The Question by Onorae
It’s not unusual for me to find myself bemused and bamboozled and asking myself, How did I get myself into this? So, nothing new then when I found myself about two and a half years ago in a weird world variously referred to as the QCC or the Caff. I cannot remember what prompted me to be so bold as to venture in but I was instantly spotted so there was to be no unnoticed retreat to the anonymity of lurking. Go with the flow is the advice I remember and I’ve been doing just that ever since!
Within days I was writing as S.T. Peter in a saga centred on an Ark. As the story unfolded, our master boat-builder took umbrage and left for pastures new to make candlesticks or something similarly mundane. The Ark eventually washed up in a town centre where the town clerk authorised the issuing of a parking ticket. S.T. Peter pointed out that the Ark belonged to a higher authority than the Clerk and the ticket was withdrawn. Permission was granted for the Ark to remain for as long as was deemed necessary. (I wonder if it is still there!)
Just to put this in perspective: I, a newbie, was up to my neck in surreal dances of words & ideas with a scarily erudite bunch of people many of whom spend some of their time being gold-standard silly. But I survived and I haven’t been banished to the naughty step too often. I have even met a few of them and live to tell the tale. Which reminds me of a delightful happening at a mini-gathering in Staveley when we were approached by someone asking, Are you the Guardian crossword gathering? I was under the illusion that we looked normal but BrightonBelle spotted us somehow. (Are you still lurking BBelle? It must be time for you to make another appearance in the Caff.)
Since my first tentative step into this virtual world, I’ve tried and failed to convey the essence of it to friends. Impossible task. The only way to even begin to appreciate it is to join in, so grasp the nettle all you lurkers who happen to read this and come in. No need to worry about what to say – make either a fulsome or fleeting reference to the crossword and then be guided by the Walrus!
"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."
Lewis Carroll: The Walrus and the Carpenter.
Now, how did I get myself into this?
Onorae (Nov. 2014)
Within days I was writing as S.T. Peter in a saga centred on an Ark. As the story unfolded, our master boat-builder took umbrage and left for pastures new to make candlesticks or something similarly mundane. The Ark eventually washed up in a town centre where the town clerk authorised the issuing of a parking ticket. S.T. Peter pointed out that the Ark belonged to a higher authority than the Clerk and the ticket was withdrawn. Permission was granted for the Ark to remain for as long as was deemed necessary. (I wonder if it is still there!)
Just to put this in perspective: I, a newbie, was up to my neck in surreal dances of words & ideas with a scarily erudite bunch of people many of whom spend some of their time being gold-standard silly. But I survived and I haven’t been banished to the naughty step too often. I have even met a few of them and live to tell the tale. Which reminds me of a delightful happening at a mini-gathering in Staveley when we were approached by someone asking, Are you the Guardian crossword gathering? I was under the illusion that we looked normal but BrightonBelle spotted us somehow. (Are you still lurking BBelle? It must be time for you to make another appearance in the Caff.)
Since my first tentative step into this virtual world, I’ve tried and failed to convey the essence of it to friends. Impossible task. The only way to even begin to appreciate it is to join in, so grasp the nettle all you lurkers who happen to read this and come in. No need to worry about what to say – make either a fulsome or fleeting reference to the crossword and then be guided by the Walrus!
"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."
Lewis Carroll: The Walrus and the Carpenter.
Now, how did I get myself into this?
Onorae (Nov. 2014)