The Burrow (again!)/ English Eccentrics (was: Arthur Weasley)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 43384

Errol (nice to see you back, Errol!):

> besides, as bboy_mn remarked, about Hagrid's route,
> >>Hagrid specifically mentions Bristol, which is West of the Burrow 
> whileLondon/Surrey is East of the Burrow.<<

I'm sorry, what is the evidence that Bristol is west of The Burrow again?
I thought most people wanted to site Ottery St Catchpole in Devon, which is 
south-west of Bristol.

This reminds me. Recently I had this exchange with Steve, the modest 
Lexicographer:

>> I have also used the Ottery St Mary analogy to suggest that Ottery 
>>St Catchpole is somewhere in south Devon, but to be fair, we don't 
>>actually  *know* that it is. It's obviously the inspiration for the name, 
>>but we don't  know the location.

>I don't think that Ottery St. Catchpole is Ottery St. Mary, since 
>that's a fairly large town. But because of the Ottery in the name, 
>it almost certainly has to be located along the Otter River, don't 
>you think? If it were a Wizarding village, I wouldn't be so certain 
>that they would follow naming conventions like that (although they 
>probably would). But since it's a Muggle town, wouldn't you say that 
>it's a sure thing? Are there examples of towns in Britain that 
>include the name of the river but AREN'T located along or near it?
>Steve
>The (not infallible) Lexicon

Well, you know I have been thinking about this and I decided to have a good 
look at the road atlas whilst we were driving from Bristol to Lacock Abey 
(whose cloisters were used in the CTMNBN) the other day.
There is another place called Ottery (saintless, though!) in Devon, just 
north of Tavistock, nowhere near the River Otter (although I can't guarantee 
that there isn't a smaller Otter, not marked on the map). Still Devon, 
though.
There are quite a lot of British place names elsewhere starting with 'otter', 
a relic of the days when otters were numerous in our waterways.

Fyredriftwood:

>On the subject of Arthur Weasley, I have a question to ask: Why does 
>he obsess over the plugs and batteries, and other little trinkets of 
>the Muggle culture? Is it because he wasn't ever exposed to it before 
>in his life, or because he's a wizard and Muggle's always have 
>facinated him? Or, is it because they're small and people like to 
>collect small things?

>Arthur Weasley has always seemed a bit.... hmm, how to put this 
>politically correct.. okay, fine... he's odd... sort of like how 
>Dumbledore is. They're both a bit excentric, but maybe that will be 
>important. Who knows?!

We have a great fondness for eccentrics over here, you know. The English 
Eccentic is just, well, a stereotype, I suppose (I expect you get Scottish 
and Welsh and Irish eccentics too, but I think of it as being a rather 
English stereotype). In fact Arthur and Dumbledore aren't that odd at all, to 
my way of thinking.......

And collecting things in itself isn't at all eccentric in itself, it's just 
that collecting plugs is. It's strange to us, because to us they're ordinary, 
utilitarian objects (although I'd lay money on someone somewhere really 
collecting them!) and strange to his family, because wizards as a group 
aren't interested in Muggle things at all.
Yes, I think we can be sure that he was never exposed to electical things as 
a child (it is held that electrical things don't work in a magical 
environment). It's just a comic manifestation of his obsession with all 
things Muggle.

Eloise






    
    


    
    





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