Harry Potter Geekiness

July 16th is a big day here in London, as it marks the release of the sixth Harry Potter book. And because people are inherently impatient, that means that no one can wait until business hours and instead insist on getting the book as soon as the day officially begins -- 12:01 am. Not that I'm criticizing this, mind you. After all, this is coming from the guy who twice waited in line outside overnight for Star Wars tickets and saw the two most recent Star Wars movies at 12:01 showings. So keeping with such geeky tradition, I was among those who lined up to get the latest Harry Potter book.

After all, this is the country that spawned the series. It only seems fitting to join in on all the hoopla. When in Rome, and all that (only, of course, in London). A lot of bookstores were doing the midnight promotion, but we (that's Liz and I) decided to do this in style. We headed down to Piccadilly Circus to Europe's largest bookstore, Waterstone's. The queue wasn't nearly as long as we expected, and there weren't too many people dressed up for the occasion (actually, I think more Waterstone's employees were dressed up than customers). There was one group of very spirited and vocal young ladies ahead of us in line, but all in all it was a fairly calm affair. One of the highlights of waiting in line was that we got free Waterstone's ponchos (a glorified garbage bag, really) that people could wear while standing in the queue. If you used your imagination, you could consider us a large group of dementors. Or it can double as a Nazgul costume for your next LOTR party.

Waterstone's also organized the event very well. The queue moved about in an orderly fashion. There were no mobs, no chaos, no generalized pandamonium. Once they opened the doors and the line started moving, I was able to get in, purchase my book, and get out very quickly. And now I'm among the first to own the book, hours ahead of everyone home in the States. Ha!

The walk back was particularly entertaining since Liz and I decided to wear our garbage bags home. The number of looks and comments we got (all good-natured) was really quite amusing.

Pictures of it all are here.