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All aboard the Wizard's Expresssssss
10/07/2003 07:38 pm( Before the deluge )
One would think that if I am going to take nearly three weeks to read the thing, what is another day or two? Well...The school holidays are on at the moment and they are running the wicked and wonderful Wizard's Express. I booked my ticket on 21 June (of course) and due to the minor inconvenience known as work could only choose today or next Thursday. I wanted to start reading it for the second time on the steam train which meant that I had to be finished by today.
The very first Wizard Express, they ran on Saturday 8 June last year and I specially requested a day off so I could go. It was absolutely gorgeous weather and a gorgeous train and the passengers mainly consisted of train spotters and the odd family. They quickly learnt that Saturday is bad as so many kids are doing sports and stuff so they now stick to weekdays during school holidays.
The little town we go to on the train is quite pretty. Lots of parks and wonderful places for picnics. But shortly before we arrived it started raining in buckets. It just poured and poured and poured. There goes my little picnic plans. I got absolutely soaked and even lost the snake sticker on my green hat. I will be ever so peeved when the sun is splitting the stones NEXT Thursday.
This is the sixth time I have been on the train and the little touches of detail get better each time....pity they can't do something about the weather.
They have Wizard welcome signs at the station. Even the toilets have witches and wizards instead of the usual boring inscriptions. They have signs warning to watch out for the ghost trains and a bridge over a troll infested river which today was truly torrential.
The train staff wear wacky costumes and there is also the dungeons and Wizarding supply shops to amuse ourselves with for the 90 mins or so we have there before the train returns.
Izzie was particularly amused by the sales wizard with the broomstick pottering along the queue to the dungeon explaining the virtues of the Firebolt. He glances at ickle Iz who is dressed in green from head to toe and says."..Oh.. you must be a member of the Irish quidditch team. They have just bought 7 Firebolts for the World Cup Final haven't they?"
"Yesssssss" Izzie hisses. "But there is an even better broom than your firebolt. The Green Blitz!"
"Never heard of that model before" He comments, looking rather befuddled and confused.
"Mission accomplished" Izzie mutters to herself. Next stop was the basilisk and a quick peek in the Ford Anglia? that they had parked just outside the dungeon. Whatever it was....looked just like the one in the movie except it was burgundy instead of blue.
Iz was delighted to discover that there was at least 2 other Slytherins on the train. We once had a Gilderoy Lockhart and some house elves but this time was the usual plethora of boring Gryffindors with glasses, scars or bushy hair and books.
There will be a special steam train for Halloween but Iz will be down south in Bridgetown where I was exactly this time last year with book 4...and you guessed it.....rained most of the time. That was the third time reading book 4 and I just loved it. Most strange since I did not like it first time at all... read it way too quickly....one reason why I went to the other extreme this time ...and second time was a bit worried about how I would react to certain scenes... if it was anything like the first time.. not much fun. Third time I knew there was nothing to be scared of. In fact those were the bits I liked best. I somehow suspect that I love all those Dolores bits for the very same reason. SSSSo glad she is back. Izzie wants more Dolores. Bigger, badder and bitchier than ever.
And what I think of the book... still undecided. Will get back to that some other time. But one thing I do know...the days of Happy Potter are well and truly over. I loved the darkness but missed the sense of joy and hope that just oozed out of the first books.
One would think that if I am going to take nearly three weeks to read the thing, what is another day or two? Well...The school holidays are on at the moment and they are running the wicked and wonderful Wizard's Express. I booked my ticket on 21 June (of course) and due to the minor inconvenience known as work could only choose today or next Thursday. I wanted to start reading it for the second time on the steam train which meant that I had to be finished by today.
The very first Wizard Express, they ran on Saturday 8 June last year and I specially requested a day off so I could go. It was absolutely gorgeous weather and a gorgeous train and the passengers mainly consisted of train spotters and the odd family. They quickly learnt that Saturday is bad as so many kids are doing sports and stuff so they now stick to weekdays during school holidays.
The little town we go to on the train is quite pretty. Lots of parks and wonderful places for picnics. But shortly before we arrived it started raining in buckets. It just poured and poured and poured. There goes my little picnic plans. I got absolutely soaked and even lost the snake sticker on my green hat. I will be ever so peeved when the sun is splitting the stones NEXT Thursday.
This is the sixth time I have been on the train and the little touches of detail get better each time....pity they can't do something about the weather.
They have Wizard welcome signs at the station. Even the toilets have witches and wizards instead of the usual boring inscriptions. They have signs warning to watch out for the ghost trains and a bridge over a troll infested river which today was truly torrential.
The train staff wear wacky costumes and there is also the dungeons and Wizarding supply shops to amuse ourselves with for the 90 mins or so we have there before the train returns.
Izzie was particularly amused by the sales wizard with the broomstick pottering along the queue to the dungeon explaining the virtues of the Firebolt. He glances at ickle Iz who is dressed in green from head to toe and says."..Oh.. you must be a member of the Irish quidditch team. They have just bought 7 Firebolts for the World Cup Final haven't they?"
"Yesssssss" Izzie hisses. "But there is an even better broom than your firebolt. The Green Blitz!"
"Never heard of that model before" He comments, looking rather befuddled and confused.
"Mission accomplished" Izzie mutters to herself. Next stop was the basilisk and a quick peek in the Ford Anglia? that they had parked just outside the dungeon. Whatever it was....looked just like the one in the movie except it was burgundy instead of blue.
Iz was delighted to discover that there was at least 2 other Slytherins on the train. We once had a Gilderoy Lockhart and some house elves but this time was the usual plethora of boring Gryffindors with glasses, scars or bushy hair and books.
There will be a special steam train for Halloween but Iz will be down south in Bridgetown where I was exactly this time last year with book 4...and you guessed it.....rained most of the time. That was the third time reading book 4 and I just loved it. Most strange since I did not like it first time at all... read it way too quickly....one reason why I went to the other extreme this time ...and second time was a bit worried about how I would react to certain scenes... if it was anything like the first time.. not much fun. Third time I knew there was nothing to be scared of. In fact those were the bits I liked best. I somehow suspect that I love all those Dolores bits for the very same reason. SSSSo glad she is back. Izzie wants more Dolores. Bigger, badder and bitchier than ever.
And what I think of the book... still undecided. Will get back to that some other time. But one thing I do know...the days of Happy Potter are well and truly over. I loved the darkness but missed the sense of joy and hope that just oozed out of the first books.
