Hello everyone!
Here, at long last, is my research on the major tube stations and neighborhoods mentioned in Neverwhere. Since there is no actual Floating Market, I have included a description of each of the markets in London with pictures.
Please remember that Neil Gaiman created the London Below versions of the area by predominantly looking at the name and asking "Are there really Shepherds in Shepherd's Bush?" but it is good for us to know the cultural background of these places that were already very familiar to him.
I did have an interesting conversation with Scott about London Below that lead me to wonder if London Below evolved like London Above: small separate towns that were gradually all brought together by trade and expansion. Is that why there are so many cultures? Because there were pockets of people underground that eventually all discovered each other, traded with each other and were integrated into a whole called London Below, even though they are still separate baronies and fiefdoms?
I highly recommend reading a short novella by G.K. Chesterton (who greatly influenced Neil Gaiman) called The Napoleon of Notting Hill. It is set in the "future" (1984) where the kings are chosen alphabetically, and everything is boring until one man decides to revive romantic medieval England, and everyone is forced to obey him. All the different boroughs of London are resurrected into separate towns. It turns from being a joke to being very serious indeed. It is interesting in light of London Below and the idea of choosing a culture, but it is also a great discussion of too serious versus too flippant, romance versus reality.
Next:
Where did Anesthesia live and what was it like?
Loss, apathy, homelessness
Thanks!