In honour of the birthday of Lewis Carroll earlier in the week we'll have his birthplace this time round.

Now I confess that I'm not sure of the pronunciation but we'll go with how I'd say it which is either

DARES-bree or DARES-buh-ree, probably the former.

Shame it wasn't Balsall Heath - I've go a belter for that!

Sounds good, Bob. I'll get one to you this weekend.

<images of ghost town>
<saloon doors banging in the wind>
<tumble weed blowing across the prairie>

Come on guys. Somebody must want to write one!

"Once a writer in Daresbury
Wrote nonsense words with glee--
Mad as the hatter,
But what the matter--
He's loved by the bourgeoisie.

I found the rhyme very tricky, but I have now submitted a piece that is, by my admittedly exacting standards, not too bad.

I haven't received it Richard

There's something wrong with this site or maybe your browser, Bob.

I definitely sent the PM and it's gone. Plus I posted a message here and it's not appeared. And now texhenge has told me that he has tried to submit a limerick to you and can't.

Maybe you could take a look at your system and I'll try to recall what it was I wrote.

Thanks, Richard. I first posted my limerick rather than submitting it to BobHale, so it's on the page. It was a challenge to fit such an unusual word into a Limerick. I enjoy writing limericks.

That's odd. I'm definitely getting them from other people. Just today I've had them from arnie, Kalleh, zm and jerry.

I'll send you a PM and you can reply to it with your limerick

Actually Richard if your send worked then it should still be in YOUR PM list. If it isn't then the send failed.

I try to send you a PM with the limerick, as your message requested, but it says you are not accepting PMs from me.

That's because I added you to my ignore list. I'll take your limerick from the post above.

here's another expanded limerick for your contest; thanks for explaining in public that you are ignoring me and thereby ungentlemanly denying me participation in the limerick contest YOU invite all to enter. This bud's for you:

Daresbury seems like a town,
The emperor said with a frown,
They all want my clothes!
I know how it goes--
E-men just think me a clown!

(Gentle Reader, forgive me
for shortening "English-men"
to fit the metrics of my rhyme.)

I'm told a simple pun
can leave the reader some fun--
Ambiguity will reign,
The meaning's the same
If a loaf is really a bun.

Daresbury fans all agree
They carry the pillow for free,
Such was the work
Of a pen-tied jerk
Even I quote jabbor--woc--ky.

In old mossy lands a tree
Stands sentinel to Daresbury,
And under it sat
An amuséd rat,
Promoted to Jabbor--woc--ky.

texhenge if you are going out of your way to annoy me then consider your work a success.

YOU first raised the issue of my ignoring you by posting a rude and offensive public post in response to MY private message, which I complained about and which has been removed at my request.

I have opened your posts in this thread in expectation of receiving limericks and have instead received further offensive messages.

Your limericks will be included in the current game but I will be drawing the above post to the administrators attention and will NOT be opening any further communication to or from you.

BobHale, none of my messages or limericks above refer to you. How ever could you imagine that? When I refer to you it will be as in the first word of this message, so you will understand. Thanke you so much for accepting my limericks!

I could use a few more entrants, people! So far there are only limericks from three people.

And Richard, only one entry? I'm sure you can manage more than that!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

This is a really hard word to rhyme!

Hey, TrossL, long time, no see!

It's a toughie alright. I'm sure everyone will be up to the challenge, though.

Hi Bob!
I will try.
I thought about you last night when I was watching "No Reservations" on the travel channel. The host went to a place in Mexico where there were all these dolls and doll parts hanging from the trees. It reminded me of a picture you had posted once.

My next trip's North Korea!

Yes, TrossL, it's good to see you back!

I am trying to think, Bob, in between work and Wordcraft hassles. I know I said I'd have one last weekend, but let's make it tonight.

Thanks for your patience.

It is a beastly difficult word, Bob. I suppose I could cheat by taking it away from the A-rhyme position - but I rather look upon that as a defeat.

Let's see.

When I get enough to post I'll pick a winner and the next person can choose an easier one. At the moment though the clear winner is me. I've done two and they are coming in first and second. Just as well I can't pick my own, eh?

Geez...and I rather liked mine!

You should by now have had another one of mine, Bob.

Well, didn’t this just turn out to be a whole lot harder than I expected? Almost no one entered but I can’t wait any longer so here are all the entries I received. Almost none of them actually have perfect rhyme to my ear so, to spare everyone’s blushes I’ll refrain from individual comment and just pick a winner.

So let’s kick off with proofreader who sent me

A barber who’s living in Daresbury
Charges men but will cut ladies’ hairs free
Hoping that he can peer
Down at their underwear
And pleasure himself by his leer spree.

Kalleh sent

There once was an author from Daresbury,
Where the gardens are green and the air's free.
This Dodgson (or Carroll)
Created some peril
As our Alice took part in a rare spree.

Richard sent me two,

A raddled old roué from Daresbury
Had aims for his German Au Pair’s cherry.
She said “Nein you old swine
I will thwart your design
For I’m just not a quickie affairs jerry.”

If you're wanting to go off to Daresbury
Make sure you beware of the bears. Very
Few are still there
But Terry take care
Or you'll find yourself saying your prayers, Terry.

…and that just leaves the set posted by texhenge directly into the thread, though some don’t technically qualify as limericks

Daresbury seems like a town,
The emperor said with a frown,
They all want my clothes!
I know how it goes--
E-men just think me a clown!

(Gentle Reader, forgive me
for shortening "English-men"
to fit the metrics of my rhyme.)

I'm told a simple pun
can leave the reader some fun--
Ambiguity will reign,
The meaning's the same
If a loaf is really a bun.

Daresbury fans all agree
They carry the pillow for free,
Such was the work
Of a pen-tied jerk
Even I quote jabbor--woc--ky.

In old mossy lands a tree
Stands sentinel to Daresbury,
And under it sat
An amuséd rat,
Promoted to Jabbor--woc--ky.

And lastly, I have a couple of my own to add, though these of course are not part of the judging.


Charles Dodgson was born in Daresbury.
Wrote of Alice, a child of cares free,
Who in her Wonderland
Could our dreaming command
Come and enter my world, declares she.

And in Looking Glass Land, on squares she
Recalls how the Hatter oft share’s tea
With the Dormouse and Hare
Though their table’s elsewhere
In Wonderland (not in Daresbury.)

I’m surprised at how hard this word turned out to be and so as she managed the A-rhyme but, to my ear, failed on the B-rhyme, I shall give the prize to Kalleh.

Pick an easier one for us.

God forbid that I only send ONE! Bob forgot this one.

When Jeb Raltar visited Daresbury
His affairs with the women were cares-free
But from one, Dorothea,
He caught gonorrhea
Now it pains him so that he just fears pee.

Sorry, I thought you'd sent two bu I couldn't find the other one on my list. You didn't delete it from your PMs did you?

I confess I felt unable to accept the "Dares-bree" pronunciation; I would maybe have made my job easier had I done so.

Well done Kalleh for your excellent submission.

Well thank you, Bob, and I will pick an easier one, I promise.