Today

More about my redundant first name. Yesterday I lent it to a little girl of my acquaintance who thinks that Alice is just about the coolest name in the universe. Apparently she's even named the voice of her father's satellite navigation system "Alice", although she did tell me that her cuddly donkey isn't called Alice.

Anyway, I put together an imposing-looking deed that gave her the right to use my Alice, along with her other names, as long as she wanted to. We signed the document and Paul witnessed it and I gave it to her for her 7th birthday. She seemed delighted, especially once she'd realised that she didn't have to change her existing names or get rid of them. I also gave her a copy of Alice in Wonderland.

In My Day

When I was a child we lived in a road full of imposing Victorian Villas in South London. They were all on 99 year leases, with only a few years to go. When the house next door, full of sitting tenants came up for sale, Daddy jumped at the chance to earn a bit of extra cash from the lets.

In one of the ground floor flats lived two Indian men. Very quiet, they were. One of them had a head of curly hair and I frequently thought that he was female.

One day Daddy went to collect the rent and this tenant opened the door, dressed as a woman. "I have to tell, you, Mr D", he said "My doctor informs me that I am now a woman. Will you please call me Carol." My father blinked, but, after all, this was London and he'd seen a fair bit of life. So he shrugged and said OK.

Next time the rent was due the other tenant came over to pay. Also dressed in female attire. "I have to tell you, Mr D," he said "My doctor informs me that I am now a woman. Will you please call me Brenda." "What's going on?" Said Daddy. "Are you trying to avoid trouble with the Police or something? Pull the other one." But it was true - they'd both changed sex within a couple of weeks of each other.

I think that Carol got married to a man, who, I remember hearing, didn't treat her at all well.

That is rather an extreme way of changing your name, though.