Prologue

I think I'd better begin by explaining the title I chose for this site...first of all an 'antic hay' is a light-hearted rustic dance. (Does 'rustic' sound patronising and pretentious? I hope not...)Marlowe used the phrase in his 'Edward II':

'My men like satyrs grazing on the lawns
Shall with their goat-feet dance the antic hay'.

Not that I have taken the words directly from Marlowe. Aldous Huxley named his second novel (1923) 'Antic Hay', quoting the couplet at the opening of the story. This happens to be one of my favourite novels - plot elements include the patenting of pneumatic trousers and wearing of false whiskers in order to feel 'the complete man' - and as it is about people wandering through London and as I hope my experience there will be light-hearted I feel it's almost apposite...