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| The River Wandle as it flows through Carshalton. |
The River Wandle will always bring back happy childhood memories for me; Dad used to take us fishing for sticklebacks with our bamboo fishing nets and I remember sailing many a model boat here too. Just down from where this shot was taken there is a gushing waterfall and an old mill where it is rumoured that a small boy, died; but that story is as old as the hills, although probably true. The mill used to have – probably still does, I haven't looked for ages – a mill pond covered in a green algae of sorts. Looking at it gave the illusion of solid ground, it was that still, but throw a stone into it and the 'plop' told the truth – it's water! Just down from the old mill used to be a mortuary. It was used during the war and closed down shortly afterwards, but that didn't stop Graham Knowles and I from venturing inside when we discovered it was fairly easy to gain access. I had a large remote control Tiger Tank at the time (what a great toy!), which we sent in first, like one of those remote control robots used in bomb disposal and about the same size. I cannot recall if I had the bottle to go inside the mortuary, but others did and found old shrouds and coffin lids and some dried-up blood on the old slabs. Not nice. My dad called the council and got it closed down. Today there are new houses in its place – now there's got to be a plot for a story there, a brand new house, haunted, but why? And then someone digs up the history of the mortuary – spooky!
