My wonderful roommate, Blair, is studying abroad in London right now and was one of the crazy fans who camped out for the Harry Potter premiere! Seriously, she was all over newspaper pictures and was interviewed. She was right up front because she’s hardcore like that. That’s why I’m so thankful that she was awesome enough to do a post on the event. So, here she is giving lots of details and great photographs from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Red Carpet! Thanks, Blair! (*P.S. After the cut, Blair’s taken some great up-close pics of the HP7 Stars!)
No one really understood why I brought a sleeping bag to class, and my explanation didn’t help.
I got a few “No one else will be there at 2pm!”s and “You’re a crazy person!”s, but I didn’t care- I was headed to Leicester Square to camp out for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 World Premiere right after class. I’d made up my mind months before I even arrived in England for my study abroad semester, and reason and friendly ridicule weren’t going to stop me.
I stopped once on my way there, to buy those little handwarmer packets you put in your gloves and boots when you go skiing.
There were about 40 people already there when I arrived at 2pm the day before, as I knew there would be. A practically toothless, middle-aged woman dressed as a witch at the front of the line told me where the end of the line was. Slightly embarrassed, not sure whether it was for her or for me being a part of this crowd, I walked down the line of about 10 tents and arrived at a group of 3 normal-and-friendly-looking girls at the end of the line, sitting in chairs they’d brought.
Crap. I forgot chairs. I didn’t think about a tent. Oh well.
I sat down on my borrowed sleeping bag next to them, and like any good-and-chatty Texas girl, I made some new friends out of these strangers. To my surprise, they’d just met each other too. In fact, two of them decided to meet up at the premiere while on a message board.
This made me feel better about having come alone…and about having people to save my spot any time I’d need to use the McDonald’s bathroom down the street over the next 29 hours.
Chandler Baker 