Rev Stan's other stuff

QotD: Ghost Writer

If you could write like one fiction author, who would it be?
Submitted by Marilyn.

JK Rowling. But I wouldn't have bothered finishing the series. Once I'd made enough cash, I'd retire into obscurity on a small island in the pacific.

Not really.

It would have to be Arundhati Roy purely because The God of Small Things tore me up and I think it would be fantastic to write a story that had such an affect on its readers.

The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy

She's working on her next novel which I hope matches it because it's been a while since I read anything that really moved me.

QotD: First Celebrity Crush

Who was your first celebrity crush?
Submitted by Glory

That was Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran when I was at primary school. Each of my friends fancied a different member of the band so there was no arguing. I remember being particularly taken with him in the Rio video with his white shirt flapping open in the wind as he sat on the front of a boat. Then there was the Wild Boys video when the band were all tied to a water wheel...

Simon Le Bon - 80's hotty

Fife walk

Went for a walk with my sister, nephew and Schnitz the dog along the Firth of the Forth to a village called Limekilns. It's an industrial area, historically and still. Limekilns, as the name hints, was the centre of lime production in Scotland during the industrial revolution but fell into decline after concrete replaced lime as the building material of choice in the 1950's.
The old limekilns are right next to the harbour which is pretty neglected now but further down the shore you can see the cranes in the new ship yards and the road and rail bridges to Edinburgh.
I didn't have my proper camera on me so had a little play with my camera phone and am quite pleased with the results:

Limekilns: black & white

Forth from Limekilns

Room with a view (nearly)

Have been up in Scotland for work and pleasure for the last few days. Stayed in an Edinburgh hotel on Thursday and Friday night and was quite surprised by the fact that I nearly got a view. I say nearly because if you know Edinburgh, there are some amazing views and I only got to see a slither of some of the city's old town architecture and amazing rugged greenery. But hey, it's normally a car park or the roof of the next building so I'm not complaining...

View from Edinburgh hotel

Muse single confirmed

The rumours are indeed true, Muse will release Invincible as their next single on April 9...

Wedding dance

Everyone's probably already seen this or at least read about it in the papers. I've been meaning to look it up for a couple of days and finally did and I think it is fab. Apparently they spent six months rehearsing. The video has had several gajillion hits...

 

Dirty Dancing

Muse singalong in Trafalgar Square

I really don't know what to say about this...

 

QotD: Win Me Over

What's the best way to get on your good side?
Submitted by Manon-It-All.

Chocolate and it has to be plain because milk upsets my stomach even though I really like it.

The effect is directly proportionate to brand of chocolate:

1. Montezuma's vegan truffles

Montezuma's chocolates

2. Any other Montezuma's chocolate

3. Starbucks fair trade plain chocolate bar

4. Green & Black's maya gold

5. Any other Green & Blacks plain chocolate

6. Bog standard plain chocolate

QotD: I'm Good.

What are five things you're good at?
Submitted by HapaLove.

Baking cakes
Burping words
Watching films/TV
Not phoning relatives
Making up excuses for not going to yoga

Camera phone fun

I love my new camera phone. It's great having it with me all the time so I can just snap, snap away whenever the mood takes me...
These are from my work trip to Manchester last week and were taken at Salford Quays:

Then I had my first ride on the Manchester tram system back into the city centre. All very quick and efficient but I was surprised at how expensive it was - only 20p less than a single tube fare for me back in London. I know these things are expensive to build and run but I'm used to stuff being that much cheaper outside London. The interior of the carriages look a little eastern block but I'd put up with worse to avoid a rat tunnel anyday.

Manchester tram

And then back in London, at the weekend I was up in town and didn't realise it was Chinese New Year until I got to China Town. The sheer number of people and noise from occasional fire cracker and caps gave the area quite a lively atmosphere. And the red lanterns were everywhere.

