The Inconvenient Mule

Well, it’s moving day tomorrow and we’re off to Dara Towers in Rickmansworth. At 8am tomorrow the Aussie Man with a Van team will be round to pack everything up and cart it up two or three flights of stairs at the other end. Full packing is the best thing since sliced cheese.

We’ve had a tough week painting the new flat ready for occupation. I had a crazy fool idea to paint three of the walls in the living room with stripes in the manner of the decor at Delisserie in Hatch End (one finds inspiration in the strangest of places). While Dan and his parents attended to the rest of the flat (three shades of coffee in the bedroom, green hall and bathroom), masking tape and careful edges were my territory for three days. Provided you use decent masking tape (the blue stuff from Homebase is good) and have a reasonably steady hand for the touching-up, it’s not too difficult.

It’s a bit sad to be leaving Pinner with its snickets and strange assortment of people, but semi-rural Ricky awaits with the promise of lakes and a lovely Waitrose!

Long before Half Blood Prince went into production, I was curious as to which bits in the film would be kept and which bits would be cut out.  I was convinced that the director would keep as much of the main plot as possible, as had been done in the past, so I was not surprised that Fleur Delacour would not be appearing in the film nor did I join other fans’ outbursts.

However, when I heard that they would be ‘adding’ scenes, I became worried.  What’s more that they would be action scenes involving the destruction of the Millennium Bridge and the Burrow, I was a little suspicious.  I didn’t fully believe their claims that they were just thrown in to show that not even the muggle world was safe, or how not even the Weasleys were safe.  I’m still convinced that a main reason for throwing them in was just to make the film more ‘action-based’, as little action actually happens in the book (Then again I saw this as a chance to create a fantasy film more about character development than action, something which had been failed to be realised).
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