[HPforGrownups] Knight Bus (was POA Chapters 3 and 4)

[Morag Traynor]

No: HPFGUIDX 18532


Amy Z wrote:

> > Does the Knight Bus only run at night?  That idea
> > got planted in my
> > head when I thought it was Night Bus and has never
> > gotten uprooted.
> >
> > Amy Z

"Knight Bus" is a play on "Night Bus" - Night Buses run through the night in 
London and, after the Tube and trains stop running (around midnight) are the 
only public transport available.  They are a very welcome sight when they 
(eventually) turn up to take you home, and are the traditional red 
double-deckers, so it can feel as if a knight in shining armour has come to 
rescue you :).  The roads being clearer at that time of night, once you are 
out of the centre, the bus bounces along at a considerable pace, for a bus, 
tree-branches rattle along the roof and you're sure the driver's never going 
to make that corner (but he always does) so the whole experience is not 
unlike the Knight Bus - apart from the comfortable beds, panelling and 
chandeliers, of course!  I also loved the name Ernie Prang - "prang" is old 
RAF (based on Malay, I think) slang for "crash", extended to road traffic, 
and is associated with a rather insouciant attitude to crashes, as in 
"pranged the Jag last week - what a bore!".  The Knight Bus is another 
example of JKR finding the magic in the everyday, or, in this case, every 
night :)
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.