December 01 2022

The Advent-ure begins

 

My Advent calendar is untouched, it's the 1st of December - Door Number 1 beckons. Opening the door reveals a bottle with a green label - Could this be Proper Job ?  That's the only St Austell Ale I know with a green label, 

Pulling the bottle further out shows that it is a new beer to me from the Small Batch Brews series - MISH MASH, with the tagline Hazy, Banana, Fruity - I'll add it to my Beer Library in the fridge to cool down, it will be interesting to see what it's like, but not at 8-o-Clock in the morning!

There's gnome place like home

De-gnoming - is on the list of jobs for the day, but breakfast first - Mrs Weasley certainly seems to be making up for the starvation rations at the Dursley's - eight or nine sausages plus 3 fried eggs!  wow - it's no wonder that Harry can hardly move when he goes to help Ron de-gnome the garden - and I must admit that the Harry Potter style gnomes seem to be worth getting rid of, they sound much less loveable than the traditional British garden gnome (silly hat,  fishing rod etc. . ) I'm a great fan of gnomes, and pixies (not forgetting piskies!)

When I visit Devon, usually on the way to Cornwall - which, as everyone knows is the finest county in the whole of the United Kingdom, there's a more or less mandatory detour to Pixieland, Dartmeet, on the B3357 near Yelverton, the exact location is 50°32'46.2"N  3°52'57.0"W but you'll probably find it easier to look on Google Maps and search for 50.546163, -3.882486

It's famous for pixies, and (this bit is supposed to be a secret - but I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else) - Pixieland is also where you can find (and sit on!) Cherry's very favourite Toadstool in the whole world!

You can just see Cherry's toadstool on the left-hand side of this view of Pixieland taken from the Google maps location above.

Cherry's favourite toadstool

Harry has gained an admirer, Ginny - who gets extremely shy whenever Harry is about - and Mr Weasley gets back from work - and seems an affable kind of chap.  Harry settles into his new room, and decides that The Burrows is a lovely place to be.

Harry moves to the Burrows

Ron turned up during the evening at Harry's window in a flying car - the vehicle is described as 'an old turquoise car - parked in mid-air'. 

From the Harry Potter films and promotional material I've seen over the years, I had thought the magic flying car was specifically described as a Ford Anglia in the books - but that seems to have been selected by the screenwriters and film producers. 

On the other hand, having driven one - I can confirm that there's nothing enchanting about a Ford Anglia, (though Ford enthusiasts may disagree)!

Either way it did the trick - Harry, and his luggage, (liberated from the cupboard under the stairs by George, who used a hairpin - to do a little 'muggle lock-picking' to get the luggage),

Harry nearly left Hedwig behind, until he heard a stray screech, which also woke up Uncle Vernon - but finally everyone is aboard and the flying car is driven away from the Dursleys, with Uncle Vernon spluttering to Aunt Petunia "He's Getting Away"...  You would have thought that would make him happy, but he now seems to regret Harry making good his escape - you just can't please some people....

Once under way, Hedwig is let out of his cage and allowed to fly alongside the car to stretch his wings.  During the journey Harry also finds out that Ron, George and Fred had been sending messages to him by Owl for weeks and wondering why Harry hadn't replied - (Thanks Dobby!). 

Arriving in the village of Ottery St Catchpole, Ron plans to sneak the 'borrowed' flying car back in before anyone notices, but Mum is waiting for them at the Burrows, 'marching across the yard, scattering the chickens' - I loved the following description of Ron's Mum - probably familiar to most worried Mums who have had to wait up for their missing offspring!

"for a short-plump, kind faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a Sabre-toothed tiger".

"Have you any idea how worried I've been .... 

"beds empty! No note! Car gone . . . could have crashed . . . out of my mind with worry"

Followed by the traditional -

"you wait until your father gets home . . "

"Mrs Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on Harry, who backed away."

"I'm very pleased to see you Harry Dear", she said "Come in and have some Breakfast".

Thankfully it looks like Harry has found a nice family to stay with when he's not at Hogwarts.

I'm beginning to warm to book two, after my initial feeling of 'Here we go again - more Vernon, Dudley and Petunia.   Together with Dobby the House Elf, causing trouble and stealing Harry's mail - which made me less than eager to continue with this volume.

However - now I've read further on, it seems to be waking up a little and I'll carry on reading it - after all it's not like I have a choice! 

I promised Cherry that I will read all of the Harry Potter books, and I will.

Based on the first book, I'll sure that I will enjoy the journey, and look forward to learning more about the wizarding world, and in any event, I bought books 1 to 7 in a box, so I've got no excuse.