Chinese New Year, China Town

Later on the way home I crossed Trafalgar Square and couldn't resist taking a picture of the fountains all lit up.

Incidentally earlier there had been a small handful of people protesting about the ban on feeding the pigeons in the square. They were getting their point across with banners and by 'illegally' feeding the pigeons. I was very tempted to shout out 'rats with wings' but decided instead to walk straight through the flock or crowd or pack (or whatever you call the mad-eyed, stumpy footed, disease ridden horse-shit eaters) which had gathered to feed, sending them flying in all directions and all the time                                                                  thinking I'll probably get shat on now. But luckily didn't.

Fountain in Trafalgar Square

 

Fountain in Trafalgar Square

QotD: Happy President's Day!

Ever run for office?  (School, club, organization, politics, etc.)  Did you get elected?

I was 'services officer' for my student union for two years running. It was a silly title because what I actually did was run the campus shop, a glorified tuck shop which opened for an hour, three times a day and sold student essentials: sweets, pot noodles, baked beans and fags.
The first year I went for the position, the college's socialist fraternity decided they were going to sway college politics by getting as many of their members on the student union council as possible, so I was up against one of their candidates. She knew more people than me and won the vote but quit after a week because she realised she would actually have to do more than sit in on the weekly council meetings.
I was given the position and then won legitimately the following year because nobody went up against me.
It was a great position because I got paid to go to the cash and carry and choose which pick n' mix we should stock. It also meant I could give all my mates jobs and open the shop whenever I wanted.
We substituted our wages with pick 'n mix. Fizzy cola bottles were the 'best seller'.

Being on the council also meant I got paid to take the money on the door at the campus night club and when I wasn't working I went to the front of the queue and got in free. As I worked the door, the bar staff got to know me and used to give me free drinks and generous measures.
It certainly made up for going to weekly council meetings.

Harry Potter's magic wand - the verdict

Ooh I'm feeling so cultured today. First poems now the theatre, its a good job I'm going to see Hot Fuzz with Mosh tomorrow as I might forget myself.
Anyway, today was todger day. Sorry that isn't the best way to start my first post theatre post.

Equus at the Gielgud Theatre

I must admit I was very excited when I got to the theatre and not merely by the hype surrounding the nudity but the prospect of some good live drama after so long.
And I wasn't disappointed. Pure drama stripped of fancy stage sets, props and costumes.
Essentially the story is about a 17-year-old boy who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital having blinded a stable full of horses by stabbing them in the eyes. The central characters are the boy (Daniel Radcliffe) and his psychiatrist (Richard Griffiths) trying to unravel why he did it.
It was easy to forget Radcliffe's associations with Harry Potter. He acted well and although there were certain aspects of his performance that were very similar, there were aspects of seasoned actor Griffiths' performance which also evoked memories previous characters he's played, so Radcliffe can't be criticised for that.
Indeed Griffiths fluffed his lines on a number of occasions but this is preview week.
Radcliffe was extremely confident in his performance, something that only really became apparent when he came on to take a bow at the end and appeared really nervous and unsure, taking his lead from Griffiths.
The staging and lighting were also imaginative particularly in how the horses and riding scenes were portrayed.
And the nudity. Well I was more shocked by Radcliffe smoking and he really smoked. The nude scene, which is quite long, was so much part of the story and the actors (a 'girlfriend' is also naked) so natural in the performance it was hardly the sensation its been hyped up to be and, in a positive way, I felt it not even worthy of a raised eyebrow.
A well deserved standing ovation was given at the end.
On a bit of a high, I headed straight for the stage door and managed to get a really good spot before the crowd really gathered clutching my programme and a pen and camera phone at the ready. Jenny Agutter came out and signed a few autographs, the minor cast members left without much of a stir and then a chap came out and said that Daniel Radcliffe wouldn't be coming out. And that was the only disappointment.

QotD: Favorite Poem

What is one of your favorite poems?
Submitted by marvel is my pen name.

