[HPforGrownups] Re: "yard" / Muggle money / "Ottery"

[Barb P]

No: HPFGUIDX 42968


a) Molly wouldn't have withdrawn dollars from Gringotts.  She would have withdrawn wizarding money, which could then be exchanged for pounds.
 
b) It's possible that JKR thinks taxicabs are incredibly cheap (or she doesn't know the difference between expensive and cheap these days--although Chamber of Secrets was only the second book).  Or it's possible that you have been to England and think that the taxicabs there are very pricey.  (A $500 ride would be around 340 pounds and about 68 Galleons.)   In the US, taxicab fares differ widely from city to city.
 
c) It's also possible that, despite the name of Ottery St. Catchpole, JKR's geography is either faulty or merely fictional (I could go with either one) and she is placing the village not in Devon, but close enough to London for a taxicab ride to be affordable to the Weasleys.  This might be why they didn't get the train.  (Or perhaps their village isn't on a train line.  That would fit with its being off the beaten path.)  Where did someone get the 500 pound or dollar figure for the fare?
 
d) It's also possible that one reason why there was so little money in the Weasley vault is that they had already set the money for the taxicab aside, and what Harry saw was what was left after that.
 
e) OR--since Hogwarts provides free transportion to the school by train, perhaps they also provide free transportaion to King's Cross for all students.  The only problem with this idea is that Harry needed to ask Vernon to take him to London; if transportation were free and readily available, you'd think he needn't have bothered or would have received instructions about how to get some version of the Knight Bus to take him.
 
f) It still doesn't make any sense for the Ministry to provide the cash, however, just based on the idea that they want to protect Harry.  They didn't lift a finger to get him to King's Cross his first year, did they?  If Vernon hadn't taken him, Harry would have had some difficulty.
 
g) I'm not sure why you feel the need to speculate on the goblins having a bank account in the Muggle world.  The last thing they would want to do is deal with Muggles ever, IMO.  It seems pretty clear that they exchange currency themselves, in that the Grangers acquired Galleons for pounds at Gringotts.  It doesn't make sense for the goblins not to be the ones in charge of the money; it gives them a degree of power, and if they relied upon someone else to exchange currency for them, they'd be the ones paying the fees.
 
--Barb
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent
http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb
 
 bboy_mn wrote:
 --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Barb P <psychic_serpent at y...> wrote:

......MADSO..... (Monstrous Amount of Data Snipped Out) ....

> 
> I think that when Molly made a shopping trip to Diagon Alley, she
simply stopped in the bank to exchange some wizarding money for Muggle
money.  There's no reason to turn this into a big mystery.  Yes,
Arthur stares at the "bits of paper" during GoF, wondering how anyone
could think they're money.  But he doesn't just toss a fifty-pound
note at Roberts and tell him to keep the change, does he?  It's still
money, and he does know that, as much as his basic instincts fight
against it.
> 
> --Barb
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent
> http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb

Above statement is related to the discussion of how Molly Weasley paid
for the 3 taxis used to take everyone to London.

I seriouly doubt that someone as desperate for money as Molly, went to
the bank and withdrew $500 to pay for a taxi ride. When Harry
accompanied her to the Weasley vault; there was nothing but a few
Sickles and a couple of Galleons. These are not the kind of people who
had $500 laying around to spend on a cab ride. Remember this is three
taxis taken on a +200 mile taxi ride. I would think Arthur could have
bought another used Ford Anglia for that much money, so I seriously
doubt that taxi ride was paid for with Weasley money.

Also, note that if Molly, Bill, and Charlie could drive a muggle car,
they could have rented three cars or a car and small truck for less
than the taxi ride.

What really baffles me, is why they didn't take the train? I haven't
been to England, but in Germany, you can take the train from anywhere
to anywhere, even to and from the smallest village. Trains make more
stops but when they are moving, they are moving fast, and rarely get
hung up in heavy traffic.

My vote is for the Ministry to have provided the cash. They seem to
feel an obligation to safeguard Harry. I don't think Mr. Weasley would
have gotten top box/VIP box tickets if Harry hadn't been with them.
Ron, did say his dad can usually get tickets from work, but I really
doubt he would have gotten top box tickets.

I have no doubt that there is a certain amount of muggle money in the
wizards world, and what does get collected is exchanged at the bank
for  wizards money, and this gives the bank a supply of muggle money.
I'm sure there are occassions when wizards come to the bank and need
muggle money so they can buy things in London.

I also believe that the goblins have some way of transferring money
between the wizard world and the magic world, maybe a bank account at
some large bank that they use to pull muggle money into and send money
out of the wizards bank.

bboy_mn
 


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