After giving myself a short holiday from Harry Potter, when I had other stuff to do, and to be absolutely honest, using my bedtime reading time to finish reading another book I got temporarily hooked on,  I'm back in the saddle - and Harry is back on my bedside table ready to read.

Stay safe all.

Book Two - Dursleys and the pink pudding

One of the things I was most relieved about in Harry Potter book one, was that as soon as Harry went to Hogwarts, the Dursleys faded into the background.  

I started book two, with a feeling of 'we've been here before', Harry is back with the Dursleys, Petunia is being as irritating as ever, Harry's wizarding gear has been locked in the cupboard under the stairs, Vernon is as overbearing as usual, and Dudley is just Dudley!

Even Hedwig is imprisoned - locked in his cage to stop him carrying messages.  Harry's Twelfth birthday is made even more miserable by Vernon holding a dinner party for a 'very important' customer - packing Harry off upstairs where he is told not to make a sound. 

Just as I was thinking it couldn't get any worse, the hedge grew eyes, and Dobby the house elf  appeared begging Harry not to go back to Hogwarts, but refusing to explain who he was working for of what the specific threat to Harry was.  Dobby has also stolen all the letters posted by Hermione and the Weasleys, which seemed a particularly unhelpful thing to do.

Last but not least, Dobby, for no particular reason casts a Hover Charm on Aunt Petunia's pudding - 'a mountain of cream and sugared violets' raising it up to the ceiling, and when asked nicely by Harry to stop, just drops it on the floor.   

Almost immediately a letter arrives by barn owl during the after dinner mints.  Addressed to Harry, the letter informs him that the Ministry of Magic 'has detected the improper use of a hover charm at twelve minutes past nine', and Harry is in trouble.  

It occurred to me that if the Ministry of magic could detect and locate the magical incident, and identify the precise time and nature of the charm employed - surely they could tell that it was done by Dobby the house elf, not Harry. - This seems a bit unfair.

Norbert's Teddy

I've been anticlimactixorcised, or that's the way it feels . . .Yes I know that's not a word but it precisely describes my reaction to finishing Harry Potter Book One, so it is a word now!.

I've spent the whole book, (which is after all called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), waiting so see what Harry or Dumbledore do with the Philosopher's stone, when they inevitably triumph over the many adversaries standing in their way after getting past Fluffy and gaining entrance to the trapdoor. 

By the way - am I alone in thinking that playing music (any music - even Harry on flute!), is a pretty soppy way of defeating the fearsome Fluffy!  Not very magical or wizardly, was it?

Sorry - got side-tracked there, as I was saying - Hagrid gets drunk and accepts a dragon's egg from a stranger in an Inn because he always wanted a dragon, and then hatches a Norwegian Ridgeback egg in his hut with a flame thrower. 


The dragon bit was very amusing - Hagrid found out that Dragons don't stay cute for long, and raising a fire breathing mischievous infant (Norbert), in a wooden hut may not have been his greatest idea! 

Hagrid's short spell (groan), as Norbert's Mummy comes to a sensible end, when Ron's Brother Charlie from Romania, (who is conveniently studying dragons) agrees to collect Norbert, and the baby dragon is crated up for shipment.  This leads to my very favourite bit in all of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey,' said Hagrid in a muffled voice.  'An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely.'   From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though teddy was having his head torn off.

Pure inventive genius! firstly giving a (presumably furry and slightly inflammable?) teddy to a dragon is just brilliant - and Hagrid's poignant parting words to Norbert - "Mummy will never forget you!". 

Awesome.

Norbert's Teddy.

Either way - that's it - I've finished a whole Harry Potter Book.

The anti-climax? - well, having spent the entire book leading up to capturing the mystical and powerful Philosopher's stone, (apparently the book was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone in America). - I'm not sure if the stone got renamed throughout the american edition. 

Either way - Harry got the stone from the mirror of Erised, and just managed to keep it out of the clutches of the evil Quirrell, - who turned out to be the REAL villain!!! - that was well hidden! - (I might even have to say sorry to Professor Snape, who I had previously been mentally booing throughout the book). 

Then all we learn about the stone, is that when Harry comes round after the struggle with Quirrell and Voldemort, with Dumbledore looking after him in the infirmary, it turns out that Dumbledore had discussed the stone's future with the mysterious Nicolas Flamel while Harry was unconscious.

Dumbledore just said "As for the Stone, it has been destroyed".

What? - that's it? and anyway - with all these Wizards and dark arts practitioners around - what does 'Destroyed' actually mean - has it REALLY been destroyed? or will it return?

