rthstewart | Where's Waldo? And Carmen? And Goldbug?

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.

Where's Waldo? And Carmen? And Goldbug?

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