When I saw this question I immediately thought of I am by John Clare which is so beautifully written and heartfelt. After I had looked it up to copy it I got thinking about other poems that I really like and Celia, Celia by Adrian Mitchell came to mind because it always makes me smile. As I now work on High Holborn it is particularly appropriate. It is short so I've cheated and also included it.

I am by John Clare

I am - yet what I am, none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost
I am the self-consumer of my woes -
They rise and vanish in oblivion's host
Like shadows in love-frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live - like vapours tost

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;
Even the dearest that I love the best
Are strange - nay, rather stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below - above, the vaulted sky.

Celia, Celia - by Adrian Mitchell

When I am sad and weary
When I think all hope has gone
When I walk along High Holborn
I think of you with nothing on.

Muse's next single

According to Albumvote.co.uk Muse's next single is going to be Invincible released on March 26.  It's not been confirmed yet though. After the Knights of Cydonia video I'm curious as to what they are going to do for this one. This a clip of them playing it on MTV last year.

Muse - Invincible

Harry Potter's magic wand

I must preface this post with the statement: I'm not a dirty old woman.
When I was a student I used to go to the theatre a lot but haven't been for years due to various reasons including cost and lack of anyone to go with. This year I decided that I really could go more and booked a ticket for my first play: Equus.
I chose the play because, and I must emphasise this point, first and foremost it sounded like an interesting story and second because it had an interesting cast: Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe. The former is a great actor and the latter I was quite curious about as I don't think he is a particularly good actor and this role sounds like the polar opposite to Harry Potter.
Five minutes and minus £50 later and I had a ticket for the saturday matinee performance during the preview week.
Then I found out there was nudity in this play and in particular the character that Daniel Radcliffe is to play.
Last week they start putting out publicity shots which have caused a bit of a furore:

There are two issues here. The first is that some people think that by posing nude he is both offending Harry Potter fans and destroying his image as Harry Potter and that the nudity in the play has been exploited too much for publicity. Warner Bros are apparently furious.
The second is that I'm old enough to be his mother and yet I'm fighting the instinct to 'admire' an athletic male physique.
In response to the first, I can understand how some people might think the nudity and in particular the fact that it is Radcliffe that is going to be nude, is being exploited unnecessarily. But as to ruining Harry Potter, he's supposedly an actor and therefore entitled to play a variety of roles. He's obviously trying to do something radically different in order to stretch himself and presumably prove he isn't a one trick pony in order to carve out a long term career for himself. You can't criticise him for that.
As to the second point, I'm a woman with a healthy interest in the opposite sex and age is relative. So there.
I'm really quite looking forward to it and not merely for the nudity.

First pics from new mobile

I finally entered the 21st century last week and bought a mobile phone (sony ericsson z710i) for my own particular use. Previously, I rarely used a mobile and on those rare occasions I did use one, the company mobile sufficed. The change in attitude has come about from the desire to have a camera phone for blogging purposes and my company's increasingly anal attitude towards company mobile phones.

This is the first pic I took of the snow last week:

 

Second lot of snow in London

Then I took a pic of Nadia at work in our lovely 'modern' refurb offices, as you do:

 

Nadia takes a screen break

And finally a pic of the hotel room I'm staying in tonight in Manchester. It's quite nice and big which makes a change because I usually get shoved in a the tiniest room at the back of the hotel when I'm staying away on business on my own:

Manchester hotel

Obviously I will be sleeping half the night in the bed on the right and half the night in the bed on the left to ensure that the company which is paying gets its money's worth.

Muse wins

Muse won best live act at the BRITS tonight as predicted by moi a couple of weeks ago. I only voted once so I can't take too much credit...

