#i highly encourage you to read jack finney's time and again

[thevagabondexpress]

one of the things i adore about writing victorian/edwardian-era historical fiction is all of the public transit they had back then. omnibuses (which were horse drawn). streetcars. trains. and also the bicycle with a chain and pedals near the back wheel as we know it today (what was, at the time of its inception, termed the "safety bicycle" which says a lot about previous designs) was an invention of the 1880s and 1890s. people of all social classes walked everywhere. the edwardian and mid-to-late victorian eras were a golden age of public transit and travelling more sustainably and it makes me so, so sad to see that get erased when i read historical fiction and they're always taking carriages everywhere.

p.s. here's some examples. in order: an omnibus, a toronto streetcar, an illustration of the 1860's london underground, and a safety bicycle: