Alice laughed.
"There's no use trying,"she said: one ca'n't believe impossible things."
I daresay you haven't had much practise," said the Queen.
"When I was your age I always did it for half-an-hour a day.
Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
There goes the shawl again!"
The White Queen speaks in Through the Looking Glass
Remember way back when we started this little letter diary? On the very first post, I wrote;
'Following a chance discovery back in April this year, I'm researching sourcing and a'hatching out a book. It's about 'Alice Through The Looking Glass', and I'm writing it for my little Grand-daughter Emily so that when she grows up, she knows that there is always something else to discover...'
So here we go Emily, six impossible things for you to believe today;
1. In August 2011, two Senior Lecturers at Portsmouth University published a little book- Tennysons Celebrity Circle a great bite-size stylish, informative on the subject close to my heart and home. This accompanied the work they had done at the Uni, which also gave a very user-friendly and accessible destination for us at Dimbolaland, when we needed to help the uninitiated get familiar with our altogether mind-blowing uniquely rich local heritage- http://tennysonscelebritycircle.port.ac.uk/
2. Our Chairman, dear D.B.H had a 'light-bulb' moment inspired by the work these guys had done. In 2012 he proposed to the Board that we change our Articles to include 'The Freshwater Circle' and all who sailed in her.
3. Mr Dickins, brought in his considerable commercial expertise, and suggested the re-branding of the Tearoom as 'The Mad Hatter' ( told you before how that one went down dear Em, and how the 'War of the Roses' began. ) T'was that night your Granny went home and another 'light-bulb moment' begat the discovery of the characters of the Freshwater Circle that Dodgson drew from whilst he was here.
4. The good olde Bookroom where GiGi works, provided me with my initial research at my fingertips, whilst I served the customers and your little book got hatched, and I used this little blog to help me focus my thoughts. Now, Dimbola had tangible reasons for its Tearoom re-branding and right on the money with the recent change of Articles.
5. The Mad Hatter Tearoom got finished, and it won a Museum and Heritage Award for Excellence last month. Your little blog, just topped 4000 views, two Alice Exhibitions at Dimbola are proving newsworthy, the launch of which is-a-coming up in just under three weeks (eek, no peace for GiGi.)
Your book is set to go into Fortnum and Masons too. (Nice with cake!)
6. GiGi, who as your Daddy just reminded her walked out of her degree course after 8 months because she was too impatient to get to work in the Fashion Industry, is now set to embark upon a PHD, that begins with the 'Jabberwocky' in Whitburn, travels via the blooming railway, through literary fume to dress-theory-fire to Oxford, and London, and the good old Isle of Wighty, ending in Sandown in 1874.
With luck, I will finish it when I'm Sixty, and you are just a year older than Alice was as set in Dodgson's books!
My dearest Grand-child, keep close to your enquiring heart- you never know what else there is to discover, and where it might lead you.
Here's your invitation! Granny's 'fashion-son' is a-hostin' (He's the same age as Daddy, and with a different Sartorial-flair!)
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