Darkness and traffic lights

Yesterday a water main burst near my office. It flooded an electricity sub station which took out the power supply to several streets for most of the day.
I was unaware of all this until I cycled home and there were no street lights and no traffic lights. It was a weird experience as the darkness made everything seem quieter for some inexplicable reason.
But what was really curious is that the traffic flowed more freely. In fact, when I think about it, on most occasions when traffic lights are out in London the traffic flows more freely. So why do we have traffic lights? OK so they  probably reduce accidents but hey I'd go for a quicker commute and survival of the fittest.

Muse news

Muse are doing an interview with NME magazine and fans have got the opportunity to put their questions to the band. Follow the link for details on where to send your question and thanks to Mosh for spotting it.

(If I get my question put to Muse, it will more than make up for the fact that Vox still hasn't used a single one of my QoTD's and instead insist on repeating old questions or publishing re-phrased old questions. Rant over.)

Cinema sessions

Went to see a couple of films at the weekend (always so many blinking good films out at the this time of the year) first on Saturday was Bobby.

200px-Bobby_poster

With such an amazing cast I was curious and I enjoyed the mixture of story lines held together by the location and the shared experience of one devastating act at the end.
There were some good individual performances but over all with such as large cast many of the well known names had too slim story lines to really get their teeth into. Did enjoy Demi Moore's portrayal of a 60s singer-diva in the grip of alcoholism and despair though.
However, the homage to Bobby Kennedy did get a bit much towards the end, I mean how many photos of him campaigning, meeting 'ordinary' American's and playing with his kids do you really need to show to get over the point that he was a man of the people etc etc?

The real treat on the silver screen was Notes on a Scandal on Sunday. Lot of people I know have seen it and raved about it, which makes a change because I'm usually the only person I know who's seen most of the films I watch.
Refreshing to see such a strong script and character-led story acted superbly by an excellent cast.
Great to see Judi Dench in a real meaty role in fact it was great to see a film with two very strong female leads.
There was some superb dialogue in particular in Judi's pieces of narration, it was a joy to watch.

10m

The only negative being that the trailer does somewhat spoil the overall plot and diminishes the subtlety of many of the relationships.
Shame it didn't win any BAFTA's last night but at least The Queen and The Last King of Scotland got the recognition they deserve.

Get voting for Muse

Sorry but this is a shameless call for all Muse fans to vote for the band in the NME awards.

NME awards

This Wednesday its the BRITs and Muse have been nominated for three awards. Voting has closed so its fingers crossed for that one. But, the NME awards are at the beginning of March and Muse have been nominated for five awards and voting is still open.

Muse - appeal for votes

 

Vox Hunt: I Made This Myself

Show us something you made yourself.

I was going to post a picture of this side salad I made to go with last nights dinner (a rather delicious lamb and rice dish which Mosh made, which was simply called Eastern lamb in his Dairy Diary recipe book):

Side salad

But then I thought that it was a bit obvious and I did make this last night too:

Green heart necklace for Chris

It is for my friend Chris for Valentine's Day. It's a sort of a tradition that was started while we were at University but as I'm sure there will inevitably be an appropriate QoTD about Valentine's Day I'll save the details...

Invite

The industry I write about has this thing, I suppose you could call it a trade fair, down in Cannes every year. 20-odd thousand people mainly from the UK and Europe but also from around the world head there to network for four days ie go from breakfast meeting (bucks fizz) to presentation (champagne) to lunch meeting (wine) to afternoon meeting (beer) to evening drinks (cocktails) to dinner (more wine) to after dinner propping up some extortionately over priced, hotel bar where they are too drunk to care that three drinks cost 40 quid and you can't claim it back on expenses without a receipt.
As an esteemed member of the press, once you have registered, your name goes on a list which then entitles anybody and everybody to invite you to meet up with them so they can tell you how wonderful their company/city/country is.
Fortunately, and I'm being polite here, there are far more invites than there are hours in the day so you can be selective about which you attend. But you do get a bunch like the following which are quite amusing and a little bit educational and absolutely genuine:

