[the_old_crowd] Is He Dead Jim?

[Neil Ward]

Lord Randemort jumped off his stool and said:

<< Has anyone noticed that 3 people account for over half of the messages
posted on this list in August? >>

Since I set up this list in a flurry of owls, it may seem odd that I fell
into the depths of lurkdom so soon after my first reading of Order of the
Phoenix.  The truth of the matter is that I was rather underwhelmed by the
book and haven't managed (or wanted) to get my teeth into a second reading.
I decided to put off posting any OoP thoughts until I'd read the book again.
Catherine assures me that it's much better on second reading, so I'm looking
forward to it now.

Generally, I've been insanely busy at work and I'm currently entering a
period of even more intense activity that won't ease up until mid-October,
so I'm likely to stay pretty quiet here for a while longer.  Just about the
only place I'm posting anything is on LiveJournal, but even that it is
sporadic and OT.  I guess it doesn't help that I'm no longer involved with
HPfGU admin in any shape (especially car-shaped), as that reduces my
exposure to Harry Potter to the occasional skim of the HPfGU lists and The
Leaky Cauldron.

In other news, HPfGU-London had a meet not so long ago in honour of Pippin's
visit to the UK.  It was fun meeting up with Pippin and seeing Catherine,
Michelle, Ali, Pip and David again.  I also met Eloise (Elizabeth) for the
first time and she didn't look at all as I'd pictured her.  We did discuss
HP and I felt decidedly rusty on canon details. I left even more determined
to re-read OoP; fired up by the enthusiasm of others.

I recruited a new member of staff about a week ago who, according to one of
my colleagues, looks rather like Harry Potter.  I should add that she is a
grown woman in her mid-30s who plays rugby, but aside from that, there is a
passing resemblance to the delicate boy wizard.  Come to think of it, one of
the other candidates was very like Rita Skeeter (and she was a freelance
journalist and was wearing red lipstick and looked evil) and another one had
long red hair and a faraway look in her eyes!  Omigod!!!  Was that life
imitating art?  Okay, perhaps not.

It may be as quiet as a graveyard in here now, but I'm sure we'll get some
discussions going before too long.  Let's face it, we probably have years
stretching ahead of us before Book Six surfaces - why rush?  I'm on a Diana
Wynne-Jones list that moves along in fits and starts, sometimes falling to
total silence for weeks and other times giving the HPfGU main list a run for
its money on posting volume.  All it takes is one juicy thread to take
things from 'country lane' to 'traffic jam'.  That list is also not afraid
to mingle DWJ discussions with OT threads, although the list owner tries to
enforce a 'obDWJ' in all OT posts - an 'obligatory Diana Wynne Jones'
reference, however obscure or tenuous.  Perhaps we should try that here if
things kick off?

Neil

Rusting Ford Anglia