Wandering in Wonderland

Imagine! Big brown hares running wild across the fields, leaping, racing, twisting, turning, lolloping and then up on hind legs, boxing – another of nature’s amazing spectacles! March hares! Why March? Why not! After a long, cold winter, the sap is rising, the sun is shining and it’s mating time again in the Hare Hareem. ‘Mad as a March hare’! Their apparent sense of fun is infectious, as they race across the grass. Their energy and sheer physical strength is something to be envied. I watch, fascinated, as they stand tall on strong back legs and inflict powerful front-paw blows on their boxing partners. Masterful! Not a game for wimps. However, research seems to show that the sparring is actually about unwilling females fending off passionate males, not, as might be supposed, rival males keen to show off their sexual prowess and win their mate. There’s a touch of spring madness in the air and hares seem to be first in line to catch it.

‘Mad as a March hare’? ‘Mad as a Hatter’! There’s another puzzling saying. Have hat makers always had a reputation for madness? Does a hat designer need a little craziness to succeed? Is it something inherent in the artistic temperament? Or is it only Lewis Carroll who envisaged madness in hatters? Were hatters as sane and sensible as the rest of us before Alice? And why do they go to tea parties? Maybe for a spot of networking – to drum up extra business? Top hats, party hats, fancy dress, hats for dormice…? This March madness really seems to be catching…

‘Daft as a brush’! Does anyone really say that? Well, yes they do! I’ve thought and thought about this one. Whilst I can see an argument or two for hares exhibiting a touch of craziness in their springtime behaviour and it’s a possibility that Lewis Carroll may have had some inside information on the psychological make-up of hatters, I find it hard to attribute either sanity or insanity, silliness or common sense to an inanimate object. What kind of a brush might be daft? A hair (hare?) brush? A broom? Perhaps a toothbrush or a toilet brush? A hat brush! What about a paint brush? Perhaps the one that painted the roses red for the Queen of Hearts? That was pretty daft. Even Alice thought so. No, this one defeats me. Any ideas?