My goodness.  I have a Following.  Admittedly only two people (and I’m paying them) but still…The problem with having a Following, though, is that you have to give them something to Follow.

(“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where –“ said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)

There is a certain amount of pressure attached to being a blogger, and today I have Blogger’s Block.  I could do Yoga Part 3, or Running Part 1, or Extracts from The Philosopher’s Bath, but I am saving them for Another Day.

The truth is – (I hate to admit it, naturally, but as there are only two of you, and let’s face it, it’s not exactly going to get out, so I can afford to risk My Street Cred somewhat…) – I am not a Very Interesting Person.

I also don’t know Very Much About Anything (see Failed Science Lesson in previous blog). So even if I were to embark on What I Think About Global Warming or How I Feel About the IMF, I know before I even start that you’d end up laughing your socks off at me, and I’d be left feeling a bit…inadequate.  Not to mention totally confused and supremely out of my depth because although I’d like to expound with authority on such topics of general interest – well, quite frankly – I am pants at it.  I end up leaving myself wondering what I’ve just said, and that is a not a very good starting point.

So – as I have already started with Alice, perhaps that will be my thought for the day.

(The White Rabbit put on his spectacles.  “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?” he asked.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”)

It is, after all, one of my favourite books of all time .  I love the absurdity of it all – the non sequitur conversations and the completely insane logic of life in Wonderland.  It’s perfect for me – full of questions that don’t have to be answered  (“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”) and arguments, which never get anywhere.  I am perfect at that sort of thing.  I LOVE the idea of just talking a whole lot of rubbish and not having to explain myself.  Ask my mum.

The thing I like most about Wonderland is that it is full of mad advice that, the more you think about it, the more sane it becomes.  Take this example from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party:

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.

“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know.”

“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”

And he’s absolutely right!  I can think of a million times when what I have said is not what I mean, and when what I mean is completely ruined by what I have said.  Words have power, so really we should only use them when we have something to say… so, on that wise note, I shall retire for the night.

( With one last thought from Lewis, to all my (two) Followers…

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” !)