Welcome to ABC Wednesday Round 3!
How to participate in ABC Wednesday
1. Post your ABC Picture picture on your blog
2. Come to my blog and sign in on Mr. Linky
3. Enjoy the wonderfully unique ABC pictures of the other bloggers.
There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one.
Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you have a C picture posted on your blog.
C is for......Coast!
We often hear a saying..."It's grim up North!
and indeedthere are some people who think that it is indeed dark and dreary here.
It is so nice to know that some of the participants in ABC Wednesday are great Northern fans.
When I see other people post photographs of my surrounding landscapes it warms the cockles of my heart!
I try to get down to the beach at least twice a week in an effort to not only blow the cobwebs away, but to give Wilma the exercise she craves in order for us to have some sense of order to the day.....well we can live in hope! LOL!
We have a great selection of local beaches, eachonly a matter of minutes away.
The North East coast covers a wide variety of places, but it is the quieter beaches I enjoy.
We are definately exposed to the North Sea andindeed as we leave our drive and turn right we can see it!
The North of England was the home of many famous people.
We should celebrate our heritage.
which brings me onto my next offering...
C is for....Lewis Carroll,
famous Victorian author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, who has a great many connections with the North East and Whitburn in particular.
Lewis Carroll
He made a number of visits to his cousin Margaret Wilcox, who was the wife of the Collector of Customs in Sunderland and lived in Highcroft, in Whitburn. Sadly, the house at Highcroft no longer exists. ( I wonder if our very own Maria, from Argument Cottage knows this!)
According to The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, by Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, whilst Lewis Carroll was staying with his cousins, the Misses Wilcox in 1855, they entertained themselves one evening with a game which involved making up verses. Carroll’s contribution was a Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry which begins:
"'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe."
Those lines are now familiar as the opening to Jabberwocky, which was first published in Through the Looking Glass in 1872.
During his time in Whitburn, Carroll would have visited Whitburn Hall, home of Lady Hedworth Williamson. She was second cousin to Alice Liddell, to whom Caroll’s most famous books are dedicated. Here he met Frederika Liddell, another of Alice’s cousins whom he described as “one of the nicest children I have ever seen”.
But the work most associated Carroll’s Whitburn connections is perhaps TheWalrus and the Carpenter. In the poem, the two characters walking along a beach,
“…wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand.”
Could this be a reference to the vast expanse of sand visible at low tide at Whitburn?
The bronze walrus in Mowbray Park
Even today, the character of the beach can change between tides. Sometimes the waves wash up huge quantities of pebbles or seaweed. At other times, the golden sands are swept clean, as though they’ve been cleared up by Carroll's “seven maids with seven mops”.
However, it’s a popular myth that the Walrus of this poem was inspired by a stuffed walrus which was on display for many years at Sunderland‘s museum. In fact, this famous exhibit only went on display after the publication of Carroll’s poem.
Of the museum’s walrus, sadly only the head now remains, but a magnificent bronze statue in Mowbray Park still maintains the link.
But before you dismiss the North East’s claim to the Walrus altogether, consider for a moment another local Carroll connection. In April 1869, Carroll’s sister, Mary, married the Rev Charles Collingwood. Their home, the rectory at Southwick, now Holy Trinity, on Church Bank, has recently been recognised with a historic blue plaque and there is some evidence that it too once housed a stuffed walrus.
Today, you can see a statue of Lewis Carroll in Whitburn library.
It was moved from its original home in Cornthwaite Park after it was damaged. He originally also had a young companion - not Alice, as many presume, but her cousin Frederika.
Whatever you choose to believe, Lewis Carroll did visit this area and no doubt walked along its beaches and cliff tops. He may even have stopped to jot down a note or two and his magpie mind mixed and mingled all sorts of images and influences to produce his unique poems and stories.
The Walrus and The Carpenter
( A long poem, but wonderful!)
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.
The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"
The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"
"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.
"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."
The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.
But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.
Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.
"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."
"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?
"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"
"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"
"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.
"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.
