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The weird little Do-Do-Do-Do things that happened as I was writing these stories.**



Ok, some of you have heard this stuff, so skip this bit. The rest of you, get comfortable.



#1



I had to figure out where Anna would have lived with Christopher in London. What do /I/ know about London? Sure, give me a map and I can get you from Point A to Point B, but not where people live, in what neighborhoods, etc. I've never been to England in my life.

Well, you know me; I thought I'd be a smart-ass and stick them on Wimpole St. where Professor Henry Higgins lived in 'My Fair Lady', right? (Another WB movie)

Got on the net with MapQuest and looked up Wimpole St. and it's near Regent's Park and Oxford St., and not all that far from Diagon Alley and St. Mungo's, either. (According to HP Lexicon maps)

SO, I pulled it in closer for a look and the next street over is Harley St. HE!HE!HE!, I couldn't resist; seeing as how Anna arrives at Hogwarts on a Harley. Then I noticed one of the cross streets is Queen Anne and I live in Queen Anne Co. SO, their house is on the corner of Harley and Queen Anne.

I showed this to Pam, my receptionist (who's English and used to work - as a teenager- at the fictional address of Sherlock Holmes - 22 Baker St., which is about 8 blocks away) and she said, "Oh, yes, all the private physicians have their homes and offices on Harley St.; the ophthalmologists are on Wimpole St."

Do-Do-Do-Do

All the streets in London and I get it right.

Do-Do-Do-Do





#2



I decided to put Christopher's ancestral country house in the Lake District, overlooking the Irish Sea. Why? I don't know/; I'd just seen pictures and thought it was very beautiful countryside, etc. Back to MapQuest, where I discovered only about 20 miles of the Lake District Park touches the Irish Sea, but there /was a railroad track running along the coast. Perfect; as 150 or so years ago, that's how you traveled, by train.

Pulled it up closer and there was a little town called Bootle Station. Perfect. Pulled it up some more, as I could see a road heading toward the Sea and when I did, guess what it's called....Dungeon Road. And few miles to the south, there's another road....Annaside. (saw this on Google maps, where there are two names for Bootle Station -was using Google maps as they also have satellite pictures of the various areas! I could actually see the cars on the streets in London, but not that close out in the countryside)

Do-Do-Do-Do





#3



Ok, I needed a place to hide Anna, in a cottage (at first - it evolved). Now we're talking about a country that is, duh/, lousy with cottages, but, Noooo, I thought I'd be a smart-ass, again, and put this cottage in a section of what once was Sherwood Forest. (Seeing as how Alan Rickman played the Sheriff of Nottingham in '/Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves', "You! //10 o'clock//. You! //10:30//,/ bring a friend."/)

There are preserved sections, like our state forest and parks, so I got a rough idea where Sherwood Forest used to be off of their website, which has lousy maps, by the way, and went to good old MapQuest, once again. Found Nottingham and wandered around the locations of the preserved sections and tried to find a small village, with a road heading toward one of these preserves.

Bingo, I spied Wellow, northeast of Nottingham, pulled it up and there was a road, like I wanted, and when I pulled it up closer and I nearly fainted. Potter Lane was the name of the main road in the village.

Do-Do-Do-Do





#4

Needed a date for the birth of Anna and Severus' baby, (which I have since chucked, by the way, but will use the date for something else). January - February timeframe. Couldn't use Jan 9th, Severus' B'day, too 'in' and obvious; Feb 2nd was a dumb American 'in' joke and Feb. 14th was too sickeningly sweet to even contemplate. So, I said, basically, "screw it, it'll come to me".

At same time I needed a gift for Anna to give to Severus at Christmas. Already had the ruby heart design in my head. Anyway, I was thumbing thru a Smithsonian Magazine and saw a little ad in the back for a Welsh jewelry designer, and there was a picture of a ring with a symbol for everlasting love on it.

I went over to the library at lunch and looked at this guy's website to see it he'd have a necklace. Ta-Da! There it was. Well it turns out this is the symbol of the Welsh patron Saint for lovers, St. Dwynwen (one of those Welsh names I can't pronounce), who's feast day is January 26th. TA-DA! Killed two birds with one stone, had my gift and the date I needed

Then I realized - it WAS January 26th!

