Lost.. and Found.....

Now, strange as it may seem, the Beard loves a walk in the woods as much as the next man.. who is almost certainly Ray Mears.... and so, when a certain young lady mentioned the possinbility of a walk through Cannock Chase, the Beard of course jumped at the chance.... although, to be honest, if this young lady had suggested a four mile stroll through the middle of a run down housing estate, i would still have leapt several feet.. such is the appeal of the right company.. which remiinds me of a very poor joke.. a Captain in the Royal Artillery walks up to a lady of the night, and asks, "How much for the pleasure of my company..." "£40, " responds the magdalen... "Very reasonable, " the officers says, then turns a way, and shouts, "Company! By the left...." but i digress... after an M6 themed meeting, following a strange journey behind a man who insisted at driving past all speed cameras at 20mph, despite being in a 60 mph zone, we arrived at that ancient forest and hunting ground, where, despite not being startled by a deer, the Beard lost his famous sense of direction, mistook one path for another, and ended up somewhere totally different... whichh is possibly a metaphor for life... or possibly life itself is the metaphor for walking in woods.. who can tell... but regardless, the walk itself was fine, as was the subsequent sit in a rather deceptoive public house.... from the outside it looked like your familiar, slightly run down but still presentable corner local.. inside it was quite modern, with wide screen tvs and Deal or NoDeal being projected upon a wall.. and Noel Edmonds is a frightening enough concept on a 20 inch screen.... although he did help me increase my stocks of Lego at a time when such things were important.... the atmosphere inside, however, belied the laminate floor, being very much local... it was as if the regulars had simply ignored the changes and carried on as if their pub had not gone a bit tarty... which is possibly a good thing....but anyway, while walking along hese paths through the chase, and being totally deer-less, I had little time for introspection, as I was too busy talking and listening... which is not necessarily a bad thing... as one of my friends (yes, i do have them, contrary to appearances..) once stated, "if your mouth ever stands stil, your brain will start working... so please keep talking..." but looking back, I'm thinking that an awful lot of us are just like that walk... on a nice, familiar path, knowing just where we are heading, only to find that we are on a different path, and that our plans for the destination are now immaterial...... and that it is far too late to turn back and get on the path we want.. which is where Andy (the tent guy) has my respect, for realizing that the tarmac he trod was actually the wrong bit, and retracing his steps... he's one of the few that has done it in time.... it may be, however, that we look along the wrong path, and realize that it seems better than the path we were going to take... in which case, good luk to you.. or that the path is at the least no worse for leading in the wrong direction... and teh Wiseness of the Beard lies in part in recognising the joy in all possible paths.... and as I was never sure which path i wanted to take anyway, did it really matter which one drew my feet along its slightly muddy, occasionally ankle turning track??? One thing we can never know is what would have happened if... which is a subject for campfires and science fiction, not remorse and regret.... i imagine that i think what I'm trying to say is, try to enjoy what you've got, and where you've been.... and if its too late to get on the right path, remember that short cuts make long delays, and there are deeer out there somewhere... and as for the rest of my sunday, all I can say is another wow!! and possibly yet another for good measure.. wow!! so, until we get surprised by deer on the path, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!