Cold and wet; no true fan

What a day!

I'd made determined plans last night to get a bit of urban walking in on Monday, that being my sole free day; then the alarm went off and I woke up and found out that it was still raining. Having been raining almost constantly since yesterday afternoon.

So I rolled over and lay down again, listening to the water gurgling down the drainpipes... and planning despite myself how I might circumvent the weather and set off after all. By the time I'd remembered the existence of the waterproof map-case the die was pretty well cast... and I got up and set off after all, only an hour behind schedule. It was now pouring down.

I did feel a bit silly dressed up in all my winter wet-weather gear and striding around town, but on the other hand I managed about eight miles or so without getting wet in the slightest. There is a good deal of satisfaction to be had in defeating the climate: as my grandmother used to say, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing". (There is also a good deal of satisfaction in watching other people get soaked while you remain toasty dry!) And I did manage to get back before it was dark, at which point it started thundering...!

After yet another hot bath, I finally sat down to the last chapter of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"; even given my one-chapter-a-day, when-I-have-privacy, when-I-have-time policy, the amount of time it has taken me to finish this book has been extraordinary. Especially as I can't do any more beta-reading jobs for Potter fan-fiction until I've actually read the latest installment myself... I'm afraid I'm not a True Fan. A True Fan would have been unable to defer satisfaction that long.

To be honest, it wasn't exactly enthralling me in many places. Rowling just can't seem to handle it when emotions are supposed to be running high -- she puts in lots of CAPITAL LETTERS and people bellowing and yelling, but it isn't convincing at all, and when it's an important part of the plot it just gets annoying. That was part of the problem with Book 5. (And part of the reason why Snape's an effective character, I think: he generally keeps control over his emotions, and Rowling can write cold rage and sarcasm. When he starts spitting and frothing it just gets messy.)

But the book does improve in that respect in the last few chapters. Harry supposedly grieving over lost companions is all 'tell' and no 'show'; with Harry resigned or happy, the writing is more transparent and the story can get through, as it were.

I feel like shouting "I told you so" with respect to my post-Book-6 Dumbledore story, although to be fair I didn't have it quite right; the emphasis on the Dark magic of the hand, though... It's ironic; reading Rowling's own characterization of the interview between those two, my gut reaction was 'she's got Snape right': no sentiment, just sarcasm. But of course, she was the one who wrote the character in the first place! (And even given that, I think she went a bit too far in explaining away Snape's role in the affair of George's ear: it reads as special pleading. Nobody ever claimed that Snape was nice...)