Snape gets gnawed by Fluffy, Broomstick trouble and Harry finds a Mirror

First - sorry for the delay in posting this update to my journey through the novels of Harry Potter.  I've had a busy week, and work, life, and the need to get rid of the moss in my lawn before the grass mowing season, got in the way.

I'll try and post more regularly again now - I'm still in Book One - but I'm up to page 230.

Spring has sprung - nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter - but nice flowers in the garden :-)

With his first Quidditch match looming, Harry is thrown a curve ball by Hermione - who kindly 'lends' him what turns out to be a library book! - Quidditch Through the Ages - which, while it was an interesting read, costs Gryffindor another 5 points when Snape confiscates it from Harry, on the grounds that 'Library books are not to be taken out of school' - which seemed a bit harsh.  

Later when Harry went to try and get the book back - Professor Snape was overheard complaining about his leg wounds - revealing that the Three Headed Dog in the forbidden corridor caused his limp.  

The Quidditch match didn't quite go as planned - with Harry's new Nimbus Two Thousand developing  a  mind of its own - bucking wildly - and nearly un-seating Harry, refusing to go where Harry wanted, Hagrid comments to Hermione that the only thing that can interfere with a broomstick is 'Dark Magic' - and scanning the crowd, Hermione spots Professor Snape jinxing the broomstick from the other stand.  Racing round behind him, she casts a spell, setting his robe on fire - which distracts Professor Snape from meddling with Harry's broom for long enough for Harry to regain control of the broomstick, and reveal that he had the golden snitch in his mouth from when he 'nearly swallowed it' in the dive!  The opposing team complain - but Harry hadn't broken any rules and it was good enough to win the match by One Hundred and Seventy points to Sixty.  

After the game - while discussing the 'broomstick cursing' episode with Hagrid - (who can't believe that Professor Snape would do such a thing), Hagrid lets slip that the three headed dog's name is Fluffy - and that whatever Fluffy's guarding, has something to do with a Nicolas Flamel - Ooops!  More clues for Harry . . 

Christmas decorations are up at Hogwarts, and in the post Harry gets a gift, a cloak of invisibility, which the unidentified sender says Harry's father left with him for safekeeping - and he has sent it on to Harry as he believes it is time it was returned to him.

After a splendid Christmas lunch, Harry uses his new cloak to gain access to the restricted section of the library but is heard by Filch who reports the noise to Professor Snape - and while nipping into a side room to evade the search - Harry comes across a magnificent ornate tall mirror with an inscription carved around the top - Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi which as every fan of Bletchley Park and Simon Singh's book The Code Book: - The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking will easily be able to translate, when regrouped  and reversed, as I show not your face but your hearts desire.

Harry looks into the mirror, and sees his Mum and Dad, Ron sees himself, older as the head boy, and Quidditch captain.

Pushing his luck, going back to the mirror for a third night, just about to settle down for another look at his family, he is surprised by Albus Dumbledore - who comments that it's "strange how short-sighted being invisible can make you", and then in a kindly way explains that like many before him, what he has discovered is known as the Mirror of Erised, Albus Dumbledore lets on that he has been watching Harry and Ron on previous nights - saying "I don't need a cloak to become invisible".

Dumbledore asks what Harry thinks the mirror is - Harry replies that he thinks the Mirror shows whatever we want, and is corrected, with the explanation that the mirror simply reveals the deepest most desperate desire in the viewer's heart - Harry - sees the family he has never known, while Ron - always overshadowed by his brothers sees himself as top dog.

It's also pointed out that the mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth.

Saying that the mirror will be moved that night, and that Harry should not search for it - Dumbledore reveals what he sees in the mirror - 'a pair of thick woollen socks' complaining that he didn't get any socks for Christmas, - people insisted on buying him books.  Oddly enough I generally have exactly the opposite problem - I get socks when I would prefer books!

 

Special delivery - Nimbus 2000

Harry's new broom arrives - I imagined that since the Gryffindor Quidditch team's latest trainee was supposed to be a surprise for the other houses, and with significant wizard type expertise available to Professor McGonagall and friends, it should have been possible to find a spell which cloaked the arrival of Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand - or at least magicked it straight under Harry's bed in the dorm tower - avoiding prying eyes.   

But No!  That's far too simple.

Instead - the broom not only arrives in the public owl post - but arrives in a broomstick shaped package flown in by SIX large Screech Owls - not exactly a stealthy arrival.

So it was just as well that Professor McGonagall attached a helpful covering letter, explaining "DO NOT OPEN THE (Broomstick shaped) PARCEL AT THE TABLE" - it contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, I don't want everyone knowing you've got a broomstick - or they'll all want one.

That's alright then.

