finale

I had to do the inevitable thing. Come on, "end of an era", "we've grown up with him", "proper end of our childhood [apparently Toy Story 3 wasn't it after all]". It's all pretty true.

So, here is my (very) wee debrief: I loved it. Truly. It wasn't perfect, and - naturally - it wasn't completely like the book, but man I loved this film. I started crying fairly promptly after McGonagall said: "Hogwarts is threatened! Man the boundaries, protect us! Do your duty to our school!" Even just typing that quote gave me goosebumps.

The thing is, I did grow up with Harry Potter. I remember when I bought the first book. I was on holiday and visiting this teeny little village somewhere in Shropshire, and we went into a little bookshop called the Red Balloon Bookshop, and I was looking for something to read. My mum said, "Oh look, I've heard this Harry Potter book is good – why don't you try that?" So I did. A few months later, Harry Potter exploded across the country – everyone, apparently, had "heard this Harry Potter book is good."

And from there it was just kind of woven into the background of our lives. We were always living in pre-book-release or post-release-aftermath. I don't pretend to be a die-hard Harry fan – I don't know all the intricate details of the Black family tree, I don't know the names of all the Deatheaters, but, man, I loved those books. So much so that I refused to see the first film for the first few months, because I was worried it would spoil the books for me.

Eventually I did watch the films, of course. And, of course, they were a little bit of a disappointment. Not because they were particularly bad films – on the contrary, I enjoyed them all – but because no films would ever be able to live up to the way we imagined it, and it wasn't fair for us to expect them to. But, best of all, they allowed us to live in the world of Hogwarts a little bit longer – even after the books were all finished.

It's because of this, I think, that I cried pretty much from McGonagall's quote all the way to the end. Because it really is the end this time, no more books, no more films. Of course I'll re-read them and re-watch them, but we all know it isn't quite the same. I also cried because, for many of us, it really does mark the end of our childhood. Not just because the films have finished, but because they've finished at a time when a lot of other things have finished too.

I've finished university, I've moved away from home, and a lot of my friends are moving away from my new home. I now have to start dealing with council tax, housing benefits, and temporary unemployment. This would all have happened regardless of a lad with glasses and a lightning scar, but somehow the end of the films seemed to mark the real end of something.

So that's why I cried. Not just because it's over, but because I've loved it.

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So, it's been an age since the last post. Well, almost a month - not quite an age. Still, it's been an eon in my imaginings, so it's high time for an update.

It's been a pretty big upheaval-y kind of few weeks, I have done the following:

• Moved house (new house is delish).
• Been to London. Twice.
• Worked at two of the Great Swim series.
• Stayed at two lovely hotels (neither of which I could afford but gratefully was able to stay there courtesy of the company I was working with at the above).
• Officially finished uni with a 2:1 in English Literature (graduation set for 14th July - cringe-worthy pictures will no doubt follow, fear not...).
• Applied for jobs. A lot of jobs. Kind of running out of ways to say "hire me". But very excited at the opportunities.

I've spent most of this morning doing those little niggly jobs that have needed doing a while - like divvying up the remaining money in the secondary bank account I set up for the bills for my house last year. Kind of feel like a fiscal Father Christmas, telling my ex-housemates "Here, have 94 quid". Quite nice really :)

Also, have to renew my passport (this one's of a fairly urgent nature, given I'm meant to be going to Italy avec la famille - or however you say it in Italian - at the end of July...) - to get the fast-track service I have to go to Durham to specifically ask for it, so will make a day of it with the chap. Huzzah for that!

Right, lunch break over. The job hunt continues...