I Feel Like Sigma Would Have Absolutely Insane Stories From Being An Astronaut. I Think He Would Only

Two up, two down

We talk about Potter as a timeless series, as quills and parchment will never date, but there are a few key elements which are of their time, and I sometimes suspect that eventually, their original meaning may be lost.

Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is one of these.  If you visit Surrey, a house akin to Number 4 on Privet Drive can be found on hundreds of identical estates.  Indeed, the three-bedroom house with a garage, and both front and back gardens, situated on a private housing estate in leafy surburbia is one that most British people will have strolled through at some point.

But Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is the opposite of the Dursleys’ aspirational abode, and is somewhere that few modern readers will have seen in its original form with their own eyes.  Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is a traditional two up, two down through terraced house, mired deep in a maze of identical cobbled streets, overlooked by a looming mill chimney, and seemingly – by the 90s – entirely abandoned.

The difficulty that some may have in accurately picturing this scene is because these houses, in this state, no longer exist.  A large percentage of two up, two down terraces were demolished as part of slum clearance, which should tell you all that you need to know about the state of the houses.  

Those which remained have been extensively modified – usually knocking down the privy (outside toilet), and then building a two storey extension across the bulk of the yard to create a third room downstairs, and a bathroom upstairs.  Some houses only have a single extension; it is rather common in some areas of the Midlands to have a bathroom that leads off the kitchen downstairs – because the bathroom was the missing room, and it was cheaper to build one storey than two.

Pottermore had an article earlier in the year which explained how the filmmakers originally wanted to film on location, but could not, because the houses simply did not exist in their traditional state.

The houses were typically constructed with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs with a tiny backyard entry leading to the outhouse. Craig actually considered shooting on location, but even though the buildings were intact, they had been brought into the modern era, with up-to-date kitchens and plastic extensions, so the set was built at the studio.

Throughout the 20th century, cobbled streets were routinely replaced by various other road surfaces, namely tarmac and asphalt – and, of course, the scarcity of cobblestones now means that such streets are aesthetically desirable.  However, the cobblestones in Spinner’s End are not an indication of affluence, but an indication of an area left behind. This is further illustrated by the rusted railings, the broken streetlights, and the boarded up windows.

These were workers houses, often funded by the owners of the mill, and therefore tied – meaning that rent was deducted from your wage before you received it.  There were benefits to being in tied accommodation, including being close to work and having a guaranteed landlord – but that was as much benefit to the mill owner as the worker.  Seeing great competition, some mill owners invested in their properties to entice workers – but Spinner’s End is not an example of this; Spinner’s End would’ve been regarded as little better than a slum even when fully occupied.

The narrow streets are indicative of when these houses were built, presumably in the late 1800s – cars were not a concern, and the attitude was to build as many houses on as small a piece of land as possible.

By the time the 90s roll around, and we see Narcissa and Bellatrix descend upon the street, Spinner’s End appears to be mostly deserted.  With the closure of traditional manual industries, families would be keen to relocate to where work could be found.  Estates which hadn’t already been cleared by the 60s would find themselves left to rack and ruin, their former occupants long gone – whether seeking a new life elsewhere, or having died.

For once, Bellatrix is not being anti-Muggle when she sneers at the Muggle dunghill; she is unnervingly accurate. It is a slum by her standards, but most importantly, it was a slum by everyone else’s standards as well.  By the time Severus was born, work should’ve been well under way to clear the area, or to renovate it.  This evidently did not occur – which itself explains how undesirable the area is; nobody wanted to spruce it up - they wanted to leave.  There were no jobs, no amenities, no services – and eventually, no people.

We often ponder why Snape remains at Spinner’s End, but perhaps there lies the answer; he wasn’t just hiding from the magical world, but he was also hiding from the Muggle world as well…

Siebren in Overwatch drabble (I can’t think of a name, again) 

Contains: Not translated Dutch, emotional turmoil, near death.

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Do you ever just stop and think about how if Ernesto hadn’t poisoned Héctor then they could have potentially starred in movies together and double-teamed dance numbers…

I mean I know Héctor wanted to go home but there’s nothing that says that in the future he could have been persuaded to have small parts in Ernesto’s movies as a cameo for them to sing together, especially if he wouldn’t be gone for super long…..

I just want golden age movie dance sequence with the boys 😂

why would you distort “Severus changed sides because of Lily” to “Severus only changed sides because of Lily”? Trying to save someone you care about is a pretty good reason imo.

lurien’s butler being the embodiment of a ‘cowardly husk’ in their end really does set the precedent for how you’re meant to interpret lurien himself imo

I think a lot of things because of that Au mine that I don't know how to do but the point is this I think that the decision to be a consulting detective is something that did a lot of good for Holmes in many aspects of his life but I think one of the most relevant was in improve the relationship with his brother.