Harry's first team training introduces three balls - a huge football sized Quaffle to chuck through hoops - some little black balls with a mean streak designed to put you off your stride or knock the unwary off their broomsticks, and one they didn't get to play with - the golden snitch - a flying ball with wings that the seeker (That's Harry?), has to catch to get a hundred and fifty points - simples.  (I'm sure it will make sense when I get used to it).

Halloween arrived and brought baked pumpkin, - fine if you like the taste of pumpkin - but personally - having tried pumpkin pie once, (very sickly - mainly sugar with added vegetables - Yuk!)..  I now use pumpkins for their intended purpose - which is carving, generally a toothy grin and triangular holes for the nose and eyes - then stick a night-light candle inside to look suitably spooky for Halloween.

Ron upsets Hermione by loudly telling all within earshot (including Hermione herself, - Ooops!), that she is a nightmare - cue Hermione flouncing off to the ladies loo, just before it's announced that there's a troll on the loose in the dungeons.  

Harry and Ron find - and defeat - the12 foot mountain troll in the ladies.  - Ron nearly loses his wand up the Troll's nose - but manages to pull it out (covered in Troll bogies - which he wipes on the troll's trousers).  Hermione is rescued - but the noise of their troll battle - (ending when the troll is levitated by a sneaky spell, knocking himself out on his own club), alerts Prof McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell - Asked what on earth they were doing - Hermione tells a little white lie and says it was her fault - she went looking for the troll on her own - and gets fined 5 Gryffindor house points for being stupid enough to go hunting trolls, but Harry and Ron get 10 Gryffindor house points back for defeating the troll.   

Last but not least - they are all friends now - as the book says 'there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other - and knocking out a 12 foot mountain troll is one of them'.   I'll have to remember that handy tip for making friends.  Now where did I put that 12 foot mountain troll?  I know it's here somewhere....

 

Seeker and Cerberus but no Midnight duel

The outcome of Harry's first 'unauthorised' but hugely successful broomstick flight, was that he's been spotted as a 'natural' with a rare gift for broomstick flying.

Far from getting expelled, and on the first train home to the Dursley's, which is what he feared. Professor McGonagall marched him down Hogwarts' corridors - to meet 'Wood' the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team - excitedly telling the captain that she's found a 'seeker'.  

First years don't generally play for the house in the Quidditch team, but with his natural skill Harry now looks set to be snapped up by the Gryffindor team, with Wood and Professor McGonagall sorting out the details later, getting Harry into training - while trying to keep their new talent under wraps, hoping to wrong foot the opposing House teams, in some future Quidditch tournament.

I can't say I've ever flown a broomstick - but I've come close - I can fly a glider pilot a light aircraft, and ride a motorcycle.

Me in 1985, flying solo in the same Cessna 152 which I took my first flying lesson on 6th March 1983 G-OLEE

Maybe not quite a Nimbus 2000, but I'm guessing that the rush of solo flight, or riding at speed over the exposed moorland roads of the remoter parts of Wales are not dissimilar to aerobatics on a magic broom! 

Riding the A44 in Wales towards Aberystwyth - glorious open roads with perfect sweeping bends

I look forward to seeing how Harry gets on with his Quidditch training.

The midnight duel - that never happened, then lead Harry, Ron and Hermione crashing into the forbidden corridor - to face the 'giant three headed dog guarding a hatch in the floor' . . . 

I'm getting a serious case of déjà vu here - with flashbacks to Cerberus - the three headed hound of Hades guarding the entrance to the underworld - captured by Heracles in ancient Greek mythology, while rescuing Theseus (who had unwisely run off with the lovely Persephone who happened to be the wife of Hades).    

Surely it can't be the same dog - this is the21st century?    I guess we'll find out later.    

The Gryffindor mob then dodge various ghosts, using spells (generally remembered by Hermione - who seems a bit of a swot), and remembering passwords to make it out of the forbidden corridor back to the Gryffindor dorm in the tower.

WooHoo!  Page 175 - over half way through book one!

 

Potions, gas explosions and Neville's Remembrall goes flying

The bit where Neville melts his cauldron and everyone is climbing on to their stools to avoid getting their shoes dissolved by the escaped potion, in the Potions Chapter, reminds me very much of chemistry lessons at school.  Today, the Health and Safety regulations mean that school chemistry lessons are taught without much practical 'experimentation', and the dangerous stuff is generally shown to the class by multimedia or YouTube demonstrations.

But when I went to 'big school' as an 11 year old in 1966, 'safety' meant wearing a lab coat to save your school uniform from getting burnt by the acids in racks on the bench, or scorched by the flame from the bunsen burner each of us had, for heating up test tubes full on interesting chemicals in the practical sessions.  And of course wearing the safety glasses provided.

