I Should Be Sleeping Like A Log...

Today we went to Platform 9 ¾!! Well, we tried at least. No matter how hard I pushed, I just couldn’t get through that barrier. We did, however, get some great pictures of us all pushing a cart through to the Hogwarts Express. And we had a lot of fun while we were at it.

From King’s Cross, we walked the few blocks over to the British Library. I am now officially a library card holder at the British Library. How cool is that! It has my picture on it and everything!

Not only is the British Library a working library, it also has several exhibits to see. The Treasures Room holds all sorts of important pieces of literature and sheet music, including a Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta as well as original copies of Handel’s Messiah and some other really old stuff.

Let’s be real. My favorite part of the Treasures Room were the random sheets of scrap paper, envelopes, or birthday cards on which John, Paul, George and Ringo had scribbled lyrics to melodies that hadn’t even become songs yet. Seriously, John Lennon wrote the words to “Hard Day’s Night” on the back of his son Julian’s birthday card. George Harrison scribbled lyrics on the back of a piece of scrap paper that had directions to George Epstein’s house on the other side.

The library had another exhibit called Writing Britain which cost £5 and, being Frugal Fred’s daughter, I thought twice before paying the extra to go in. It was worth the £5.

In the Writing Britain exhibit, I saw an original J.R.R. Tolkien painting of the Shire, original manuscripts from countless authors, including the Bronte sisters, Virginia Woolf, Daphne du Maurier and, yeah, some dudes, too. I got a little teary when I saw Wind in the Willows in Kenneth Grahame’s own handwriting. But the best part, of course, was seeing J.K. Rowling’s doodles on the side of the paper, which also included pieces of chapter 6 of Philosopher’s Stone.

It was a really great exhibit. Being a lover of books and a lover of storytellers, it was really exciting to have a sneak peak into the authors themselves.

And now, I must be off. We have an early train to catch tomorrow. We’re off to Paris for the weekend! I’m excited and slightly nervous, since, as anyone who went to Deshler would know, two years of Ms. Stone’s French class actually just means two years of watching Disney movies with French subtitles or The Three Musketeers with Chris O’Donnell and eating croissants.

Oh, well...

As long as I can find my way to Disneyland, I’ll be fine!