Headed northwards for work today.  This morning, with a few minutes to spare before our meet-up at St Pancras station time, I diverted to Kings Cross to check out Platform 9 ¾.  I walked past the cafes and the convenience stores, along Platform 8 and there it was, between Platforms 9 and 10.  A sign saying Platform 9 ¾ and a baggage trolley cut in half so it looks like it’s disappearing into the wall, and London’s commuters rushing past as if it wasn’t there.

I guess you could say that I’m a fan of Harry Potter.  I’ve known the launch date for Book 7 longer than I’ve known my own.  I went to a ‘come as your hero’ ball as Hermione Granger.  I’m a geek, yes, that’s a given.  That said, I’m not as fanatical about the series as I used to be (I no longer have a Harry Potter toothbrush for example).  My interest peaked at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,when the kids I was teaching at the time were all talking about the book as if this Harry Potter was the latest kind of Pokemon.

When I read Book 5, I thought it would make a great movie – all the battle scenes, and flashes of light coming out of wands.  And indeed it did make a good movie (the boy and I saw it in the weekend), but in the book, all of Harry’s angst and DIALOGUE IN CAPITALS did get to me after a while.  And, while I did intend to read Books 1-6 again before Book 7 came out, life and other novels have got in the way, so I don’t remember the five uses for Dragon’s Blood, and I can’t give a well reasoned argument about who will die before the end of the series.

That said, I’ve got my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ordered from a local bookstore (luckily, given the recent news stories, not from Asda).  And I will be queuing to collect it as midnight approaches this Friday.  Harry’s been part of my life for about six years now, and I can’t wait to see how the story ends.

One thing on my had-to-do list before leaving Auckland was pick up the July issue of the New Zealand youth magazine, Tearaway.

Tearaway’s one of those magazines that I read religiously when I was at high school and that I still flick through whenever I get the chance, so it’s exciting to see Lessons to Learn on the books page of this issue.

They’ve got five copies of the novel to give away to their readers. For more details, check out this article on their website.