A dark tale of Christine and the Jabberwocky.
Is anyone familiar with the poem “The Jabberwocky?
It is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in wonderland.”
The poem takes back to an incident of my childhood in Hoxton, London.
The flats where I grew up had a row of what were then called pram sheds.
They were brick build with a tiles roof, a wooden door, and no way of much light and air entering them.
For reasons lost in the mists of time, my friend Michael and I thought it would be a good idea to lock his younger sister Christine in one of these sheds.
Now being locked in one of these dark and damp sheds would be scary enough at the best of times. But while we held the door fast to stop her escaping, Michael decided to add to his sister’s fears by reciting the whole of the poem “The Jabberwocky.”
It says much about the education the British government provided decades ago.
How many twelve-year-old boys could lock their sister in a shed and recite “The Jabberwocky” these days?
Very few, I am thinking.
Unfortunately, Michael is no longer with us, but strangely, his sister Christine still speaks to me.
I will be meeting up with her and a few other of our old school friends for our annual lunch.
I often remind her of the pram shed incident; I think she is coming round to see the funny side of it.
But I am not sure.
More stories from my sometimes-addled brain.
I owe a Swiss village an apology.
Should you mix cakes, crying and camping together?