Travel at your own risk

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Going anywhere nice this year? With the holiday season upon us once more, I thought I’d take a look at how some well-known novels might be affected by recent travel news …

 

Around Heathrow in Eighty Days: the adventurous Phileas Fogg has to adjust his plans when faced with the airport security queue.

 

The Horse-and-Cart Children: Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis have to find other forms of entertainment when the trains are cancelled due to a strike. Meanwhile, Perks has gone off to join a picket-line.

 

The Hobbit, or, Here and Here Again: Bilbo politely declines the dwarves’ invitation when he realises that his travel insurance doesn’t cover encounters with dragons.

 

 The Not-So-Secret Garden: Mary and her friends find the peace of the garden is rudely disrupted after a number of rave reviews on TripAdvisor.

 

The Magic Faraway Stump: three children find their adventures come to an abrupt end when an ancient tree is chopped down to make room for HS2.

 

The Much More Likely Day Trip of Harold Fry: Harold realises he can save a lot of time (and blister plasters) by catching the early train.


The Nearest Shore: Ged decides that retiring to the seaside is preferable to chasing after dragons.

 

Murder on the National Express: a relatively easy case for Hercule Poirot when another passenger is stabbed on a coach trip in full view of all the other travellers.

 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Budgerigar: the secret order set up to oppose Voldemort has to be renamed after the phoenix is deemed to be a fire hazard.


Let me know if you have any further suggestions!




Fiona Lloyd is Chair of the Association of Christian Writers and writes regularly for Together magazine. Her first novel, The Diary of a (trying to be holy) Mum, was published by Instant Apostle in January 2018. Fiona also works for Christians Against Poverty.

 

Twitter: @FionaJLloyd & @FionaLloyd16



Comments

  1. Joy Margetts13 August 2022 at 19:06

    Thank you for the laughs Fiona! Not going anywhere today. My life if 'Fan from the madding heat!

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  2. Olusola Sophia Anyanwu13 August 2022 at 19:24

    Interesting post! And for me, it is a busy August. Baby sitting my grandchildren all through August as well as receiving and hosting family ! There is one wedding and one funeral to attend as well. Thanks and blessings.

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  3. Deborah Jenkins13 August 2022 at 19:32

    Oh Fiona this is pure gold!! My favourite is 'The Much More Likely Day Trip of Harold Fry' . Hahaha. fab blog. Thanks for brightening my 9hot) evening :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aggie C13 August 2022 at 20:02

    Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  5. SC Skillman14 August 2022 at 09:55

    I loved this - especially the Not So Secret Garden!! Very true, too, when we consider all these classic novels and children's books, how today's folly would disrupt the adventures of the characters. I'm surprised you didn't include something about Swallows and Amazons. The children's boat trip is called off when it is discovered that they were proposing to cook a full nutritious meal over a fire on the island, and health and safety rules demand that they confine themselves to cheese sandwiches... (Never mind the idea of letting children go off on a boat on the lake by themselves without a responsible adult to supervise...)

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  6. Ruth Leigh14 August 2022 at 14:45

    That's hilarious, Fiona!! I love it. The Online Treasure Seekers, in which Oswald and Co confine themselves to the parlour while trying to restore their fortunes?

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  7. Jenny Sanders26 August 2022 at 10:09

    Five Children and Social Services in which a happy-go-lucky-famly are reported for having way too much fun and need to be 'kept an eye on', by those who know better, or think they do.
    Thanks for the giggles, Fiona.

    ReplyDelete

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