Harry Potter and stew

I just don't understand all this Harry Potter-mania nonsense. People were queuing up outside Borders and Waterstones, to snap up copies of the final book, on sale from a minute after midnight this morning. Why? Had they stayed in bed, they could have had a full night's sleep, and picked up a copy at a discount price in town this afternoon. The Works are selling the book for £8.99 - and they had plenty of copies. Equally well-stocked is the Swansea Marina branch of Tesco. They're selling it for a tenner, or a fiver, if you spend £50 or more on other goods instore. I must be missing something here, as it makes no sense to me.

Harry Potter aside, I wish someone could work a bit of magic with our summer. It's mid-July - or to be accurate, getting on for late July - and I have the gas fire on, and a pot of stew simmering on the stove. At the end of March or beginning of April, I replaced the winter duvet with a summer one. Last week, the winter duvet went back on, and last night, my mega-thick faux fur throw went back on the bed, too. The throw wouldn't look out of place in an Inuit bedroom. It's made from two thick lengths of material stitched together. One half is a thick fake fur, the other fleece. Definitely not normal summer bedding. Will we ever have a summer this year? Or do we have to wait until Christmas for it, like the Aussies do?