Dear Mr M*******
Nowadays Kazan - the capital of the Republic of Tartastan - is preparing its participation in the ***** 2007.
I'm honoured to invite you to participate in the Kazan city exposition opening ceremony (details of where and when) and to take a look at the most promising of our investment projects (I'm more interested in the unpromising, personally).
The City Council municipality of Kazan highly appreciates your activity as a journalism professional and is interested in establishing a long-term partnership with you.
I am looking forward to meeting you there.
Kind regards etc etc

A week prior to the event when I'm settling down to work out which of these invites I'm actually going to accept, I normally dismiss all those which come from countries I've never heard of or which have more than one K, Y or Z in their name. Tartarstan would, I'm afraid, fall into that category.  But this year I decided that I should at least look up where Tartastan actually is and you'll be pleased to note that it is east of Moscow and borders Mordvinia, Mari El and Udmurtia.

QotD: Dreamy

What did you dream about last night?  

I have this recurring nightmare/sleep walking thing where I dream that someone is kidnapping Bun Buns and I have to find him. As my brain isn't good at producing the chemicals to paralise my body while I'm asleep, I always switch the light on in order to find him and consequently wake myself up.

Bun Buns - safe and well

This happened last night and I spooked myself and had to leave the light on for a bit. If someone in particular has upset me then I sometimes dream it is them trying to do the bun-napping.

Harry Potter thoughts

As promised here are the predictions or thoughts or whatever you want to call them that a couple of friends and I came up with after reading The Half Blood Prince.
V initially came up with the questions and then J and I answered them. Any alternative thoughts welcome...

Is Dumbledore really dead?
V -  Yes
J - I agree but may come back as a spirit guide/voice inside Potter's head. No star wars connection there then
RS - Yes but will still play a part as he will have a portrait in the headmasters office at Hogwarts so Harry will be able to talk to him

Dumbledore

Is Snape a "goodie" or a "baddie"?
V - A baddie
J - A goodie for sure
RS - A goodie, it would be too obvious if he was a baddie

Did Dumbledore intend for Snape to "kill" him?
V - No 
J - No but gave him permission to do so if necessary to preserve his cover and anyway Dumby told him by telecommunication that he was dying anyway so he should feel free to go ahead.
RS - Based on my former answer then I think yes, and I like J's suggestion

Is Harry one of Voldemort's horcruxes?
V - Yes
J - Nice idea but no, too risky as Voldemort thinks he has to kill Potter - though perhaps he became a horcrux before Voldy knew about the prophecy or by accident? On balance I think not.

Harry Potter

RS - I don't think so but it would be an intriguing twist if one of his friends was and he had to kill them

Where are the others? (V's suggestions and J's and RS's comments)
1 - Diary - dead
2 - Slytherin locket - dead
3 - Sorting hat  J - Nice idea, I'd go with that RS - Not sure about that, why'd put Harry in Gryffindor where he can gain protection from the sword
4 - Somewhere in Hogwarts  J - I'd go for the Gryffindor Goblet  RS -  I'd go with that, there are the other house mascots too although I can't think of them at the moment but it could be anyone of them
5 - Harry /Neville J You are forgetting the snake  RS -  Yep I agree but it could still be one of the kiddies
6 - Voldie himself  J - No he's merely the seventh receptacle, what about Dumbledore's phoenix? RS I don't think he is and surely Dumbley would have worked it out if his phoenix was one?
RS suggestion: was there a box or something in Sirius' house that they found when they were tidying up during the Order of the Phoenix that no one could get to open, could that be one. Why mention it otherwise?

Is there more to Petunia than meets the eye?
V - Yes. She's a witch, pretending to be a muggle, albeit not as good a witch as her sister Lily was
J - She will have a role to play in the next book but not this, I reckon she will come good by giving important detail about her sisters death

Will Voldemort die?  
V- yes of course, Harry will find some way of removing the Tom Riddle part of his "soul" from him without topping himself. 

