From January until the end of April 1981, when I was in my junior year at Syracuse University, I did a semester-abroad program in London. Among the many experiences I had there, the most memorable was volunteering at a riding stable in Grosvenor Crescent Mews, near Hyde Park. One day a week our stable provided ponies for a riding program for handicapped kids (or, as they were known in the parlance of the times, “spastics”).
Your bookmakers story reminds me of my childhood belief that a song about moonshiners was a fantasy about people who shone the moon.
This was the song https://youtu.be/Du8Naz_iAg4?si=-Kb9ZUsyldbPsrrC
I love that!
Wow! How lucky were you!
And trust me, I knew it.
What a slice of life!
The bookmaker anecdote is priceless! Too bad the bearskin hat got away.
Fascinating. You've really captured the atmosphere of that area of London.