Personally I don't think they have a love / hate relationship or a strained relationship for siblings who get on badly in the canon are the Watsons.

For me it is more than anything a matter of characters: Mycroft does not is someone who shows his affection in an explicit way and although Holmes has very sweet moments and gestures from him, he also does not have the habit of being like that expressive.

So the Holmes brothers get along; In their childhood it is not crazy to think that who first develops his observation / deductive skills is Mycroft, in fact it makes sense and with things like the Diogenes club it is not so crazy to say that he is a lonely and lives in his own way but then there is the little Sherlock.

According to the case Gloria Scott Holmes considered his observation and deduction skills at that time a simple hobby. And he was seen as an aimless young man but why would someone develop such a strange hobby? I think the answer is that little Sherlock did it to get closer to his brother mainly and if he continued with that it was out of his own natural curiosity.

The point is that Mycroft is the first to be different if we deviate to a somewhat queer perspective. If Mycroft is the first who knows that he is different, maybe many of his attitudes are to protect himself; observing the people around, being able to do this from a seat, his search and acceptance of a position of power and imposing - politics isn't easy or light! -.

So his own little eccentricities are why his younger brother manages to form a bond with him, they bond over and maybe even one day he will be honest with Sherlock when SH realizes his own distinctions but his attitude is different, Mycroft points out that Holmes has the energy of the family and the desire to do fieldwork.

I think this again is a reflection of how they handle things, Mycroft does not want fights, he does not want direct confrontations, he wants to deduce everything from a chair, hidden, protected in his own sanctuary and with the assurance that if someone were to try to harm him. .. It would be complicated but Sherlock is different, he is there saying his name out loud when a dangerous criminal abruptly enters his home, he makes jokes after almost dying, he is the type who is not afraid of confrontations in reality. (Maybe in other areas yes, but in apologizing for being who he is? He is not afraid of being who he is) There is even something careless and reckless in his youth.

But returning to the subject, in addition to their own personalities, these different paths that each one takes are the only point that could have separated them; because these are two very different perspectives, it is not hatred or contempt just to grow up and belong to different worlds.

They would still have their little deduction games and a few visits but there would be an outside line until Sherlock Holmes decides to be a detective. What I'm going to is that in his youth he had many doubts about what to do with his life; we know he could be just a chemist, or an actor in the theater or a violinist or an underground boxer! but S. Holmes, thanks to Trevor's father, argues that what he likes to do, what was his first approach to his brother could be useful to live and help others.

If Sherlock had dedicated himself to something else I feel that Mycroft would have supported him but there would be some inevitable distance that is broken a bit when their jobs / life missions intersect as much as when Sherlock is a detective, we saw it in the Greek interpreter, from time to time Mycroft helps him solve cases or guides him in the matter! In stressful and difficult matters that Mycroft faces in his work, he can directly request Sherlock's support and even see how he solves that complication in his life!

I think there is something... there at the bottom of how both have improved their relationship by ending up in two parallel paths; each one is different but from time to time they cross paths and meet and it's cute.

no one asked but i never saw snape's story as a redemption arc, mainly because it turns out that for the entire length of the series he was already working on the side that is meant to be good so more like a revelation arc? not all of his actions were entirely great and they are not supposed to be, but many of the ones that made harry and co. hate him have different meanings when you see them in their full light like always being in the hallways catching harry out when the kid was wandering around (or making a beeline for the exact thing that is trying to kill him), he's not just trying to get harry in trouble but also trying to stop him from getting dead (a sisyphean task if there ever was one) i suppose snape's over-arching narrative must be considered a redemption narrative since it exists in a very strict good vs. evil/black-and-white world, but i don't know something seems "off" about that at least to my very specific brain...

so gemma was orpheus all along. when she looked back, called mark’s name, and asked him to come home.. innie mark realized he had no feelings for this woman. if she had stayed facing forward maybe the allegiance to his outie would have won out. but gemma turning around made him hesitate long enough for helly to appear. and when she called his name.. it was game over. eurydice embraced the underworld with open arms.

Otto Octavius: You know, Curt, I could just make you a robot arm.

Dr. Connors (exasperated): That would be very nice for ME, but it's not a solution most could afford. I want to create something accessible to everyone. Everyone, no matter their station or disability, deserves the opportunity to be healed.

Otto: But

Otto: It would be very nice for you, right?

felicia telling irving the only time she ever saw burt scared was when he spent two hours fixing his hair before going to see him,,,,,, irving drawing burt over and over between the times he could see him,,,,,, felicia hugging irving the second she saw him, having lunch with him and telling him stories,,,,,,, irving's getting the "widow that's still loved by the family" treatment by o&d as he rightfully deserved