[HPforGrownups] Taxis vs. BritRail (was: Re: Godric's Hollow)

[heidi]

No: HPFGUIDX 4452



Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer wrote:

> > They couldn't have got from the Burrow to the Ottery St. Catchpole
> > train station without taxis anyway. Mrs Weasley probably knows next
> > to nothing about Muggle taxis, Muggle trains, and how much Muggle
> > money is worth, so probably she figured that since she had to deal
> > with taxis anyway, just take them all the way to King's Cross and not
> > have to deal with Muggle trains as well.
>
> Great point!  That might be a nice explanation for how they ended up
> taking taxis all the way to London from Devon -- but if the Weasleys
> have so little money, wouldn't poor Mrs. Weasley have been horrified by
> the final tab once they all got there?  Or, because the Ministry was
> *unable* to provide cars for the Weasleys et al, would the Ministry
> maybe have footed the tab?  I still think the Burrow is meant to be near
> Exeter.
>
>

I'm going along with Penny on this (or the idea that they authorized molly
to do a memory wipe of the drivers to they would "forget" that theyw ere
owed a large sum of money) - and I have a little weird information on long
cab rides in southern england to share with you.
Back in 1987, for one reason or another, my family took a London cab to
Southhampton - an over 2 hour trip - so we could board a ship. That one cab
cost the exact same amount as it would have cost for the 4 of us (2 adults,
1 16 year old & 1 14 year old)  to take BritRail, with first class tickets.
I *know* that first class tickets are more expensive, but I'm not convinced
that the cost difference would've been so signficant - there were 6 kids & 1
adult goignto 9 3/4 (am I right that only Molly went, not bill or charlie?)
and a whole bunch of heavy luggage, 2 owls and a cat. Probably more than one
can reasonably take on a train, especially when you can't use magic toget
the bags on & off, because of the muggles.