Where's Waldo? And Carmen? And Goldbug?

[rthstewart]

So, a few things. First, yes, the response to H&M is making me think that maybe the poor story isn’t dead after all. But, BUT… Well, I shall dither about that further. Thanks so much for the reaction. It really means the world to me to know that the story isn’t forgotten.

RL is definitely interfering with writing at the moment. Real life is, frankly, pretty crummy with kid issues, spousal issues, family issues on the spouse’s side, stupid time sucking work clients, and my ongoing health thingys. Writing is continuing, but slowly and with a hiccup explained further below.

I would really have liked to have done something for International Women’s Day (prompt me to write drabble length about a female character in my fandom(s)) but my only active fandom now is Narnia. But, if you are interested in seeing something, prompt here (OC or canon) and I’ll see what I might do. Because I LOVE procrastination and I’m very fond of the distaff side of things.

What occupies me now is Chapter 9, which is SPOILER! all in letter form. It was something I used back in Chapter 4 of Part 1 and I’ll use it to push lots of things through. Eustace writing to Edmund, Susan writing to Eustace, Peter writing to his mother, Lucy writing to everyone, the Professor writing to Peter’s headmaster, Asim and the Colonel exchanging telegrams, Major al-Masri writing to Susan, Peter writing to Asim, etc., etc.

This, however, leads to one of those things that only silly fan fic writers worry about… from where is everyone writing? So, those of you with a passion for UK geography, here’s a bit of Where in the world is Carmen San Diego and Waldo and Goldbug:

Where is Russell House?
Russell House is in Oxfordshire, in a reasonable driving distance of the University, is near a village with a pub and a railway station, is more rural, is surrounded by farming, and has a ballroom, drive, fountain in the front, carriage house, barn, pond, greenhouse, and has a river. But where in Oxfordshire? I am currently thinking of Combe, which is very pretty and has a public house and a mill.

Where is Experiment House?
The book says that the green door opens on to a “moor” which would suggest York or Dartmoor. As I’m relying somewhat on the set up of Under Cover with Polly coming from the Whipsnade Zoo in Dunstable to Eustace and Jill, I don’t want it so far away. I spent last night wandering through Shropshire, specifically areas around Telford and Shrewsbury, such as Eyton upon the Weald Moors. It’s about 130 miles (200 km) from Dunstable to Shrewsbury on the M6 so I’d say probably a 4-5 hour drive in 1942, though I think Polly drives like a mad woman in her roadster.

Where is Blackpool School (boys’ school)? And where is Marlhurst-Brockstone (the girls’ school)?
I’ve said that Edmund and Peter go to Blackpool which is somewhere near Reading, Berkshire, which I’d selected because when I did research, it was on a railway line, there were a lot of schools there, it was not impacted by the war, it wasn’t that far from London, and I wanted to keep things in Southern England. This can obviously change and we do have the bit in PC where the Pevensies are together at a country station and then trains come and take them all in separate directions. As we have Peter visiting the Professor on weekends to cram, I want to keep it not too far from Oxford. I currently have the boys in Tilehurst and the girls in Newbury. Thoughts?

Where is Lucy’s friend Marjorie, from? (somewhere nice and middle class?) Where is that shrew, Anne Featherstone from? (somewhere snotty and shirty)

And… where is the Afro-Carribbean population of the UK in the 1940s? I’m thinking London, Birmingham, or even Liverpool. Yes, that’s to come.

Comments

[elouise82.livejournal.com]

Late prompt for International Women's Day ... how about something on Aravis, who is AWESOME. (And not someone I've seen much - if anything - from you about.)

Sorry to hear about RL suckiness. Here's hoping things start looking up SOON.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

where is the Afro-Carribbean population of the UK in the 1940s?

Oh, damn, this one I should know, since we did a few classes on Afro-Caribbeans in London in one of my London classes! I'll look at my notebook when I get home in a bit. Right now they're primarily focused in Brixton in London, and from what I saw there's definitely enough culture going on there that it very well could have been primarily Afro-Caribbean in the 40s as well, even wtih the War. The cities you mentioned make sense, I don't see them having any concentrations anywhere else... though possibly Manchester? I think there might have been a community there as well.

