A couple questions for Brits

[davewitley]

Athena:

> I was thinking of Harry.  Whether or not he might have gone Trick 
or 
> Treating while living in Surrey.  I thought if he did that he might 
> have had a few sweets pocketed away before Dudley snatched Harry's 
> sackful of candy.  Just thought it might be an interesting contrast 
> to the Halloween feasts at Hogwarts, but don't want to include that 
> if it wouldn't be likely in Britain.

Difficult one.  On the one hand, the Dursleys might think it cute 
their darling Dudley sweetly offering to wreak nameless crimes upon 
their neighbours.  On the other, they are pretty conservative and 
could look on trick or treating as a vulgar American custom.  In 
either case I doubt they'd let Harry join in.

> I grew up Trick or Treating and looked forward to it each year.  
> That was long before I knew anything about what the holiday was 
> about.  It just seemed like a fun time for kids.  Get dressed up in 
> a weird costume and go house to house begging for candy!  Such a 
> deal.

My vague childhood memory is of dressing up and carrying turnip 
lanterns at Hallowe'en, but I'm not sure what we all *did* when we 
were out on the streets.

> --So if ice hockey is more common than street hockey -- does that 
> mean people watch it on the telly?

I'd say mostly no.  The Guildford Flames near where I live are one of 
the top teams in the country, I believe, and I don't think their 
games are televised.  Their followers have to turn up to the matches 
to be able to see them.  (It's quite fun to go to the matches, just 
because the sport doesn't attract big money)  But Dean could do that: 
I don't know if there's a team local to his part of London.

  (Maybe on satellite TV or at 
> sports bars?) I'm looking for games where there's a similarity in 
> game strategies to the scoring in Quidditch.

I can't really think of any sport where such a large part of the game 
hinges on a single action.  Oddly enough, I suppose the 'Golden Goal' 
phase of the soccer World Cup knock-out matches comes closest: but 
league matches don't have that.  In some versions of rounders (the 
British version of baseball) if the fielding team catches the ball 
then the batting team is all out.  But rounders is not a commercial 
game at all.

  Football where there's 
> a goal and goalie is similar enough to hockey (even if there aren't 
> the same number of players).  Basketball doesn't use a goaltender, 
> but it still has players who will try and block shots, rebound, etc.
> 
> What I'm looking for is the likelihood that a sports crazed Muggle 
> such as Dean Thomas might be up on different sports such as 
> basketball and hockey.  We know he loves football.  But could he be 
> a fan and know some of the strategies of hockey even if he never 
put 
> on a pair of skates in his life?

That's entirely possible.  To be a sports fan doesn't require any 
actual ability (or desire) to play, any more than HPFGU membership 
requires wizarding ability.

David