"I'll just nip out at midnight to the local bookstore," I thought. I might be an ex-Australian on my passport, but culturally, when it comes to queueing I just don't do it - so no trekking down to some central London witches and warlocks circus for me.
The local Waterstone's was open ("from midnight until 1") they told me this afternoon, so I'd just jump on the bicycle, tootle up there, and be home for some hot chocolate in no time.
Who was I kidding? This was, as someone in the queue told me, "a once in a lifetime experience". And lots of people, hundreds of people, many of whom like me had thought to avoid the central London queues, had come to experience it.
Camden High Street is one of the "alternative" social centres of London, lined with late-night pubs, nightclubs, and drug-dealers. If you know who to ask you can get any drug you could name, and some you couldn't, on this street. Goths rub shoulders with dolly girls, hoodie gangs skip around football fans on the razz.
But a queue for a BOOK? A 400-strong queue -- longer by far than that permanent fixture outside Koko, the nightclub that has clung to fervent popularity longer than usually seems possible — for a book?
This was beyond the comprehension of the denizens of Camden High Street. A Goth with a mohican, 20 lip piercings and a dress of full leather and studs won't raise an eyebrow here, but at this they stared open-mouthed.
It had obviously been beyond the comprehension too of Waterstone's, whose staff numbers, and "special Halloween sweets" supplies were meant for a far smaller turnout.
Past McDonald's, past the post office, past the bookie's, the queue snaked on and on. At its head the report was that the keenest had been here at 10pm, which turned out to be wise really, since it took nearly two hours for my end, which I joined at midnight, to reach the welcome warmth of the doors.
Article comments
1 - katie mcneill
It was wonderful. Here in the States the lines were just as long. I went to several of the book parties here in Oklahoma and had to fight my way through crowds of people to just to see what kind of things the different bookstores had going on. Costume contests, different ‘Harry Potter’ themed games, and stickers proclaiming Snape as friend or foe.
There was a huge age range. Young parents who had dressed their children (at various ages) as witches or wizards. Teenagers in their goth finest, the preppy kids sporting school jackets, and the every one in between. Not to mention all the adults from all different walks of life.
It was great that something like this could bring together all these different people.