As well as our own 'experiments' in the chemistry coursework, large 'spectacular' or 'risky' experiments were demonstrated live on the front bench by the chemistry teacher whose name I think was Mr Auty. 

One of the best used a large round cake tin with a small hole punched in the lid, which was used to demonstrate that for an explosion to occur, you needed exactly the right mixture of fuel and oxygen.  The fuel was mains gas, which was supplied by a rubber hose connected to the laboratory bench gas tap - the gas was piped into the tin through the hole in the lid, for a few minutes making sure that the tin was full of gas, (with no air mixed in).  

The tin was placed in the centre of the bench and a lighted match applied just above the hole, producing a tall bright flame as the escaping gas burned in the air.

The flame got progressively smaller as the gas was used up, so we thought that was the end of the demonstration and relaxed - then - BOOM! as the flame went inside the tin the gas air mixture hit just the right mixture needed for a loud explosion - which blew the tin lid right up to the ceiling.  Excellent!  

If you want to know how this worked - google 'Chemistry - demonstration of spontaneous combustion', but if you get into trouble I never told you about it!

Harry and Ron ended up going to see Hagrid for tea, and Hagrid seems a bit reticent about the details of their visit to Gringotts bank, which was in the news following a burglary where nothing was taken from the vault - odd!

Neville's barn owl brought him a present from his Gran - a Remembrall - which Draco Malfoy immediately took a fancy to - giving it back only when Mr Snape turns up in the nick of time.

Later - the class are taken outside to practice Broomstick flying - Harry seems to be a natural, managing to get his Broomstick to obey the Up command - and then chasing Draco into the air when he again 'borrows' Neville's new Remembrall, managing to dive after it and catch it when Malfoy spitefully threw it in the air - looks like trouble brewing!  

Harry Potter is told off by Professor McGonagall - could be serious. and it's only page 160. 





 

Tea with Hagrid - and Birthdays

I've run out of my favourite teabags - Assam by Lidl - it's a lovely malty 'builders tea' kind of teabag, but since I'm not allowed out at the moment due to the Covid-19 Lockdown - I'm stuck with drinking my way through my emergency tea supplies.

Not all bad - it has to be said - as I've got some  proper loose Assam tea which only takes a bit longer to infuse than the 'proper teabag way'.

Sorry about the 'Tea' diversion - blame it on Hagrid - who invited Harry for a cuppa in the Potions chapter - after all - as potions go, there is nothing much better than a nice cup of tea especially at three o clock on a Friday Afternoon.

Cherry disagrees, and spurns hot drinks in favour of cold drinks - generally with fruit in them.  But I'm sure she will discover the joy of proper tea sooner or later - probably later.

Speaking of Cherry - I haven't seen her thoughts on Jonathan Livingstone Seagull yet.

Either way - 

Happy Birthday Cherry :-)  (15th April)

have a lovely day.

The Sorting Hat, HedwigCam and a manx cat

A few things have happened today -

As far as Harry Potter book one is concerned, I read Chapter 7 The Sorting Hat, and - since it sorted everyone else - I went to the Wizarding World website and got myself sorted too. (It seemed rude not to).  As well as my House (which is Ravenclaw), it also selected me a wand

Elm wood with a unicorn hair core, 11" and brittle flexibility.  

I think we've been here before!  you are either brittle - in which case you snap! or flexible - in which case you don't  - Ho Hum . . 

My assigned patronus was a manx cat, which is nice - I'm not sure what a patronus is - but Cherry assures me that I'll find out in around book three - and for now I've gained a cat.

My Children's Collection of Harry Potter Books arrived this morning - I made a 'HedwigCam' unboxing video which also shows everyone exactly where my hair is thinning - excellent!

Either way - the books weigh 3.3 Kg, and will keep me in Harry Potter reading material for a good few weeks yet.  They also appear to get thicker towards the end - with The Order of the Phoenix being an especially chunky book.  

In 'The Sorting Hat' chapter - the start-of-term banquet struck me as an excellent idea for first year students - they never had those when I went to school. 

The ghosts seem like they could be trouble later on - but I loved Nearly Headless Nick. "Someone had tried to behead him, but had not done it properly".  The start of term notices 'no magic to be used between classes in the corridors' seems certain to be completely ignored!

All the characters I remember from the (very few) Harry Potter films I watched when Cherry was younger, seem to have ended up in the same house - 'Gryfinndor' - Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger Neville Longbottom, and Percy Weasley, so I guess they are the main gang.

The next chapter is about Potions - but I'm all Pottered out at the moment - so I'll leave that for another day.