Author: jobrien
Teacher of English at the London Nautical School.
Athena 2
Centre stage. Centre of the pitch. Centre of the world. You get the idea – a focal point. Sad that it could be the focal point for your brave city’s demise, though, eh? They’ve started to take bets on your downfall online. We hear your group has come in #1 favourite. Well, here you are, then. Centre stage. Your final clue. Grab a pen; a colleague; a glass of water – whatever helps you think. Ready yourself for here it comes, your final clue:
Oh wait, and who’s that in the centre surrounded by stone lions – watch behind you – the water!
Pegasus 2
Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot.
Or so the rhyme goes.
Come, look around you. The grandeur. The gold. Soak it all in. Hah! Our apologies – that was cruel. But seriously: an irony of sorts, no? What old man Fawkes couldn’t do with fire, the water will dispatch in a second. Think hard on this final riddle. A thought wrong and it might be your song they’ll be singing next.
Andromeda 2
A paddle away and you’re right here. Fast, we must admit. Forget the tubes – they’re all done for. What we’re wondering is whether you are, too? This is it. You’ve made it this far. One final riddle left. Come close, dear reader. Look each other in the eyes. Not many have made it this far, far fewer have made it further. Put your brains together and ready yourselves for here it comes. Another clue…
No Embankment is going to hold back this flood, even one royally named.
Athena 1
Once a hall full of grandeur, now a holding spot for the River Thames. Talk about fall from grace. But since we’re talking about falls, be careful you don’t. Rumour has it some of you aren’t so great on your feet. Here we were thinking the Nautical School would be the perfect candidate for all things aquatic. Oh, you are, you say? Fair play. Well you better do well with the riddle below, then…
Before the threshold, outside the perimeter lies a sign of what’s to come – they looked back to classical times for solace, but all too late.
Andromeda 1
The lines are coming to us now.
What was it, again? A sight so touching in its majesty? Ah, of course! You’re right, we’re wrong – that was Westminster Bridge, not London Bridge. Well if Wordsworth could write poems about that, what’s stopping you from writing something similar about London Bridge? I can hear your inner muses now: a sight so miserable in all its ruin? Too depressing, you say? Indeed it is. Words are not always the harbingers of bad news, however. Check it – we have a word or two that might just lead to your salvation…
There was a bridge in Roman time due East of what now stands, across the river from the millennial growth and height lies a small plaque…