Do-Do-Do-Do





#5



I don't go looking on the kid's homepages or fan sites. I don't care what their kitten's name is or what their school colors are or where their family went on vacation. That's their PRIVATE life; let them have it, what they can get. ANYWAY,

One day I was looking on 'The Snitch', one of my favorite Potter news site, checking on the progress of the movie in production at the time (PoA I believe) and I saw a little news bit about Devon Murray and how he was in a show jumping competition in Ireland. I had no idea he rode, so to see how he'd done I clicked on the link and sure enough it was his "Official" website. What the hell, I'd take a peek.

Then I noticed a list of his 'favorite things' and he's a Manchester United fan and rides motorcycles, too. Just like Seamus. Anna was wearing a MU hat when she asks Seamus to help her with Tut.

Do-Do-Do-Do





#6



Less than a week after I started posting my story on Fiction Alley in April of '05, I saw a news piece about Alan Rickman, who had just finished doing a movie (Snowcake) in Canada with Sigourney Weaver ( a co-star in Galaxy Quest, remember THAT one?) Anyway, I read the article, by the local Canadian Provincial rag and it was the usual post-production.../we had a lovely time...everyone here was so welcoming and very gracious...and the movie is due out.../blahblahblah.../my next project is/...yadayadayada.

BUT, the interviewer had done his/her homework and asked AR about the fact that he'd gone to college to study graphic arts, graduated, opened his own studio and after 5 years was a BIG success in London and that he'd chucked it all (at 27) to take a scholarship to the RADA, to study to become a actor (not the steadiest of jobs)

Why?

And AR answered

"So life is one weird jigsaw puzzle and somewhere along the line, you find the straight piece that was on the floor somewhere." And what did Anna say to Severus that first night?

"The strange thing is, Severus, it feels right/. Like it's all part of a big puzzle and the pieces are fitting together perfectly.... That/ piece of the puzzle dropped into place, too."

Do-Do-Do-Do

BUT Wait, it gets even better!

I have a patient, Jennifer, who's English and she and I talk Potter all the time (she has grandkids, too).

ANYWAY, I was telling her this little bit and I got to the part where the interviewer asks AR 'Why?' and Jennifer says, "Oh, Holly don't you think life's a little like a jigsaw puzzle, and sometimes you just find the right piece, and it fits!?"

I almost fell off my chair, and I said, "Jennifer, you will not believe what was about to come out of my mouth!"

Do-Do-Do-Do





#7



I was going thru some old photos with my Mom (88), 'cause I'm scanning a lot of them into a family tree program I'm doing and I wanted to double check names and places. I've seen these photos all my /life/ and one that I always thought was funny was a shot of my Mom's two cousins, Ginny and Bummy, sitting bareback on this horse and my Mom is sitting on the ground about 10 feet behind this horse, elbows on knees, bending down slightly to look under the horse's belly and wave at the camera.

I asked her where the picture had been taken as I didn't know anyone in the family who had a farm, or a horse, for that matter.

"Oh that's over at the Twigg farm, T-W-I-G-G. Up the road from Slider's (vacation 'camp')."

Anna's maiden name, that I just picked out of the air; I swear to you.

Do-Do-Do-Do





#8



This isn't really a Do-Do-Do-Do as much as my own bizarre version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" Potter style.

One of my readers and reviewers (has a great story out there herself) e-mailed me, when she read my info and found out I'm a dental hygienist. She's Irish, lives in Dublin and is studying for a PhD in Music, has kids, too, AND she's married to a dentist. His Mom works at his practice as the office manager. She doesn't drive, so gets a taxi ride every day. The driver who picks her up regularly is Mr. Murray -/Devon Murray's Dad/ (Seamus)

Small world, ain't it!?!




MapQuest links:

Harley St.



http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=GB&addtohistory=&address=42+Harley+st&city=london&zipcode=



Wellow:



http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=GB&addtohistory=&address=potter+lane&city=wellow&zipcode=



Briarwood (Bootle Station)



http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=GB&addtohistory=&address=&city=bootle+station&zipcode=