the meridian

My brother came over for the weekend, with a mission to find a pub that was on the Meridian line. I had never heard of this pub, nor had my English and London friends, but even still the boy was determined.

On Friday night, after I had finished work we started our quest.

We first took the tube to the DLR and then the DLR to Greenwich.

But then what?

We started off from a nearby bookstore assuming that one of their many books on London would tell us about this apparently famous or infamous pub.

Nothing.

As the observatory is in the middle of Greenwich park, which like all London parks closes in the early evening during the winter, we could not trace the whole line starting from the top of the hill.

We decided to follow the beam. There is a bright green laser line passing through the sky, just there where the other side is 0°east and 180° west. Starting from the river towards the park we walked with our heads bent and necks hurting from the feeble attempt of not missing the trail.

Nothing.

And then. A dead end.

Standing there puzzled we noticed a bronze line on the sidewalk. AND a placate on the wall stating that we were standing on the Meridian line.

But there was no pub.

Several photos later we concluded that the freezing temperatures allowed us to be happy with any pub. After all we had seen and photographed the line. Several times.

Kings arms.

Sounded royalty.

Apparently the pub was located in the possible residences and neighbouring residences of some King of England, who is known to have ruled the country at some point in history with a good or bad track record.

The exact details seemed a bit blurry. Probably because, other than the word King in the name of the pub, the place had nothing to do with royalty.

But it did provide warmth, beer and food.Mission completed. I presume.