How my mudlarking finds have kept me company in convalescence

... Yet in spite of my symptoms – in fact, perhaps because of my intimations of mortality – my imaginative world was heightened. I needed distraction from the way my body was feeling, the way it was failing. And so I disappeared into the past – via the River Thames and the scraps of London’s history that I have picked up on its shores – along with my daughter, my greatest mudlarking companion. ...
... Mudlarking the River Thames requires a permit from the Port of London Authority, which can be applied for online. All activities along the river, including mudlarking, are prohibited during lockdown. ...