Knight Bus Depot
HarbourFront is
a district located on the southern tip of the main isle of Singapore.
It is also the gateway to a smaller offshore island, Sentosa. In a discrete corner at
HarbourFront Bus Interchange, would be a Universal Studios ticketing booth, where admission passes can be purchased or collected. Each pass comes with a cheque for 11 Silver Sickles that bears the seal of Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Some distance away from the booth would stand a violently purple doorway, blocked by a row of turnstiles. On each turnstile would be a metal plate embossed with the letters and lines of a Gringotts cheque. Inserting the cheque (for 11 Silver Sickles) into the slot in a turnstile allows one person past the stile and beyond the heavy purple curtains draped across the doorway.
Behind the drapes would be racks of robes, hat stands and long tailor tables. New entrants would be extolled to choose a robe from one of the racks, as well as a hat from a stand. With the selected robe and hat in hand, the visitor would proceed to a table with an unoccupied crisply-dressed tailor waiting behind it. While the tailor takes a person's body measurements, stiffly formal valets would offer refreshments and note down names, as well as other personal particulars.
Depositing their selected garments with a valet, a long strip of fabric, embroidered with the tailor's label, would be draped round each visitor, much like a fashionably loose necktie. After all preparations and arrangements have been completed, a valet would then lead them out of the maze of racks and tables, into the busy interior of a typical bus depot, but sporting outlets of a decidedly atypical nature.
Passing under a signboard with the words “Knight Bus Depot” written in gold letters, new entrants would be drawn towards the towering branch of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, where Muggle money can be converted into wizarding currency. Other must-stops would be the Owl Post Office and the Newsstand. Dotted between the three establishments would be kiosks selling distinctly British fare, but with a magical twist.
With all the excitement, it would be easy to forget the fashion detour. That is, until the necktie lights up with a message. Embedded in every tie is a tiny receiver tuned to a unique frequency. When a newly tailored outfit is completed, a transmitter set to the corresponding frequency would be activated. The radio waves generated would wirelessly charge the battery connected to the paper-thin OLED that lights up, displaying the words, "Garment ready for collection".
At a quiet corner of the platform would be a counter with a signboard "Garment Collection" hung overhead. Surrendering the luminous necktie over the counter yields a set of robes and hat, sporting the previously selected designs, all cut and sewn to measure.
With a deafening BANG and a flash of blinding light, a violently purple triple-decker bus will abruptly appear in the depot. This feat would be accomplished with smoke and mirrors :) The bus will appear in an area on the far side of the depot, at the furthermost point from the establishments. The space would be shrouded in shadows so that when a door silently slides open, none of the visitors, occupied by the wonders in the outlets, would be alerted.
Then the bus would roar through the open door just as a loud BANG is sounded and an incandescent light flashes within the depot. The purple triple-decker would come to a screeching halt in a cloud of steam, near enough to the shops for the visitors to feel the heat. As the steam dissipates, the visitors would be able to make out the gold letterings on the windshield, spelling "The Knight Bus"
Some distance away from the booth would stand a violently purple doorway, blocked by a row of turnstiles. On each turnstile would be a metal plate embossed with the letters and lines of a Gringotts cheque. Inserting the cheque (for 11 Silver Sickles) into the slot in a turnstile allows one person past the stile and beyond the heavy purple curtains draped across the doorway.
Behind the drapes would be racks of robes, hat stands and long tailor tables. New entrants would be extolled to choose a robe from one of the racks, as well as a hat from a stand. With the selected robe and hat in hand, the visitor would proceed to a table with an unoccupied crisply-dressed tailor waiting behind it. While the tailor takes a person's body measurements, stiffly formal valets would offer refreshments and note down names, as well as other personal particulars.
Depositing their selected garments with a valet, a long strip of fabric, embroidered with the tailor's label, would be draped round each visitor, much like a fashionably loose necktie. After all preparations and arrangements have been completed, a valet would then lead them out of the maze of racks and tables, into the busy interior of a typical bus depot, but sporting outlets of a decidedly atypical nature.
Passing under a signboard with the words “Knight Bus Depot” written in gold letters, new entrants would be drawn towards the towering branch of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, where Muggle money can be converted into wizarding currency. Other must-stops would be the Owl Post Office and the Newsstand. Dotted between the three establishments would be kiosks selling distinctly British fare, but with a magical twist.
With all the excitement, it would be easy to forget the fashion detour. That is, until the necktie lights up with a message. Embedded in every tie is a tiny receiver tuned to a unique frequency. When a newly tailored outfit is completed, a transmitter set to the corresponding frequency would be activated. The radio waves generated would wirelessly charge the battery connected to the paper-thin OLED that lights up, displaying the words, "Garment ready for collection".
At a quiet corner of the platform would be a counter with a signboard "Garment Collection" hung overhead. Surrendering the luminous necktie over the counter yields a set of robes and hat, sporting the previously selected designs, all cut and sewn to measure.
With a deafening BANG and a flash of blinding light, a violently purple triple-decker bus will abruptly appear in the depot. This feat would be accomplished with smoke and mirrors :) The bus will appear in an area on the far side of the depot, at the furthermost point from the establishments. The space would be shrouded in shadows so that when a door silently slides open, none of the visitors, occupied by the wonders in the outlets, would be alerted.
Then the bus would roar through the open door just as a loud BANG is sounded and an incandescent light flashes within the depot. The purple triple-decker would come to a screeching halt in a cloud of steam, near enough to the shops for the visitors to feel the heat. As the steam dissipates, the visitors would be able to make out the gold letterings on the windshield, spelling "The Knight Bus"