Chapter 2655 Hell Row
Albus once joked that he had a complete map of the London Underground on his lap, but he never showed it to anyone, so no one knew if he was telling the truth.
The earliest London subway was completed in 1863. At that time, there were railway stations in London, southeast and northwest, but the situation in the city was getting worse. The first was typhoid and cholera raging in London, and then there was the Great Stink of London in 1858, when the abnormal weather of that year made the Thames River extremely smelly. And it also formed a mist of gas, which lingered for a long time, so that the entire Westminster had to take measures to evacuate.
When councilors are inconvenienced and their lives are threatened, "efficiency" emerges and London begins its biggest building frenzy. The first is to excavate the sewage system. The railway has accelerated the flow of people and tested the city's sewage capacity. At least the urban planning after the Great Fire of London is no longer suitable for the world's most populous city.
Many homes were converted to banks and commercial offices, and buses and carriages carried commuters between Bank Station, London Bridge and Blackfriars, creating serious road congestion problems. So someone built a railway underground in London, connecting Paddington, Euston, King's Cross and the City of Finance. But no one had built an underground railway before, so a man named John Fuller used the cut and cover technique, which means first digging a huge trench in the new road and then covering it with bricks. , and backfill at the end.
The purpose of this project is to solve the traffic chaos, but the area involved in the project has caused ten years of traffic chaos. Because the subway does not pass through the original train terminal, the above-ground line cannot be connected with the underground line, and passengers must go from the ground to the underground to transfer.
In addition, the households and residents of the construction section will be demolished. The railway company will act recklessly under the slogan of "clearing slums" relying on the support of congressmen behind it. The Building Act of 1774 allowed the landowner to lease the land to the developer of the townhouse, and the developer then rented out the apartment through an intermediary or other channels to recover the cost. The lease agreement between the developer and the landowner is often Long-term, some can even reach 99 years.
The railway company will use money to manage the landowners well, declaring that no residents have been relocated, so as to save a declaration process. And the people who live inside often have to move out within a few days, and worse, they have to compete with thousands of railroad construction workers who happen to be building the railroad that makes them homeless Prime culprit.
The Earl of Shaftesbury, who was engaged in philanthropy, asked the railway company to delineate the area involved in demolition before building the line, and to study and judge the possible impact on the poor. He thought that the railway company would at least feel ashamed.
But as so often in London's history, money was more useful than shame. If the Queen wants to go to Windsor, she will take the bus from Paddington Station. They have built luxury suites for the Queen to wait for the bus, and those homeless people can only find a yard or apartment nearby if they are short of cash. Crowded in one room.
In any case, after the opening of the railway frenzy, London’s ground transportation network was basically completed, and the first underground railway was also opened to traffic. On the first day of trial operation, passengers could see darkness as far as they could see, surrounded by thick smoke from steam engine chimneys, and As for the passengers getting off the bus, they were covered in soot.
Since then, London has set off a frenzy of building subways, but the council soon discovered that it would use a lot of land resources and move a large number of people. When London's traffic and sewage problems were solved, the development fell into a virtuous cycle. The improvement of the market has led to a boom in the construction industry, and the prices of houses and rents are rising. The railway company can no longer send residents for a guinea and the relationship of a member of Parliament as in the past.
During this period, Hyde Park held the World Expo, which was imitated by Prince Albert in 1844. The industrial exposition held in France. The exhibits include advanced technology and crafts from the UK and other countries in the world, as well as the largest pearl discovered at that time. But the queen is more interested in India's "Mountain of Light" diamond, which she herself visited 42 times. In addition, the pavilion "Crystal Palace" is like a large-scale greenhouse. It was held so successfully that after the exposition, royal families and nobles from all over the world followed suit to build greenhouses, and the surrounding area of Hyde Park also prospered.
Prince Albert plans to build a museum district near Kensington, including the Albert Hall, Craft and Design Museum, Geology Museum, Science Museum and Natural History Museum.
There is Piccadia Square there, and in the center of the square stands a statue of Prince Albert in memory of him. However, this sculpture has caused great controversy because it is a sculpture of an angel of fraternity with no clothes on.
All in all, that area is located on the north side of Buckingham Palace, and Westminster is located on the south side of Buckingham Palace. There are also many Victorian and Georgian buildings here, with a blend of designs from various genres. Walking in it makes people feel excited and dazzled at the same time, as if London brings together everything in the world, shining like a jewel box.