Voldemort

 
J - I  go for full out slaughter

What will Harry be when he grows up?
V - One of the following 3 options:  (1) an Auror, (2) defence against the dark arts teacher or (3) the headmaster of Hogwarts. Of the three, I'm going for the latter, albeit eventually, and that he might need to start with being defence against the dark arts teacher 
J -  Agreed
RS - That is of course if he lives and I really want him to live and become an auror like he always wanted to. I reckon he'll get injured in someway which will stop him from being an auror and so he'll eventually become headmaster of Hogwarts

Who will marry whom of the main protagonists?
V- Harry + Ginny;  Ron + Hermione 

Ron

J - Could we just have a bit of sex without this marriage bit?
RS - If they all live then I agree with V but that might be a bit too happy-ever-after for JK Rowling, if Harry survives it will be at a price and that could be Ginny, Ron or Hermione

What will he/his mates do when they grow up?
V - Harry= future Dumbledore; Hermione = Auror  (J - Unless she gets to be headmistress) Ron = ministry
RS - I'd agree with that

Hermione

Who is RAB?
J - Clearly related to Sirius. Does he have a brother or father called Reginald or a nick name?
RS - (and I'm cheating a bit now as I found this out after we had originally answered these questions) It is Regulus Black, Sirius's brother who apparently went over to the 'dark side' then realised his mistake. If my memory serves me he is thought to be dead. Sirius mentions him to Harry when he is showing him the Black family tree at his house.

Dreamgirls

I sometimes make slightly strange choices of films to watch. Dreamgirls falls into this category. Having seen some fairly intense and serious films recently I wanted to watch something that wasn't violent, shocking or worthy but nonetheless generally had a good story and was entertaining.
As I sat down in the cinema with my medium sweet popcorn (no lunch, I was hungry) my expectation was of something like Walk the Line, basically the story of a band/musician's rise to fame with quite a few scenes of them performing thrown in. Which I quite like.
What I don't like are musicals where the characters sing parts of the story.

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls started off quite promising with the down on their luck band getting their first break. Then it decided, or remembered as I've since discovered, that it was a musical. This was about a third of the way through.
There were some amazing vocal performances, particularly from Jennifer Hudson of American Idol fame, but it was as if it couldn't quite decide to be one thing or another. In the scenes that were sung I just wanted them to stop-singing-stupid-bloody-songs and bloomin' act for goodness sake. The singing just slowed everything down and the plot became neglected.
All the reasons given for the downfall of one of the central characters at the end are all merely hinted at the through the film, given a proper script I think it would have had far more impact and depth.
If you like musicals you'll probably love it.
In the meantime I'm going to try and remember the lesson I should have learnt after going to see the film Chicago: musicals annoy me, don't watch them.

QotD: Pleasepleaseplease!

What was the one toy you wanted as a kid that your parents never bought you?
Submitted by Princess of Darkness.

I always wanted a rocking horse. Something like this would have been perfect:

Rocking Horse

There is no way my parents could have afforded to buy me one so they got what they thought was the next best thing, a hobby horse:

Hobby Horse

It wasn't quite the same.

Perfume - the book this time

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Patrick Suskind

Finished reading Patrick Suskind's Perfume recently. Wanted to read it after seeing the film, which I really enjoyed. There are one or two aspects to the storyline which were omitted for the silver screen and I have to say that the right decision was made as they make the overall story a bit stodgy in places.
However in reading, you inevitably get much better incite into the soul of the central character Grenouille.
He is abused from birth which, together with his unique sense of smell, heavily influences how he sees the world and his place in it and how he relates to other people. He is a character that at turns you love and hate. A character that meets a strangely appropriate end.

QotD: Superbowl Sunday

What are your Superbowl plans?  What's your prediction and why? 
Submitted by danatmedog.

Fill it with something nice that I've reheated from the freezer then eat it because I'm hungry.

