I dropped my package off to The British Library, who were very pleased, and got to my hotel and slept, then spent from 6am today running around London to check on details for The Alice '65 and Underground Guy. Glad I did.
In A65, I have Adam living in Epping with his mother, which is the last stop on the Central Line. Takes nearly an hour to get there from St. Pancras but it is a very quiet, village-like place...and traffic is a bitch; cars lined up for blocks to get through the center of the town. Houses run from 600,000 to 900,000 GBP. However, I could see it being a place to raise kids, so...that worked.
My trip through the British Library suggested I need more people working in the archival department and should define the university's collection a bit more. I'm thinking it should be a smaller, more boutique-style collection. There's no way they could compete with a well-funded organization.
The rest of A65 is LA locations and situations, and those I know, already.
I then checked into locations for UG, and those were more problematic. The book starts off with Dev attacking Reg in East Hounslow, which is filthy and not much like how it comes across on Google Maps. I need to either change that location or adjust its description. These are tiny homes and it's very busy, so for Dev to attack Reg there needs a lot of thought...and I nearly talked myself into taking this back to West Hounslow...but reviewing those photos (from 2 years ago) it's even less workable.
Knightsbridge works well for Tawfi's embassy and his secret apartment, but there is damned little around as regards restaurants or cafes or anything like that, so it's not easy for him and Dev to have a meal, together. And them connecting in Hatton Cross is going to take some reworking...but can still happen.
I had dinner at the pub Dev goes to in the book, not far from his hotel. It is right under one of Heathrow's busiest runways, with jets roaring past at barely 400 feet above. In the night sky you can see a long line of airplane lights floating closer and closer in their approach to land.
The best part was trekking down to Tower Bridge and catching it at sunrise, as I rode a water taxi from there to Canary Wharf. That works in the book...and feeds my touristy needs, as well. The only serious problem all day was...my feet and legs are killing me, I walked so damn much...and climbed stairs to get around the tube...and hills in Epping. I'm out of practice in my walking.
I could live London...except the rents are beyond ludicrous. 450GBP a WEEK for a one-bedroom flat in Canary Wharf. Granted it's a more upscale area, but that's almost as much as a month's rent on my studio apartment in Buffalo.
It's getting to where if you want to live in a city you have to make a million a year.
In A65, I have Adam living in Epping with his mother, which is the last stop on the Central Line. Takes nearly an hour to get there from St. Pancras but it is a very quiet, village-like place...and traffic is a bitch; cars lined up for blocks to get through the center of the town. Houses run from 600,000 to 900,000 GBP. However, I could see it being a place to raise kids, so...that worked.
My trip through the British Library suggested I need more people working in the archival department and should define the university's collection a bit more. I'm thinking it should be a smaller, more boutique-style collection. There's no way they could compete with a well-funded organization.
The rest of A65 is LA locations and situations, and those I know, already.
I then checked into locations for UG, and those were more problematic. The book starts off with Dev attacking Reg in East Hounslow, which is filthy and not much like how it comes across on Google Maps. I need to either change that location or adjust its description. These are tiny homes and it's very busy, so for Dev to attack Reg there needs a lot of thought...and I nearly talked myself into taking this back to West Hounslow...but reviewing those photos (from 2 years ago) it's even less workable.
Knightsbridge works well for Tawfi's embassy and his secret apartment, but there is damned little around as regards restaurants or cafes or anything like that, so it's not easy for him and Dev to have a meal, together. And them connecting in Hatton Cross is going to take some reworking...but can still happen.
I had dinner at the pub Dev goes to in the book, not far from his hotel. It is right under one of Heathrow's busiest runways, with jets roaring past at barely 400 feet above. In the night sky you can see a long line of airplane lights floating closer and closer in their approach to land.
I could live London...except the rents are beyond ludicrous. 450GBP a WEEK for a one-bedroom flat in Canary Wharf. Granted it's a more upscale area, but that's almost as much as a month's rent on my studio apartment in Buffalo.
It's getting to where if you want to live in a city you have to make a million a year.
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