
Setting: September 2010
Search Terms: On YouTube, London ambulance sirens, London fire truck siren, London police siren. Google "Difference between London and New York" (got a lot of results for the time difference)
In a fan fiction I am writing, a character is suddenly transported from a bedroom in America to a flat in London through magical means. In canon, he lived there as a boy and went to Cambridge before moving to the States. Originally, I was going to have him hear the far off sound of sirens because I was under the impression that the sirens were different but when I listened to them on youtube, they sounded identical to my American ears.
So what I looking for is something that I can put in the flat or a sound that would instantly/quickly tell the character they are not in the States anymore, rather then have them think they are in a NYC or another large American city apartment. The neighborhood isn't going to be that great of one so I rather avoid the cliche of the character looking out the window and seeing Big Ben or the Thames.
Thanks in advance.
While I have a very basic grasp on the history of India, my Eurocentric public library has been less than helpful on the details. Everything they have seems to fall into the one subcontinent, three millennia, myriad cultures... one badly written volume variety of textbook. Either that or "Here, have some religions" with no real mention of the rest of the culture. Frankly, I learned more from the PBS history series.
I'm trying to research India in the first century C.E. for both a story and my personal curiosity - who was in power where, who was trading what with who, general level of technology and other such meaty details. Also, their trade with the Roman empire at the time.
Can anyone give me a good place to start that's more in-depth than Wikipedia? Book recs eagerly accepted, but in-depth websites are great too.