Necklace for Mum

This is my latest creation, made as a birthday present for my Mum. Unfortunately the bracelet is too small so I'm going to have to make it again on a longer chain. The beads are semi precious: turquoise, aquamarine and something else I can't remember the name of. I was really pleased with how it turned out and my Mum seemed to really like it too...

Birthday present for Mum

QotD: Here, Take My Order

What is your favorite kind of bagel and what do you put on it? 
Submitted by Nacwolin.

Back in the halcyon days when I could eat wheat without it giving me three days of indigestion and other unmentionable side effects it was a sesame bagel spread, and this is important, while still hot with peanut butter. Only peanut butter. No ordinary butter. No margarine. Just peanut butter and yes I can tell if it's been accidentally spread on and then scraped off again (Mum).

Very excited about the new Harry Potter (5 1/2 months to go)

The news I've been waiting for finally arrived this week: JK Rowling has announced the publication date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series.
In preparation, I plan to re-read the entire series in the preceding weeks, hopefully timing it just right so that I finish the Half Blood Prince just as the new book is released.
Not only does it mean I'll finally find out what happens after years of anticipation but I'll also be able to dust down a set of predictions compiled some friends of mine who are fellow fans to see how close we were to fathoming it all out.
My money is on Jenny's suggestion:

"Petunia will reveal that Lily had an affair with Voldemort and Harry is their son. Harry turns out to be gay and gets off with Ron. Hermione is destraught, drops out, becomes a junkie and goes to the dark side only to discover (in the nick of time) that she is Harry's sister. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny end up in an incestuous four in a bed romp to prove to Dumbledore that love is the most important thing."

Anyway, the speculation as to who she is going to kill off is already rife - it's two characters this time, apparently.
Having grown quite attached to the books I don't like the idea of Harry being dying, I'd like him to have some semblance of a happy ending to counter balance all the trauma he's been through. That aside JK Rowling has proved already that she doesn't let characters off lightly and I wouldn't be surprised if she kills off one of the kids. I think Ginny for major effect on Harry.
For really sick twist Ginny could be a horcrux meaning Harry would probably have to kill her to get defeat Voldemort.
Still not decided on who else might die.
Think Dumbledore will retain a role as one in his portraits among those of the dead headmasters at Hogwarts.
If anyone is interested in other theories and thoughts we came up with I'll post them and I'd love to hear what other people think.

Manchester

Just got back from two days in Manchester for work. Lots of talking to people, lots of standing (in heals), lots of wearing suits and lots of socialising.
I got a nice modern hotel room unlike Nadia who got the old chinzy un-refurbished look, despite having booked everyone's rooms.
It will be a memorable trip for many reasons:
* I conquered my fear of speaking at the Manchester reception and did a speech in front of 150 people without getting nervous for two hours before.
* Lisa had a huge room complete with a glass-walled bathroom. Yep if you went for a bath or pee or worse, there was no privacy. Hannibal-Lector-in-prison style. There were wooden venetian blinds on the outside of most walls but not the door. So, if you did have the blinds down a) your room companion could raise them on a whim and b) the door had no modesty screening so made having blinds covering the rest of the walls pretty pointless. You'd need to be pretty secure and uninhibited in your relationship to feel comfortable spending a night in this room.
* A prostitute propositioned Adrian in the street by grabbing his crotch but it was in fact a diversion technique while she lifted his wallet. When he reported the theft to the police, they thought he might be the bloke who'd earlier that evening been reported as harrassing women in the area, and were quite frosty towards him. And, to top it all, the hotel very kindly put a note on his account so that staff would know he'd not be able to settle his bill having no cards or cash, unfortunately this meant that when he switched on his TV to view his bill it came up with the message:
'Wallet stolen by prostitute', just in case he'd forgotten and the staff who didn't know the full circumstances needed help in drawing their own conclusions as to the sort of person he is...
So overall an interesting couple of days.