HELP!!!

[desrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm tearing out hair, stomping like mad, and crazily blushing in embarrassment for even having to ask this question...

First off, I would like to point to self and, if not exactly with pride, admit loudly "AMERICAN!" "NEVER LEFT THE UNITED STATES!" (Besides Mexico and Canada, so I guess that means never left the continent of North America...)

So here I am, doing delightfully well so far in righting a Jooster fic for all my lack of knowledge of terrain (if I do say so myself...) but then I get to a crucial part and find myself wondering...

Christ, I know nothing of London! Even after reading so much Wodehouse and Holmes nothing ever sank in. I saw the previous post on how far the Drones would be from Bertie's apartment but aside from that, nothing. So here's my questions:

1) How far is Jeeves' Ganymede Club and Curzon Street (does this even exist?!) from Bertie's apartment?

2) How far (seems like a random question I know, but bear with me) would any sea port be from Bertie's apartment?

3) How far would Charing Cross be from Bertie's apartment?

4) And how far would the new Scotland Yard be from Bertie's apartment?

BTW, when I say how far, be kind and help me with the metric system by answering in kilometers and also I need to figure out how long (in minutes) it would take to get to each place by cab back then.

I know it's a lot but it's blocking my fic's progress! I'm ashamed of my lack of knowledge and will now sulk to a corner and cry and despise my friends for being able to go on our senior class' Euro trip without me.

Also, while we're at it, anyone mind helping me with currency? Just the basics for everything please. Keep it simple.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Comments

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I can only help you with one of these questions, I'm afraid. Curzon Street is real, and it would be a shortish sort of walk from Bertie's flat.

I'm not sure on the seaport question, but what I *think* would have happened is that a special train would have left from...Waterloo Station, maybe?...to take people to the port. I think it might also depend on where he was going, trans-Atlantic vs. a quick hop to France, for instance. Not really sure.

[desrose.livejournal.com]

Perfect! Thanks for clearing that up. He'd be using the trans-Atlantic in my case. Hmm...Waterloo Station...would that be a different one than Charing Cross Station? In other words do they run into each other or are they completely separate tracks? Yeah, I better go look at a map...

[gramarye1971]

From Mayfair, Charing Cross train station (which is not the same as Charing Cross road) would likely be a ten- to fifteen-minute walk. New Scotland Yard, if I'm not mistaken, would be closer to a half-hour's walk. Cabs would likely cut that time in half.

And as far as sea-ports go, most trans-Atlantic ships would leave from Southampton and most cross-Channel ferries would leave from Dover. I think that a train from Waterloo to Southampton would be about two-and-a-half or three hours in Bertie's day. A train from Victoria to Dover would be two to two-and-a-half hours.

And by help with currency, what do you mean? Do you mean the approximate cost of things, or how many shillings to the pound and pence to the shilling?

[desrose.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much this helps! *squeels* You've given me such great ideas and made my life THAT much easier. Evidently, I won't get much sleep tonight, I'll be too busy working on my fic now. Okay, same question as I reposted above: What's the difference between Charing Cross Train Station and Waterloo Train Station? Are they completely separate tracks? Or do they run into each other (aka do you take Charing Cross /to/ Waterloo)? And if not, have far from Mayfair would Waterloo be?

And by currency, since someone posting below helped me out with shillings to the pound and so forth, I'm wondering more along the lines of: what is the approximate costs of cab fare and train fare? For the last one, especially a train leaving from Waterloo to Southampton.

[cuvalwen.livejournal.com]

Charing Cross Station and Waterloo Station are both terminals- trains start and end there. However, all trains from Charing Cross run to Waterloo East Station, which is adjacent to Waterloo Station. Waterloo East, BTW, was originally called Waterloo Junction Station until 1935. But Bertie probably wouldn't have had to deal with that one, just the main station, for the boat train to Dover or Southampton.
Try Wikipedia:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_Station

[shezan.livejournal.com]

1. The Junior Ganymede, like Bertie's flat at Berkeley Mansions, is in Mayfair, so walking distance, probably half a mile at most. (Yes, Curzon Street exists! Can't be sure about the JG.)

2. Closest sea port would probably be Southampton, but you really should Google a map. About 100 miles?

3. Charing Cross is east of Bertie's flat, about a mile, a mile and a half max.

Bertie would never use metric.
4. New Scotland Yard (but how very modern!) is in Victoria, so about a mile, a mile and a half south of Bertie's flat.

[desrose.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't use metric? Excuse my ignorance once again but I thought over in Great Britian (and pretty much everwhere else in the world except the US, we're not that bright and easy) used the metric system: metres, kilometres, and so forth...

Thanks for the info above! Just for kicks (actually I could really use help with this too...) How far do you reckon the Drones is from Junior Ganymede?

[vingt.livejournal.com]

You're right, in the rest of the world (including Britain) we use the metric system these days... but in Bertie's time, Britain was still talking in miles. (Just like it's only pounds and pennies now, but Bertie would have had shillings and sixpence and so on as well.)

You can convert from kilometres to miles here: http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm

[potatofiend.livejournal.com]

Britain brought in the Metric System officially at the same time as it changed the monetary system, but it's still only halfway instituted: road signs are all still in Imperial measurements and it's still technically illegal to mark distances in metric. Weights tend to be metric nowadays but, generally speaking, Britain still works in old measurements in its mind - I don't know anyone who'd give their weight or height in metric. So, yes, definitely miles, whether you're talking 1920 or 2005.

Because Britain is confusing like that.

[potatofiend.livejournal.com]

Hi! Merry Christmas.

I see people have answered the distances question, but nobody's said anything about currency. I don't blame them. Pre-decimal British currency is a minefield. They altered it in 1972 so that there were 100 nice safe pennies to a pound, but before that, there were - wait for it - 240. And these 240 pennies were divided up into 20 shillings. (So that's twenty shillings to the pound, or 240 pennies to the pound, and so, obviously, 12 pennies in a shilling.) That's the very basic framework - prices were given in pounds, shillings and pence, notated '£, s, d' - ie, '£3 4s 6d' would be said 'three pounds, four shillings and sixpence.'

If you want greater detail:

One penny = four farthings OR two halfpennies (pronounced 'ha'penny')'A crown' was five shillings, and so obviously 'half a crown' (commonly given as a tip) was two and a half (2s 6d). Notes came in denominations of 10s, £1, £5, £10, £20, £50, £100. Coins came in farthings, halfpennies, pennies, sixpence (yes, a 6d coin - don't ask - ), shillings, crowns, half-crowns.

That was probably more detail than you wanted or needed, and I'm sure you're now a bit confused. Most people get that way with pre-decimal currency, especially since it fluctuated so much in itself: you may have noticed there were no groats, threepenny-bits, guineas or florins in circulation in the 20's or 30's, but a few years before it would have been a different matter. Thank God for decimalisation day.

[desrose.livejournal.com]

Wow, that does sound confusing, yet utterly fascinating! You're so knowledgable! So I'll give you the same question as above... How would you use these? How much would a train fare be? How much for a cabby do you think? How much for lunch in the Drones (or would he be able to "put it on the tab"?

[potatofiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. *laughs* Um. These questions are slightly more difficult, what with inflation and so on. I know for a fact that at a gentleman's club like the Drones, Bertie could definitely have put whatever he liked on the tab...er. The cost of the lunch itself, I wouldn't like to guess, since somewhere like the Drones would, I'm sure, have charged extortionate amounts compared to everywhere else. Depending on the distance, train fare might be anything from about 6s. to perhaps £2 for a long journey. Cab fare within London would be around 1s - 3s, and a gentleman of Bertie's background would probably give at least 1s tip.