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Published: August 5th 2007
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Last Friday, a friend (Tom) mentioned that he was going to London and offered me a free ride and place to stay. Sooo... I leapt at the chance. It was all very last minute and impetuous. Since I did a LOT in London and took massive amounts of pictures, I'm going to split it up into a few different blog entries.
The drive to London from Cheltenham should take about 2.5 hours. It took us 5. You may have heard about the flooding that has hit Gloucestershire - Friday was when it all started. Looking back, it was probably foolish for us to set out, considering that we had to drive across a few rivers just to get out of town. But by the time we realized that we had maybe made a mistake, we decided that it would probably take just as long to turn around and go back as it would to continue on. So we continued on.
I was very anxious to get to London by midnight. The last Harry Potter book was to be handed out at 12:01 am, and I have always wanted to go to one of the midnight parties and never managed.
And this was the absolute, absolute last chance. So I was determined.
We drove into London while listening to a live CD of Johnny Cash singing at San Quentin prison - it was a pretty funny juxtaposition - at about 10 pm. If you want to see how excited I was to see Buckingham Palace, click on the video link at the beginning of this text called "Ring of Buckingham Fire." Sorry it's so dark, but it was 10 pm, after all.
We went first to drop off our things - Tom used to work at the Kings College dorms, which they also rent out as hostel residences. The room was literally a shoe box with an inserted box in one corner that had a toilet on one end and a shower head on the other, with no divider at all between the two. Very reminiscent of Russia. However, the room was exactly what I needed - centrally located near the London Eye and FREE. After all, all I did there was sleep and shower.
Tom was supposed to go on a date that night, but since we got in so late, it was cancelled, and he
decided to come with me to see the Harry Potter madness. We walked across the Thames River and wandered through Covent Garden, Chinatown, and Soho on our way to Oxford Street. We were looking specifically for a Waterstones bookstore, because I had reserved a copy of the book ahead of time at the Waterstones in Cheltenham, and I thought my voucher might be good at any of their locations.
Tom couldn't quite remember where the Waterstones was on Oxford Street, but we soon stumbled on a Borders, complete with long line forming, people dressed up, and a jazz band hired by the store. It still wasn't crazy enough for me, though, so we pressed on.
Next we walked to Piccadilly Circus, and THERE we found the insanity. Thousands and thousands of people, a line literally miles long and wrapped around blocks and through alleys. People were dressed up, and I got my picture with what I think are Italy's biggest Harry Potter fans. There were also these weird creatures dressed up (people on stilts?) that weren't Harry Potter related, just fantastical. They had some weird voice box so that they made very strange noises... I got Tom to
You can also see Big Ben and Parliament to the right.take my picture with them, but at the moment he clicked the shutter, they both started sniffling around my neck, which made me shriek, as you can see. All the time, the "handlers" were saying, "Keep still! They can smell fear! Oh, and it's mating season!"
After wandering up and down the line, I realized there was NO way I was getting a book that night. I had already been debating with myself about trying, because I didn't want to be reading Harry Potter instead of seeing London. In fact, the next day I saw tons of American teenagers in the Tower of London at various parts of the book - I wanted to shout at them to look around at the sights. Anyway, the action was up front, so we headed back.
At this point, it was 20 minutes till midnight, and there was a crush of people near the entrance, blocking all traffic in the street. It was very exciting - definitely a rush. The place was filled with news crews (including BBC and NTV - a major Russian network. In fact, here is a link,
to the Russian newspaper Pravda, of all places, that talks
Borders cashiers about the scene at Piccadilly.) People were chanting about how much they love J. K. Rowling. Shortly before midnight, a man dressed as Dumbledore came out and explained that there would be a countdown. I filmed the last bit of it, which is attached to the beginning of this blog, labeled "Countdown to midnight." As usual, the images were made fuzzier by the uploading, but I think you'll get a sense of how crazy it was. Seriously, watch the video.
So then the doors opened, the line started moving, and Tom and I went to a pub. I ended up not picking up my copy till Sunday afternoon, after I'd worn myself out walking all over London. I started reading on the coach home (Tom didn't come back till Monday) and finished the next day.
Also while in London, I went to Leicester Square to get half-price theater ("theatre") tickets (more on that later), and saw the Odeon Cinema, where the Harry Potter movies premiere. The signs were huge.
Anyway, hope you've gotten a taste... I wanted the madness and got it. And since it
The Crush at the Front
You can see the green NTV microphone (it looks like HTB) at the right. Russian freedom of the press at its best. Or something like that. was the last hurrah, it was definitley worth it. Enjoy the pictures.
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Josh
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T. of L.
Did you take the Yeoman Warder tour? I love those guys. The last one I met wouldn't respond to anyone who didn't begin their question with the phrase "Stout Yeoman Warder, ...?"