And the theme of this week is ...

[blamebrampton]

... Coincidence!

After finding out about Scrap on Friday night, I had thought that was it for wacky coincidences for the week. But no!

One of the people who I have come into contact with via lj is the lovely kerryblaze . There's a long story behind meeting her, which I'll save for another time. But at the moment, she is travelling in Australia, up in Brisbane, about 1000km north of me. This morning, I logged into my email to find a note from my very dear RL friend pseudicide , who is also travelling. Very early on Sunday morning, she was evacuated from her hotel. Being a Canadian, she took this as an opportunity to begin chatting with the woman standing near her. Guess who it was?

But that's not all! I've been cleaning my sewing room. (Those of you who know me in RL can be quiet now, and yes, it has taken four days so far and is not done yet.) One of the boxes I sorted through had not been opened for, er, two moves. In it I found a fax, with a cover note from an arts writer I used to commission for a number of things. I turned the page to see what it was. And burst out laughing.

It was a copy of an article from a magazine I later worked for. The story was about the upcoming release of a book. The first paragraph read: 

In February, a friend gave [Brammer's Real Name] a book he thought she'd like. To her surprise, it was a children's book. ... she thanked him and put it aside. 'Finally I succumbed and read it in one sitting, the following day I went out and bought the next two.'
 

Yep, the awaited book was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this. Here I was thinking my HP fandom was relatively low-key (aside from bastard Mr Brammers outing me to all and sundry. HE plays internet spaceships to excess, you know.), when in fact I outed myself in a leading national news magazine ten years ago (EXACTLY according to the cover date).

I also remembered when HPIV arrived in my hands. It was the last one for which it was possible to obtain advance copies for review, and I sat on the train reading it the morning after it arrived, hoping to finish the final chapters before I made it to work (alas, only two stops away).

A child spotted me. His eyes widened. 'Is that the new Harry Potter?' he asked.

'Yep,' I said.

His expression turned to longing. 'Is it good?'

'Oh yeah.'

'Does Harry die?'

'Do you really want to know?'

'YES!'

'I don't think so, though I'm not at the end yet.'

'Thanks. You're so lucky!'

'Yes, I am. You're going to love it.' And with that I got off the train.

I realised at the time that if I was a good person, I would have given the child the book.

But I'm not.

Comments

[maevemist.livejournal.com]

And tomorrow that child (now an adult) is going to be sitting in a doctor's office somewhere, bored with waiting, so he picks up an exceedingly old magazine to read and there is an article about you. He will smile at the memory of the nice lady on the train that taught him that all good things come to those who wait. :)

The doctor's office will most likely be the Vet clinic where you took Scraps and so complete's the circle of coincidences.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm laughing, but you know, the way my life works, I would not be surprised!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Heh. I wouldn't have given the child the book either. ;)

Week of coincidences indeed!

Being a Canadian, she took this as an opportunity to begin chatting with the woman standing near her.

~ Hee! Too true. I did the same when we were evacuated from our hotel in Edinburgh. :D

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I now have a mental image of you being evacuated in Edinburgh with kerryblaze and pseudicide, which would not surprise me!

[lilliputian722.livejournal.com]

I had a similar moment with kerryblaze in 2006. I was in NYC to see Equus and as dracosveela and I were standing outside the theatre waiting for Dan to emerge the stranger gal next to us struck up conversation. Who was it? None other than kerryblaze. Having heard of her, but never having met her, I was delighted! Our conversation was brief, but enough for me to determine that she's lovely.

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for random!kerryblaze and taunting small children.

[deensey.livejournal.com]

And for befriending people in evacuations! She's lovely and I'm glad we met!

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

she flew across the Atlantic to read Deathly Hallows with me - I cannot reccommend her highly enough!

[deensey.livejournal.com]

See, that's love!

I was running an SCA collegia that day, and Ms D and I set up a small corner for those of use who had to read. She even went and fetched copies from a nearby bookshop. It was brilliant.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I think this is not actually true, alas: it is what I had promised I would do for you, but I had the influenza of doom and ended up spending 48 hours in bed hallucinating a really brilliant Princess Diana section in DH. While it is still possible that I dragged myself there and have just lost the whole thing in a feverish haze, I think Mr Brammers appeared with my spare copy for you, because he is good that way :-)

[deensey.livejournal.com]

That's right! I set the corner up with Ameline (who brought promotional posters) and Mr Brammers was the one to bring the copy on pain of death.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I was at home, dying painfully ;-)

[deensey.livejournal.com]

And I thought of you. In between people interrupting to do actual event running things.

THE NERVE!

(Who's idea was it to schedule an event that... Oh wait. Mine.)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I will say in your defence that you were highly embarrassed when I pointed it out to you. Of course, you still had a better reading experience than I did, what with the plague and all ...

[deensey.livejournal.com]

Yes, and sadly the baronial calendar fails to include such important dates as 'book being released'

That and after leaving unredeemed moderatorship I had done the whole 'block HP fandom out of my head' thing, which was a bit arbitrary but there you go. It's not a bad fandom. Just a few bad apples that soured it for me, yonks ago.

[potteresque_ire]

Oh you terrible child abuser!!!!!!! :D

The world is a small place, indeed. The amount of coincidences that have happened in my life is beyond jaw-dropping. :)

[faynia.livejournal.com]

You weren't finished with the book yet. Taking it with you was an OKAY thing to do at that point. If you had been done and it was just sitting there beside you then you're a very mean lady. xD

I love coincidences. I never have fun ones like that. This is probably because I'm becoming a dormroom hermit.

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

i did the exact same thing when i had HP5 in my hands - only i was reading it on the bus ;) we are both not-so-nice people sometimes, and i am more than fine with that.

[noeon.livejournal.com]

Of course I had to go read up on Scrap because I'd missed the post about his little charmed life. \0/

The world is a funny place. If you see the cat twice, look for the glitch in the Matrix. *grins*

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I realised at the time that if I was a good person, I would have given the child the book.

And ruin his parents' birthday surprise for him? :P

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

It's funny how real life works, huh? :D

And you iz an evil women - poor boy! :P