From Rain to Victorian London
There wasn’t much building work going on anywhere yesterday morning. I woke up to a thunderstorm and heavy rain as another storm passed over. I have no idea what pointless name this one was given, Storm Whatever, I reckon as we’re so used to them now. The hills are going to be as green as a snooker table before long when the herbs and wild plants start to grow back. I reckon that at the moment they are battered down under the rainfall, hiding away and saying, ‘Bro, I’m not going out in this.’
I was meant to nip to Yialos to buy some boat tickets but gave up on that idea. Instead, I’ll buy them online and pick them up either on the way to the boat or tomorrow (Thursday as I write). The joys of online shopping and I can even use our Sea Smiles card for the discount and offers.
The weather aside, I’m working on a book set in Victorian London and finding out all kinds of things I didn’t know. The most interesting thing for me is that there are so many details to check. I want the story to be realistic so, for a start, I have to watch the language and not have characters say things which are out of the period. ‘Yeah, man, whatever,’ for example is a pretty obvious one, not that I’ve used it. But when I want to describe someone taking a cab across town, as another example, I’m then having to look up what kind of cab is appropriate to 1888, a Hansom or a something else. Even the style of clothing comes with many features and words alien to me, and although research is fun and informative, I’d really like one book to have on the desk with sections showing examples of, say, décor or drawers, costume or cutlery so I can be accurate and detailed. A kind of Mrs Beaton that covers the upstairs-downstairs world, the wider world and the language. I’ve ordered a book of Victorian slang and dialect from Forgotten Books – similar to the Kentish dialect one I use for the Saddling series – but if anyone knows of a good ‘guide to Victorian Britain’ that I might be able to order, feel free to let me know.
