Dragon over London...

[Geoff]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
 
> --- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff" <geoffbannister123@> wrote:
 
Geoff (again):
> > ... The dragon is clearly flying with the Eye on its right, the river beyond and the tower of Big Ben beyond that.
> > 
> > This places the flight ... is heading approximately south-west. Just to qualify, the river at this point is actually flowing in a south to north direction, there are a number of big bends in the centre of the city.
 
Steve: 
> As the river enters the city (actually exist) from the east, it does a couple of wild loops, first is swoops north, then bends south before looping north again, then in the center of the city is sort of levels off on an east to west line. Beyond that to the west it turns sharply south again before somewhat leveling off on an vaguely east to west line near Battersea Park. 
 
Geoff:
As someone who lived in London for 45 years and went to school in Battersea, I 
feel I need to adjust your geography slightly. The river Thames enters London 
from the *west*. It flows *out* to the east to form the Thames Estuary with 
Essex on the north and Kent on  the south.

Steve:
> The London Eye and the Westiminster Place/Big Ben are on the section of river that runs on a north/south line before Battersea Park to the west.

Geoff:
I think you mean Parliament Square?

Battersea Park is not a good marker, it's about two miles upstream from the 
centre. The river does wind around quite a bit. Before it reaches the centre, it 
takes a big southward loop near Richmond and Twickenham (the latter 
famous as the home of our premier Rugby Union ground), then a northward 
loop towards Hammersmith followed by another southward loop towards 
Fulham (home of one Dan Radcliffe) and Wandsworth - where I lived for many 
years - then a slight northern loop before levelling out on a west-east line as 
you suggested past Chelsea and Battersea Park and then begins to curve north 
on the approach to Westminster, the Houses of Parliament and the Victoria 
Embankment.

Steve: 
> But just to the north and slightly west of the North/South section of the river is Charing Cross Road. If you flew a dragon or broom from Charing Cross toward the Lake District to the north, you would be flying away from the river. Charing Cross is NORTH of the River. 
 
Geoff:
Charing Cross is actually west of the river, just before the river turns east 
towards the City of London and the financial district.

Steve:
> A quick check of Google Maps, and this will all make sense. Using a iconic landmark, Charing Cross Road north of the eastern tip of St James Park. 

Geoff:
As a better landmark, find Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. St.Martin's 
Place leaves the north-east corner of the square near the National Gallery 
and within a couple of hundred yards becomes Charing Cross Road leading 
past Leicester Square (famed for HP film Premieres!).
 
Steve:
> Again, I think the movie makers simply wanted to show iconic structures in London. Cinematically it made sense, even if logically it didn't make sense. 

Geoff:
I'm not sure they particularly wanted to show iconic structures. You just get 
a glimpse of the Eye and for a person knowing London, I had to look pretty 
quickly to get a further glimpse of the Houses of Parliament as the dragon 
moved on.

In the same way, when they fly along the river on OOTP, you get a lot of quick 
glimpses which, even a person knowing London has to be quick. there is the 
Canary Wharf complex, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, ane the Houses of 
Parliament. And, as is usual with film makers, they get the order wrong. 
They are flying upstream from the east and pass under an ordinary bridge, 
then you see Tower Bridge in the rear, which is the last downstream bridge 
in the centre of the city.
see

As regards the direction, as I said in my last post, it was quite clearly flying 
roughly south-west along the river.

But let's return to the story... We know from Griphook that the dragon was 
partially blind; that was brought out in the film. I felt sorry for the dragon,
having been mistreated. It might have flown off in the direction in which 
it first left Gringotts and then adjusted in some way; perhaps using the 
earth's magnetic- as it is thought that migrating birds do - to head north.