I hope RL difficulties clear up and don't last too much longer. However, I think you're still pretty amazing for being able to think about writing at all, despite having all that going on!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I was seeing London, Liverpool, and Birmingham, but it would be lovely to narrow it down a bit as I work on Jill's backstory. And I hope you are feeling better!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

I was looking through my notebook for that class this evening (Historical Memory of the British Empire, it was so interesting, and a lot of what we did focused on representations and memories of empire as displayed in London/around England) and remembering how Kristina wanted to do her final paper on some of the Caribbean islands, but had to change her topic because she found nothing in London to write about. (I did Egypt, so I got to write about Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment, and stuff in the British Museum, things like that.) But yeah, for any monuments or history on display, there just really isn't that much representation of Caribbean cultures during and after colonization- which, I think, speaks a bit to their perceived importance in comparison to India, Egypt, South Africa, etc. However, the Museum of London Docklands did have some history stuff, so you might check out their website. As you've probably seen by now if you looked up Brixton and London, a lot of the current Afro-Caribbean populations came over in 1948 with the Windrush. I also came across this site on Caribbean immigrants and religion that you might be interested in. Mostly it's difficult to find anything out because everything focuses on the Windrush migration and very little before it.

With looking around at stuff, I think Marcus Garvey's ideas might have been circulating around during that time period- he was mostly active during the 25 years previous, and died around 1940, but might have still be influential in those circles.

May be helpful in finding relevant places in Manchester.

With a background like this, there may have been a Caribbean community around Tyneside as well.

[the_rck]

::hugs:: I hope life eases up on you soon.

You've obviously put a lot of thought and work into where everything is. I'm in awe. It's a level of detail that I'd falter under.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the support!

[autumnia]

Visuals! Very pretty visuals and not of people or animals.

I wish I could help you figure out some proper locations, but I'm not familiar enough with SE England geography at all. For the location of the boys' school, I was actually thinking of Didcot... it's closer to Oxford than Reading, though further from London. You reminded me of my railway trip when I was last over there -- we took the First Great Western train from Paddington to Bath and passed station stops for Reading and Didcot (currently known as Didcot Parkway). Reading would probably be better if you need your characters to come and go often via rail as it's a transfer hub.

I am looking forward to all the letters coming up. Should be very, very interesting to see what's going on between everyone.

As for prompts -- how about something with Kwong Li? We don't see the Russell Hall crowd that often. Or maybe Agnes or Gladys? And speaking of Agnes, will we see a letter from Susan telling her friend she has met the Hierophant?

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And speaking of Agnes, will we see a letter from Susan telling her friend she has met the Hierophant?
Errrr, we will NOW. Gah. What would I DO without you all???

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Kwong Li is a bad Buddhist, http://rthstewart.livejournal.com/39634.html

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Grr, RL should not be frustrating! :/ I hope it gets better soon.

Alskjdf I am constantly in awe of how much detail you put into this! My own approach to Narnia fic in England is so much of the intentionally vague, hope no one notices sort.

Tell me about Liliandil!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And Liliandil cutting Edmund down to size right here, http://rthstewart.livejournal.com/40110.html

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

*_*

::goes off to read::

[keeperofqkeys.livejournal.com]

Totally off topic, but I sort of love you for mentioning Goldbug. Mind you, it took about ten seconds to click in my head, but then it did and I was happy.

I hope things in life improve soon. I think there's some bad karma going around right now. Hopefully it will go away now that the weather is starting to improve, though. Best of luck on that!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

We went through 3 copies of Cars, Trucks, and Things That Go in the neverending search for Goldbug and his evil Twin, Maniac Bug.

[keeperofqkeys.livejournal.com]

You know, if I had a copy in front of me right now, I could probably find him on almost every page from memory. And it's been years since I even thought about Goldbug.

[muscatlove.livejournal.com]

I was on the verge of pouring myself a glass of wine, so I shall drink to the health and sanity of you and your family. Seriously though, I'm wishing you all the best with RL troubles and hope you're feeling up soon!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! You are very kind! Good luck with your own adventures!

[min023.livejournal.com]

Some reputedly posh areas are The Cotswolds, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire and parts of Surrey ( that's now, not sure about the war years). And as far as letters go, are Tebbitt and Susan in communication with each other at present? Drabble, well I'll second the call fir Aravis - Trickster-verse definitely preferred: )

Hope RL starts to look a bit better soon.

Prompt!

[(Anonymous)]

A bit late, but how about Aravis meeting a royal guard? Preferably from the guard's POV. Or have her stumble over a bit of Rat and Crow. Or have something about Susan and Rat and Crow. Or, or, or! Too many ideas!

(And I love the epistolary idea, and I can't wait to see it!)

~LotL

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

Nice and middle-class area for Marjorie - something like Royal Tunbridge Wells (normally shortened to just Tunbridge Wells :D) in Kent would work - though it was quite central to Kent in WW2 (the Headquarters of the Army was based there), and it had a LOAD of refugees from London based there, it was still seen as rather middle-class and still is today :)

It also isn't too far away for school if they're changing near Reading :D

As for Anne Featherstone? Cambridgeshire if you want the rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge, or Buckinghamshire. Snotty places I can only think of the Home Counties, who like to think they're better than the rest of us ;D

Hope that helped! And hope RL gets better for you :)

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! Perfect!