It was by pure chance that I was able to tick off another #50Before50 item. Last year I confirmed that I would happily speak at the Society of Genealogists again, on the subject of European Ancestors. Trains from my part of England arrive at Kings Cross station and then I realised that I was within easy reach of the Harry Potter and Platform 9 3/4 shop.

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

The shop is actually way to small for the amount of visitors it gets which includes visitors from around the world. I heard Spanish, Polish, Japanese, Italian and French being spoken and of course English. Outside there is a trolley going into the wall, just as the scene in the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter film 1). There was a huge queue to have a photo taken at the trolley, a queue that is likely never ending. I grabbed a photo between people. What is bizarre is that having had the photograph taken by the “official” photographer you do not even have to purchase it.

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

I managed to squeeze between the people, mostly adults from my two visits to the shop (one on the way into London and one on the way out!). There was a delightful little girl crying because there was a small stuffed toy of Harry’s owl on the floor and she thought it was hurt – cute! and she had the loveliest brown curly hair. I smiled as I walked past as her Dad was trying to explain that it was not real, which I think made the cries louder!

Like all these types of places, the merchandise is pricey, but if you purchase what you actually will use then I am, at least in my case, happy with that. I purchased a magnet for my filing cabinet and a bookmark. Hubby purchased a pen and notepad.

The bookmark was put to use as I began reading one of the two books on the way home that I purchased at the Society of Genealogists bookshop, making use of my member discount. I was rather pleased with my strategic purchasing!