Linda Hall: In Harry Potter's defence

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today. Photo / Warren Buckland.

Today I'm using my pen (computer actually) as a wand to defend Harry Potter.

I know I wrote about Brian Tamaki a few weeks ago but upon reading about his latest book I feel I must do so again.

In his new book Demons in My House the "Bishop" of Destiny Church said "Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon used to entice thousands of teenagers into a demonic world."
What a load of hogwash.

The first question I have for Tamaki is where has he been for the past 20 years? The first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997.

Has he just noticed Harry Potter? Why has it taken him almost 20 years to decide that this series of fantasy novels written by J.K. Rowling about a boy wizard and his friends is evil?
For goodness' sake, hundreds of thousands of children all over the world have read these books and watched the movies. As far as I know there are not hundreds of thousands of children, or teenagers, living in a demonic world.

In fact this series was credited for getting thousands of children to pick up a book.
Children who were not inclined to read wanted to be a part of Harry and his friends' lives.
Rowling deserves a medal for her incredible imagination.

I've read every one of these book and loved them all. I've also watched the movies, more than once.

In fact the movies have been playing on Saturday nights on TV for the past few weeks. Of course it follows that if Harry the wizard leads children into a demonic world so too does the Fairy Godmother, Merlin, Jafar from Aladdin, just about every character in The Lord of the Rings and probably Tinkerbell.

It's a real shame Harry can't send Tamaki his disappearing cloak then we wouldn't have to worry about what he's going to spout out of his mouth.

I'd also like to have a wand that would help me with the ever-increasing traffic on our roads.

With the silly season in full swing shoppers are out in force. I was one of them on Friday, finally starting my shopping.

What a mission to first get a car park in the Park Megacentre. It really doesn't live up to its name at this time of the year, with three large new businesses opening in the past months. I managed to squeeze my car into a park near the newly opened Briscoes.

As I got out I watched while traffic backed up in both directions as people tried to manoeuvre in and out of parks along the entrance. The road is so narrow that everything comes to a halt as soon as someone reverses out of a park.

Karamu Rd has become a really busy road and to make matters worse than they already were the "upgrade" to the intersection on Karamu and Frederick St has added to the chaos.

Where once there were two lanes going both ways and traffic merged, now there's one lane and one for turning traffic. Under the old system I never saw traffic backed up as far as it does these days.

If you happen to be coming up to the intersection from Grove Rd and want to turn right into Karamu Rd it feels as if you are sitting on the wrong side of the road because you have to literally swerve the steering wheel to get into the lane.
I try my very best to avoid this because I don't want to be sitting there when a huge truck comes round the corner.

I guess we will all have to be extra patient and courteous until Santa has been and gone.

- Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today