News reporter and author Stephen Smith goes below pavement level in London, allowing the reader to vicariously explore burial crypts, dug-up plague pits, sewers, excavated Roman walls, remnants of Henry VIII's tennis courts, poncy wine cellars, secret government bunkers, the bowels of Parliament, and forgotten corners of the Tube.

This is a replacement copy for http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2577602 which seems to have got lost in the post. The bookring continues here.

Bookray

Some brief "rules"
* Journal the book when you receive it.
* PM the next person on the list for their address when you receive it so as to try to avoid hold-ups later on.
* If you don't hear from the next participant within a few days, PM them again. If after a few more days you still haven't heard from them, PM me to let me know, and move on to the next person on the list.
* Read (and hopefully enjoy!) Don't feel pressurised to read it in a rush (and life gets in the way sometimes!) but if you need to keep hold of the book for longer than say a couple of months, please journal to let us know.
* Journal again when you've read it to let us know what you think of it.
* The person at the end of the ray gets to decide what to do with the book.

Participants
1. geetheflea, London
2. VLR, London
3. UrbanSpaceman, Kingston Upon Thames
4. caligula03, USA
5. YowlYY, Nottingham
6. Turquoisefloyd, Long Melford
7. pakasanelly, Colchester
8. candy-is-dandy, Great Bardfield
9. Tuftynut, Maldon
10. Tanamo, Hinckley
11. CaterinaAnna, Coventry
12. juliako, Birmingham
13. veganbob, Birmingham
14. chelseagirl, Stanford in the Vale
15. jokiemum, Bournemouth
16. anglersrest, Teignmouth
17. Gooner, March
18. KathyS, Ramsey
19. rebus5, Canterbury
20. riverwillow, Beckenham
21. rosiewhippet, Fenstanton
22. samulli, Germany

This is now off to tuftynut to get this ray moving again. Enjoy!

Arrived safely in Essex - woo hoo at last :-)

I really enjoyed this book and I apologise that it took me so long to read, I found that I needed to read it in short bursts to really take everything in. I've written to Thames Water to see if I can go on sewer week tour :-)

Fascinating!

On its way to Tanamo today.

Safely received yesterday and looks good. Will get to it as soon as I can.

Absolutely fascinating though I agree with Tuftynut that its not a book to read straight through. I interspersed it with a who-dun-it.
Visiting London won't be the same now as I'll definitely be wondering what is going on beneath my feet. However I don't have the urge to go down there. I have been down a mine and that scared me silly so I don't plan on another subterranean trip any time soon though I do use the tube. I would, however, like to meet some of the characters the author met, particularly Mr Toop and Billy and I wouldn't mind eating at that pub that opens at 6am. It sounds like a good place for a hair of the dog.
I'm now off to pm the next reader.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to CaterinaAnna today.

Found in my pigeonhole at work this morning. Next up.

A curate's egg of a book that would definitely be improved by the addition of some maps and illustrations. The best parts of it were atmospheric as well as informative, the drier parts (although not always describing very dry places) were merely descriptive. I suspect it might have been more interesting had I a greater knowledge of London or more tags (eg a MAP!) on which to hang the information. Decent nonetheless. I find it fascinating to think that even a living city gradually buries itself given disasters enough and time.

I have juliako's address, so this will be on its way to her next time I have a parcelling session.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Finally en route to juliako

Catching up with some bookcrossing admin that has got behind. Thanks for sending this on to me and I'm sorry I didn't journal it sooner!

Sorry for the very long delay. I started this a couple of times and thought it would be something I would enjoy but somehow didn't stick with it.

Thanks for sharing - I am passing this to veganbob today.

Kindly given to me by juliako at the BC meet in Birmingham today.
Many thanks, I know that I'll enjoy reading this and look forward to it.

I realy enjoyed reading this and a trip to London will never be the same again as I'll be wondering what's going on, hidden beneath my feet!
A map should have been included, as not everybody has such a large collection like me!
Most of all I loved the chapters about the Underground, the Post Office railway, London's waters and the secret tunnels and bunkers beneath the city.
I'm so glad that I've had the chance to read this and will be making release notes now as the book will soon be on its way to chelseagirl, who is next on the list to receive it.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent this by first class post to chelseagirl today.

Received a couple of days ago, many thanks (and apologies for the delay in journaling!) The first ring book I have had in a VERY long time!!

Sorry for the delay in moving this on. I really really wanted to enjoy it - I'm a displaced Londoner and fascinated by the city, both above and below ground - but I just couldn't get going with this t all. It felt almost too detailed - I just wanted to know what was under there and the detail swamped me and the lack of photos made it very hard to picture what the author was talking about, too. There seemed to be an awful lot of irrelevant waffle too. I've picked it up several times and read a bit here and a bit there and in the end I skim read the chapters that most interested me.maybe at another time when I'm less busy with work I'll be able to give this the time it deserves, but for now I definitely need to move it on. Thanks for including me in the ring though!

I've contacted jokiemum for an address and will move this on asap.

Sorry forgot that I had not journaled that book had arrived safely with me, after several attempts to read have finished , found it quite hard going, as previous comments maps or diagrams may have helped , some parts quite interesting. will mail next person on list anglersrest and pass on ..sorry it took so long