Day 87, 88 & 89: Harry Potter

On Friday night, I decided to join the queue outside a bookshop for the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I spoke to a woman next to me in the queue, who had read the first six several times and we were both approached by two girls with witches' hats on, who offered us cupcakes and jellybeans and gave us a Harry Potter-themed quiz.

A group of three women from Switzerland joined the back of the queue next to us and we all joined forces to fill in the quiz. One of the Swiss women was a twenty-year-old writer, so we exchanged email addresses.

It became exciting when the queue went so far down Oxford Street that I couldn't see the end of it and we became immune to the lads coming up to us and saying, "Harry Potter dies," or, "Ron dies."

Finally, midnight arrived and we were ushered inside slowly. After three hours waiting it was an immense relief, despite the good company. I said goodbye to my friends - the English one, recently married, half-way through her third book of the day and the Swiss girls heading back to Lausanne the following day after their holiday.

I had thought I would read it straight away, but - on impulse - decided to go to a Latino haunt where the dancing was fun and a contrast to the hours of sitting. After an hour there, I went and read the whole book, although I had a break when a friend rang me and we went around town for a few hours.

Now I'm in Sussex and had a lovely walk with my mother yesterday. Afterwards we met up with the man who was with my mum for five years, called 'Dave' in my book, and he and mum played duets by Mozart on the flute whilst I listened before we went to the pub, where I had a roast (for brunch) and they had drinks. 'David' and I talked about writing and the journey to get published. Today, 'Dave' is teaching my mum how to use the internet and I am posting this in the local library.