the students on the second outing of Walkie Talkie: http://charnowalks.co.uk/walkie-talkie. With walks in Limehouse, Poplar and Bow, from Aldgate to Mile End Gate and between St Katherine's and St George's, it's looking good. We also shared our ideas about our next guiding project. More details about that later, when the ideas and responses have been collated.

On Tuesday afternoon I did another outing of my 'Of Commonwealths and Kings' walk for the UKEDA. I was expecting Italian students, but this time it was a group of Spanish students. Thankfully, all but two were reasonably competent in English, and of course a teacher was with them, a charming lady called Christina. I've had to create a revised version of the walk now, as I have to meet some groups at Covent Garden, which means I've got to do Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square before taking the students down to Buckingham Palace. This will be via St James's Palace, and the grave of Giro the dog, who belonged to the German ambassador Leopold von Hoesch:

Giro's grave, Waterloo Place

Poor Giro was electrocuted in 1934 when he bit through a live cable while Speer's refurb of the inside of the embassy was going on. Sadly the window in the protective housing is filthy, so it's not as visible as it could be. You can't get to the grave, so I'll try getting some fizzy water and seeing whether I can spray it clean.

A good time on Thursday evening: I went with Kath 'Sweetcheeks' Pykett to see 'The Duck House' at the Vaudeville Theatre. Based on the recent expenses scandal, it was hugely funny. Of course, an evening out with such company as Ms P is enjoyable enough in itself, but this made it all the better.

An outing yesterday morning for 'A Helping Hand', my walk in the City looking at the various enterprises connected with the City which brought help to others. Ann Flowers and Jenny Almeida came along with me, which was excellent. Most of these enterprises were started by individuals, many without money or influence but who exploited resources around them for the good of others. The walk takes in Postman's Park, the memorial to heroic self-sacrifice by all sorts of people who died saving, or trying to save, others from life-threatening situations. A couple of them were Bethnal Green people: Elizabeth Boxall is commemorated, as are Alice Maud Denman and Arthur Regelous:

Though the weather has been horrible, it was kind to us on Saturday, even if there were a couple of showers. Today it looks quite fine for this afternoon's outing of 'To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime'.

Anyway, I've got to get ready to head out to St Paul's for my merry stroll reflecting on the death penalty and judicial punishment as a whole, so I'll sign off this week's blog: anything I've missed I can add next time.

Mind how you go.

Love,

Dave Charnowalks