White Rabbits

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may recall the man in the stovepipe hat and blue coat who I saw when travelling home one day. Well I saw him again and this time, I got off the bus. I had to follow him. I should add that there was a dual purpose to this action in that I could add steps to my pedometer, Pedro. The things I'll do in the name of exercise.

Unluckily for me, the man in the stovepipe hat was walking in the opposite direction to where I needed to go. Still, a quest must be followed. Whenever he turned, I avoided hiding in doorways like they do in films. My eyesight isn't great (and I refuse to wear glasses) so it wasn't until I was about six steps behind him that I noticed the 10/6 sign affixed to the side of his hat. No friggin' way. Guy thinks he's the Mad Hatter. Okay, I had no confirmation that he thought that, but he was certainly in fancy dress as the Mad Hatter. In the middle of the day. And, this was the second time I'd seen him dressed thus.

The fact that I stopped when he next turned - well, I was only three steps away from him - probably gave away that I was following him. Oops! I fiddled with Pedro the pedometer and pretended to be checking my steps. He didn't move. I didn't move. Awkward! I said he had a nice hat and he told me he kept his rabbit under it.

I'm like 'ha! ha!' what with him being dressed as the Mad Hatter and all, but then he tipped his hat and I swear I saw a hint of white fur. "And I'm Alice," I said, winking. How brave was I? Seriously, I'm the kind of girl who sits in the corner biting her lip and hoping not to be noticed.

He told me he'd been looking for me (or rather an Alice) everywhere. Okay, that's a little creepy. Not that stalking a guy you don't know isn't creepy but at least mine involved adding steps to Pedro. Still, he was cute and creepy, so when he asked if I wanted to go to a tea party, I said yes (Note to children - do not do this at home) and besides, he nodded to the cafe we'd stopped outside. How convenient. As I don't drink from cups that I'm not familiar with (and always bring a spare - hey, this is England and we like our tea), I pulled two blue china cups and saucers from my handbag and we had mint tea, while the rabbit that was under his hat proved to be a soft toy. The rabbit didn't have tea with us.

Although, I'm not certain the pill he gave me will make me three dress sizes smaller by Easter Sunday. I think he may have been pulling my leg.

I do hope your April got off to as strange a start. Tomorrow I shall tell you what I did or didn't do in March. In the meantime, check out yesterday's blog post in which you'll find Theatre of Curious Acts on sale at a ridiculously low price (77p in the UK and 99c in the US)