Monday 2 July 2012

Alice and Vera - written solely by Alice


How it all began
T-shirt Wars (samples)
If you've read the first proper post in this blog Here we go etc (21 May 2012) then you will know that the whole Vera saga began with T-shirt Wars in 2005. I knew quite well one of the three young men involved - and still do.

At the time of the said Wars, I thoroughly enjoyed following the competition and contributing some Comments under various pseudonyms, such as Greta Garbo and Grace Hopper (both elderly yet enterprising women) and once as Dr Frank-N-Furter, to counter a remark that, in my opinion, verged on the homophobic.

On 4 November 2005, however, when they decided to auction one of the more lurid T-shirts (the one at top right) for the BBC's Children in Need, the following comment appeared:

Vera said...  What a jolly good idea. I'm so pleased you youngsters want to put something back into society. A very nice care worker, called Alice, has showed me how to use the Internet, because I'm not past it yet, and we have a good laugh over your "blog". I wish there had been something that wonderful when I was young but as you can see I've had a good innings. Do you think I could knit you nice boys some T-shirts?

There was a link to a photo rather like this one.

THIS IS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF VERA - as an elderly lady in an Old Folks' Home, and of myself (purportedly) as her Care Worker.

There followed some entertaining repartee, sprinkled all over with various references including ones to red pills (not blue) etc, in which I also took part. You can still read this, even though several of the links there are now unfortunately dead.

 On 11 November 2005, I commented again, this time as Alice Hargreaves (the original Alice Liddell's married name was Mrs. Reginald Liddell Hargreaves!) adding, P.S. Today's photos show me at something more like my real age - when I went to America for the honorary degree. I still miss Mr Dodgson, you know.

In fact it was in 1932 when she went to Columbia University for the centenary of Lewis Carroll, and she was 80. I hasten to add that I am nowhere near that old yet!
T-shirt Wars heads
Towards the end of the competition I said, I shall be so sad when T-Shirt Wars ends, I shall just cry and cry like I did about not geting through the little door into the beautiful garden and this time I'll really drown in my own tears...  Vera added in a P.S. ... But please can we see all your heads at last?  THIS is what they gave us. The rotters!

Revelation and Explanation
[Monkey exclaimed, That would make a super title for a movie, wouldn't it? so I've let it stand]

So, I finally have to confess, the long and the short of it... Oh dear, Monkey won't understand that reference to WS's Merry Wives I'm afraid. [Come on Alice, just get on with it - Monkey]

All right then, here goes.
VERA DOESN'T EXIST. She is purely a creation of my imagination. I'm afraid the photo five back is actually another one of Grace Hopper. This may come as a shock to you, so calm down, breathe deeply and let me explain.

In late 2005 I was recovering from a very trying time in my life and officially about to become a retired Senior Citizen. I didn't really feel comfortable with my impending status, and was loath to admit I was old enough to be the mother of one of these T-shirt warmongers / wearers. Vera, I suppose, was a kind of Shadow sub-personality onto whom I off-loaded all my fears and introjected prejudices about aging. It was certainly her who was the one who didn't want to be seen in public with Monkey! The "Care Worker" Alice, on the other hand, represented the younger-hearted part of myself. Jung is very good on all this kind of thing, I find.


I must add, while we're putting the record straight, I have never actually been a Care Worker, either of the horrendously abusive OR the conscientious variety.

[I'm allowing Monkey to add a comment here. He says,  All this talk about who's real and who's not reminds me again of the difficult question of the Red King's dream.] Quite. A most fruitful topic for philosophical discourse.

In fact, helping Monkey with this blog has been extremely therapeutic for me, and enabled me to integrate these originally opposing parts of my complex personality... Perhaps it's something to do with my Saturn T-square getting resolved (though mine is Cardinal, so not as difficult as the Fixed one discussed here, thank goodness) as I'm sure the astrologers out there will understand. Do try this really good site if you're curious.

NOW, I'm happy and relieved to say, I am totally at ease both with being "old" and feeling like a twenty or thirty year-old. And I'm no longer afraid to act like one, either! I often take Monkey with me, and discover that other people like to meet him, will even make suggestions for photos, or ask to be included in one. Yes, I have been called "eccentric" by my T-shirt Wars friend - but I take it as a compliment.

Footnote
Our post of 2nd June 2012, About Alice, tells you something about me and my early life and influences. All perfectly true, I assure you. And so is most of what you'll have learnt about Vera.

Tenniel's A-dressing the White Queen portrays our relationship very well.

It's just that we're one and the same. OK?

We hope you'll keep reading us, whoever we seem to be...

 (I love all the original Alice illustrations, don't you?)
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