Harry Potter fever

As the entire world is surely aware, the sixth installment in the Harry Potter series (or Harry Popo, as dear Rhonda refers to it) was officially released at midnight last night.
Just a few blocks from our house is a store called Kidsbooks that went all out in preparation for the big event. They even installed a beautiful Harry Potter themed mural across their shopfront.

Yesterday morning as I walked by Kidsbooks to catch my bus to work I noticed a tent pitched on the sidewalk outside Kidsbooks, and a few people sitting around in chairs. I realised then that J.K. Rowling was about to become much much richer than she already is.

After a dinner party at our house last night to celebrate Rhonda's birthday, we decided to wander down to Kidsbooks to see what was going on. There were cars parked all the way up our street, and several TV news crews were hanging around. We could hear the crowd before we could see it. Then we saw it - hundreds and hundreds of little kids (and some brave parents too) dressed up like it was Halloween. It was only 11:15 p.m. at this point - so it was going to be a long night at Kidsbooks!

We walked on for a few blocks and were met with a group of five dressed-up, musical instrument playing, marching people. Behind them were three trucks bearing "Owl Post" logos, heading towards Kidsbooks. No doubt they were the carriers of the long awaited books. There were tight security measures put in place to prevent unauthorised copying of the book, but the drivers of these Owl Post trucks didn't look too serious - they just looked as if they were enjoying the spotlight. At the rear of the delivery motorcade, was a motorbike ridden by Hagrid.

Rhonda had ordered her copy of Harry Popo at a different bookstore a few blocks further on, so we went on to that store and found it rather quiet. But that's ok, we picked up the books just a few minutes after midnight and went off home to bed. I bet there are some grumpy Kidsbooks patrons around today - up for most of the night to buy the book, and the rest of the night to read it.