In W. H. Smith's today...

[steepholm]

... the man at the checkout was cheerfully asking everyone - young or old, whether they were buying books or CDs or paper clips - if they would like to pre-order Harry Potter. There's only 163 days left, apparently!

I usually think of myself as relatively restrained when encountering the Infant Phenomenon. Not enthusiastic, to be sure, but unenthusiastic in an unruffled sort of way - aiming at a kind of sang-froideur. Today, however, I was possessed by an uncharacteristic impulse to take the unfortunate assistant by the scruff of the neck and slam his face repeatedly into the counter until it was a bloody pulp. Luckily, the person in front of me (having declined to pre-order HP7) was having difficulty choosing a book token. I had time to remember that it wasn't the assistant's fault after all, and opted instead to express my distaste by leaving behind a small but dignified pool of vomit. In the event, of course, I didn't even do that, but put just a little more vehemence than necessary into my 'No' (even omitting the thank you! But I did feel rather rude, afterwards).

Guess I won't be going back to Smith's until it's all over...

Comments

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Of course there is a high degree of danger that you won't be able to find a copy if you don't pre-order - they're very hard to find in the shops :)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

And even if I do find one, will I be able to carry it out of the shop without the aid of a wheelbarrow? (I'm just making a wild guess that JKR hasn't discovered her inner self-editor for this one.)

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

And people wonder why I have sold my soul to Amazon, Powell's, et al. Mostly, to avoid precisely this sort of thing.

My current tutor and I are idly debating the responses of those members of the audience who are going to see Equus when they don't normally go to the theatre, and almost certainly do not have much of a clue what Equus is about. We find it a comfort as the barbarians creep ever closer.Fortunately, because I do know what it's about, I hadn't planned to go anyway.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I admire D Radcliffe's determination to get out from HP's shadow as fast as possible, though! Do you remember him from The Phoenix and the Carpet (he played Robert) in the mid-1990s? It's a role not listed in IMDB, but could have sworn it was him...

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

You certainly can't get more determined than by tackling Equus. (I noted in passing that some parents have complained about Harry Potter being allowed to do Equus when he is such a role model for their nine-year-old children.)

I don't that version of the Phoenix ...but some Googling suggests Robert was played by someone called Ivan Berry. Or is that a different version? (Am still appalled by what little I watched of the E. Nesbit at Christmas, with Eddie Izzard voicing the Psammead. I couldn't help thinking I'd rather watch Eddie Izzard doing it live, as he was easily the best thing in the entire production, even as a voice-over.)

[gair.livejournal.com]

But steepholm! If you pre-order HP7 from the WHSmiths in Clifton Village, you get a free copy of Garth Nix's Mister Monday! (Not a wheelbarrow, though.)

I admire D Radcliffe's determination

Me too! Oh, wait, that's not his determination...

(Sorry, couldn't resist it.)