In addition, there are Gothic churches, and celebrities including Newton are buried in the cemetery of Westminster Abbey, where vulgar language, curses, boos, screams, and children's cries cannot be heard. Noisy, dirty boys, dead-eyed women, alcoholic men, those people belonged to the East End.
Few tourists go to the likes of Whitechapel unless they have an interest in Jack the Ripper, and entertainment in London is plentiful from top to bottom.
Keats once described it like this: If a person is trapped in the city for a long time, he is happy, and he can see the clear and open sky.
There is also such a description in "Orphan in the Twist": five or six houses share a rickety wooden corridor behind the house, and through the holes in the wooden boards, you can see the mud below. The rooms are small and dirty, and the interior is airtight. It's full of stench, and it's too dirty to hold dirt.
People with different worldviews will cause them to have different cognitions, different views and experiences on one thing, which will cause them to act differently. Simply put, they are living in different worlds.
When Pomona returned to Hogwarts from London, it was already dark, and she returned to her living room in the greenhouse, and then sat on a stool in a daze.
"Did the trip go well?"
Pomona turned around and saw that Albus had arrived at some point, and Phoenix Fawkes was still standing on the shelf behind him.
"Do you want to hear the good stuff, or the real thing?"
Albus smiled and walked over to her from the next door.
"Truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and time does not slow down when something unpleasant lies ahead."
"You're talking incomprehensible things again," she complained.
"Please say what you want to say." Albus said calmly.
"I saw Remus." She whispered, "Because he still has a clear mind after drinking the Wolf Binding Juice, he can choose whether to drink the Wolf's Potion."
Albus didn't answer, but Pomona continued.
"He drank it without hesitation... Then he lay on the ground, as quiet as dead, I almost thought he was dead, and suffering like this is more painful than dying." She said in a daze, just like that A scene reappeared in front of my eyes.
Probably the other potions masters figured it out too, so a lot of people didn't show up the next day, the Quidditch World Cup was a lot more fun than it looked, and it wouldn't ruin their mood.
"Do you want to hear the truth, or the fiction?" Albus asked.
Pomona looked at him.
Albus places a letter in front of Pomona.
"This is an invitation letter sent to Severus by the Alchemy Center in Cairo. I hope he can be a visiting scholar in the next semester. You can decide whether to give it to him or not."
"Why……"
"He once knelt down and begged me not to kill him," said Albus, "and he made a deal with me, as long as I help him protect Lily, he will do anything for me."
Pomona's eyes widened.
"He loves a woman and is willing to protect her son for her. If the Dark Lord is really resurrected as he wants, we need strength to deal with future wars." Albus took his hand off the envelope." When the war is over, we still need to rebuild, and the mission you have to undertake is different."
She looked at Dumbledore in horror.
"He told me not to tell anyone, and I also asked you to keep it a secret for me. You are a real Hufflepuff, remember the college rules?"
"If you're asked to keep a secret..."
"No." Albus shook his head at her. "It's about promises."
"Yes, Headmaster," Pomona whispered. "I won't tell anyone."
Albus smiled. "Learn to love, Pomona. I told you that love is a poison."
"I know," said Pomona almost impatiently.
"I just want you to be happy," said Albus softly, "and don't get lost."
She found it very strange, why did Albus have such a perception of "love"?
"Have you ever loved anyone?" Pomona asked him.
Albus didn't answer.
"Don't make promises lightly." He stroked her hair "You'll find that binds you."
"Like the blood oath between you and Grindelwald?" Pomona asked. "Why did you take the oath?"
Albus' eyes flickered behind the half-moon glasses.
"Because of what?" Pomona continued to ask.
"To avoid hurting each other." Albus said with a sigh. "Otherwise, we will only hurt each other."
Pomona remembered the famous duel. How could duelers not hurt each other?
"I don't want you to get hurt." Albus said bitterly, "I'd rather be the one who gets hurt."
She felt like she couldn't bear it, but when she met Albus's eyes, it felt like he was looking at others through her.
It was too lonely to be alone at this moment, so she stood up and hugged Dumbledore.
He patted her on the back kindly, just like a father.
"I hope you're happy," Albus whispered in her ear. "Do you want to go to the dance like this?"
She didn't say she wanted to.
"Let me figure out something." He said softly.
Pomona hoped he wasn't a promise, because Albus promised a lot of things and never kept them.
For example, protecting Lily and not hurting Grindelwald.
So, she should take it as his joke.
