Across the Years

Chapter 10: End of a Long Road

Lisa's POV

As the basket came to a rest, I could see boxes in the room, in the dim light that streamed in through the windows. For a moment, I mused how this particular room almost always is a storage room. At least until 2014 when it became a laboratory.

Eager to get going, I grabbed my bags and hopped out of the basket. With a strange feeling, I then walked the basket retract back up the wormhole which soon after seemed to vanish. This was the farthest back I had ever gone. Previously, I only gone as far back as 1902.

I slung my bags over my shoulder and went to the rear door. This time, it looked rather new. I quietly unlocked the door and stepped out into Friday April 29th, 1869.

I promptly also stepped into mud as well. The alley behind the building, which was paved in later years was not in 1869. I had guessed it had rained during the night causing the dirt in the alley to turn into a very large mud puddle.

"Mud. How wonderful." I grumbled as I locked the door and headed out.

Coming around the alley, the first thing I spotted was a light horse drawn carriage, known as a dogcart. Its driver, who looked to be a laborer of some sort, paid me no attention as he urged his horses down the cobblestone street.

It was then I noticed the smell. Being 1869 and horses were the common form of transportation, I got a nice whiff of horse shit. First mud, now the wonderful aroma of horse shit.

Looking around I could see the street was pretty deserted, as it was just after 6 in the morning. Only now the city of London was waking up and going about its day. Having a very long way to go, I looked at the old buildings and started to walk.

Every other time, I came out here from Herford, I took the underground. Sadly, that hadn't been built yet and I had to walk. I could catch a horse drawn cab, but wanted to save my money.

Besides the obvious differences in the fact that there were no cars or anything modern, one thing really stuck out. It was the people. As I walked, I started to see many laborers walking in crude clothes to their work. You could see that many of these people had had a hard life. I could see it etched in their faces and in their eyes. In my research I had seen pictures of men working long hours under the most miserable conditions. These were those men. Many of the older ones looked tired and worn out. I also noticed that people in 1869 London, often didn't smell all that great. Many smelled of sweat and misery.

They paid me little attention as I walked. With my clothes, I appeared to be just another out of work soldier. Only upon closer examination would once notice the long hair and soft feminine features. But not to tempt fate, I avoided looking anyone in the eye.

It was odd; I kept expecting to find myself walking off a film set to find lights and cameras just around a corner. But this was no film set. The horses, buggy's, wagons, cobble stone streets, workmen were all the real deal.

I even spotted a crudely dressed prostitute in a well-worn and torn red velvet dress. Her make-up was crudely done and she looked to be a solid veteran of the streets. She was leaning up against a building, waiting. It then occurred to me that Jack the ripper in about 19 short years would begin his reign of terror right in this neighborhood.

Besides the workmen, I spotted many poor and destitute. I spotted a group of children dressed in rags, playing tag in an alley. They looked fifthly and their hair looked very unkempt. Not wanting to attract attention, I just averted my eyes and kept going. I also spotted more than one beggar.

I can see now why Charles Dickens wrote of the poor and the misery of the down and out. It was everywhere. Many would choose to ignore it, but he obviously didn't.