Harry Potter Tale

          Once upon a time... there was this movie series called Harry Potter. The locations from the movies are scattered throughout Great Britain. At first, I wanted to depict all the locations from the movies... but then I found out that that would take a lot of time, and I'm lazy, so here are just some of the locations from the movies.

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (Hogwarts, outside scenes)

Bodleian Library, Oxford (Hogwarts, interior)

Christ Church, Oxford (Hogwarts interior)

Durham Cathedral, Durham (Hogwarts, interior)

Glenfinnan Viaduct, Scotland (Hogwarts Express Railway)

Goathland Railway Station, North Yorkshire (Hogsmeade Railway Station)

Loch Eilt, Scotland (Hogwards, grounds)

 

Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire (Hogwarts, interiors)

Martins Heron, Berkshire (Privet Drive, Little Whinging)

Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester (Hogwarts, corridors)

There are many more locations of course; Platform 9 3/4, Gringott's Bank, the Forbidden Forest, Diagon Ally, various classrooms, outdoor and lakeside scenes etc. etc. but their inclusion would require less laziness on my part... and maybe... a TV show? Maybe a TV show that follows locations from young adult fiction novel favorites???

A Paternoster Tale

          Once upon a time... there was a man named... well, who knows what his name was, it is actually lost to history. Who, you may ask, has been lost to history? Why, the inventor of the paternoster, that's who. What, you might ask, is a paternoster? Well, it's this thingy. It is a cyclic elevator developed in 1884 by somebody in the J & E Hall company, which manufactured everything from gunpowder to paper to refrigerators. Naturally, the company got the credit for this crazy elevator and the actual inventor is now lost in obscurity.

          Anyway, paternosters are quite strange. The continual movement of the elevator opens up many opportunities for people to be crushed. In fact, this has happened before, and will probably happen again. So many people have been injured by this device, that many have been shut down for good.

However, one still survives...

          Actually, four still survive in England, but one is at the very lovely University of Leicester, located within Attenborough Tower. Yes, that's right, Attenborough, as in Fredrick Attenborough. Aren't we learning a lot of history? Hmmm

          The paternoster is a source of great fear for many students at the University of Leicester. You are told to exit your ride on the second floor, otherwise, you are plunged into the depths of Attenborough tower. Scientific source material states:

          The lowest two levels of the tower house a plant room with a boiler that serves half of the entire university campus. Visitors descending on the paternoster must alight at floor 2, otherwise must wait as the compartment traverses the pit and emerges the other side. Travelling "over the top" or "underneath" on the paternoster is considered a rite of passage by many students at the University.

          Yes, it is considered a rite of passage if you don't freak out. Many students who are busy texting instead of getting off, find out too late that they are headed for the basement, where they think they will be crushed. It isn't unusual to hear the screams of frightened students descending into the basement, who believe themselves trapped, or lost... or give themselves up for dead. It's kind of like hell actually.

I thought it would be nice to share these student thoughts on the paternoster:

          "I got stuck in that and had to be dragged out"

          "I've eaten a doughnut on the paternoster... win"

          "I don't even have any lessons in that tower but I've been on the lift"

          "I just got kicked off, apparently we're not allowed to play on it :("

          "I fell backwards into it during Freshers... there were spectators... not good"

          "Got bloody stuck on it today, scared the bejeezus outta be. The escape left me emotional scarred"

          "A little faster would kill us all!!!"

          "I don't have good memories. I chopped my finger off in this thing in late '07... it coulda been worse, I coulda lost my arm..."

          Hmph, good going to the person who made that last comment. They were probably messing around, but almost ruined it for us all because the paternoster was closed after this incident. Thankfully (for no logical reason) the paternoster was opened back up after passing a safety inspection. So now many more students can enjoy the everlasting joy or emotional scarring created by the paternoster.

          Why just today, while riding the paternoster down to the basement and back up again with Reshanne, I heard one student say to his friend: "see, they did it, you don't get crushed you idiot."

Well some people do.