All the major bookstores in Lancaster (all 3 of them) opened their doors tonight at a minute past midnight to sell copies of JK Rowling’s latest instalment; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
I would have loved to be one of those queuing up at 11.30pm but Amazon had a much better offer; 47% off the standard price of £16.99, which works out at £8.99 a copy. The Kikuyu in me decided to wait an extra 10 hours for my TWO copies to arrive in the post.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun I did venture into town at 12.30 am and I could not believe that people were still queuing to get in. The sight of youngsters and adults standing patiently in line amidst the din of drunkards staggering home was amazing. Though looking at some of the Potter Fans who had turned up in fancy dress it was hard to tell who was sober and who wasn’t.
I desperately wanted to sneak into one of the bookstores, Ottakers, but they had a a bouncer at the door! I tried to peer through the doorway and windows but they had gone to great lengths to cover it all up. I have to hand it to them. The staff at Ottakers took the launch very seriously. They ‘renamed’ their store to Pottakers, they seemed to be having a party inside and according to their site you had to download an invitation to attend! Unlike the other bookstores they included a Harry Potter gift bag with every purchase. Just in case anyone was in any doubt as to why hordes of scrawny six year olds were roaming round Lancaster town centre at midnight; they stamped each person’s forehead with a bright red thunderbolt. For those who don’t know what the thunderbolt represents, wikipedia describes it as;
the lightning-shaped scar Voldemort’s curse left on (Harry’s) forehead
I actually took pictures of the queues outside but I am not sure if it is ‘proper’ to post pictures of strangers on one’s blog.
At this moment in time I am far too excited to sleep but I am too scared to pull an all nighter in case I fade out at 8 am and miss the postman. The last thing I want to do is wake up at midday to find one of those “We came round to deliver X but you weren’t in� type cards stuck to our letter box. Seeing a card like this will mean one thing – I will have to wait until Monday before I start reading my book.
No matter what I do tonight I can be sure of one thing, even JK Rowling knows about the July Countdown. It is no coincidence that she decided to release this book 3 days before my birthday. I must say though that I had initially thought that she too was attempting to upstage me but now I know that through all this she was thinking, “This would make a great birthday present for Kui�
I’m off to drink a ton of coffee and to watch Big Brother but before I do so I just want to say that there is another HUUUUGE surprise/gift that is due to arrive in the wee hours of the morning (6.45am to be exact!). It is sort of a joint present for my cousin Big Tesh and I; he doesn’t have a clue so for now I have been sworn to secrecy.
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Nick says
Funny i never pictured you a Harry Potter fanatic…i like this MJY
Mama JunkYard says: Dude, we both know that when it comes to creating mental images of people you ALWAYS get it wrong.
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The HUUUUGE surprise/gift (Mimo) says
Yeah Harry Potter is finally here! Do you know how many months I have wasted wondering what the next book will be like? I have to say though that J.K. Rowling seems to be losing her touch as I noticed that the 5th book was not as good as I expected it to be.
Mama JunkYard Says: I actually liked the Order of the Phoenix. The weakest for me was two. I liked book 5 because a lot was explained. It was like 30 times bigger than all the other books put together and I feel Rowling answered a lot of questions
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wg-k says
BT, this “twinning” has to stop! My dearest hubby ordered the harry potter for me on amazon as a birthday present and you should have seen me refreshing the computer every little while to check where my book was with the “track your shipment” button. I finally just got my book just before 7pm as amazon here had guaranteed that the book would arrive by 7pm at the latest. I’d love to say more but I’m off to bond with harry. I’ve been waiting for him for a loooong time!
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nick says
trust me yours was nowhere near book fanatic…but just adds another image to yours.
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mshairi says
I read today the book was selling at £4:99 at Asda….
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Ms K says
Ooooooohhh I want one!!!! I was trying to explain to guys in the office about the Harry Potter mani after they trying to dismiss it as a well oiled marketing machine then I thought… oh who cares!!!
Can’t wait to get my hands on this one!!
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Kaki says
LOL! See what Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys did!