Hullo Reader, it's EJ Fleming! Me, Em Flem, Emma Fleming (but my punk name is cooler, right? RIGHT? Yes.)
I've been around since the start of the internet so I know any good web page has to have an About section. Here is mine, About Me:
I moved to South London at the turn of this century, back when studios were still bedsits, and loved it from the second I walked out of Streatham station and a woman I'd never met before offered me a banana. This is a true story. Then I went to the pub and an American explained to me that I'd arrived in a part of London that was exactly like LA. The City of Angels.
Please note: I still have never been to Los Angeles.
Here's the comparison. Streatham has a noisy dirty useful bustling mad busy main road, with beautiful residential streets, interesting architecture and green spaces as soon as you turned down off down the side. Just like LA, I'm certain of it.
Despite what I like to think of as my West Coast sensibility, I actually grew up on the foothills of the Pennines (loads of wuthering.) With a tube map stuck on the wall I spent my days dreaming leaving Junction 23 of the M62 for the relative peace and quiet of Zone 3. With Streatham, the banana, and the constant aural companion of the police helicopter, I was sold.
I'm a founding member of the Streatham Women's Institute and a trustee of the Streatham Society and after 20+ years I consider myself a naturalised South Londoner. How could I be anything else? I can't even afford to live in blimmin Streatham any more. Now I live high on the Norwood Ridge, looking out at Crystal Palace rather than Emley Mast, and let me tell you - I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. (I have checked.)
Now I've taken my love of London, and particularly South London, and become your guide to SW16, SW2 and beyond. I'm not just any tour guide but a card carrying member of the Lambeth Tour Guides Association. I guide in and around Lambeth, and enjoy venturing further afield to the spaces I know best in town, as well as guiding for Hidden London with the London Transport Museum.
I love mirror selfies, pointing at things, Forteana, true crime, ghosts, the paranormal, apocryphal tales, tunnelzzzz, graffiti, graffiti in tunnels, London Transport, Victorian cemeteries, missing presumed lost rivers, local societies, the Women's Institute, the Crystal Palace (#2), dead pubs, live pubs, ailing pubs and thriving pubs [just pubs could go here ~ Ed.] and most of all I love human stories, history from below.
I have an MA in Folklore Studies and I am NOT afraid to use it. Think folklore is lads in white outfits dancing about with some bells on? Maybe a lady in antlers chanting in a wood? Well, okay it is a bit, but it's not just that. Folklore is all around us, so come with me and I'll show you what I mean. Probably whilst pointing at some trainers dangling off a telegraph wire.
*the answer is always St John's Wood. You're welcome.