Climate Change....

or to give it its usual misnomer Global warming, has reared its ugly head again, and the selfish part of me wishes to thank it for giving the Beard some lovely weather for his holiday.... which, strangely enough took place in two places, if the repetition may be forgiven.. and I'm sure it will be... first of all, a lovely few days in Anglesey, within Roman Legion swimming distance of the North wales Coast, courtesy of a certain young lady.... the holiday that is, not tthe swim...and a good chance to meet the elder of her two sons, who proved to be delightful, intelligent and incredibly fair minded.... and i'm not just saying that because of who reads this..!!! A morning of birdwatching at South Stack, a paddle in the sea with the young lady in question, a trip to the sea zoo ( one of Beard junior's favourite attractions) and a view of some gorgeous paintings at Oriel Ynys Mon (the Great Orme sky thingies.. breath taking.. wish I could remember the artist's name...).... time for home came too soon, but luckily for some, a trip to the ancient city of Jorvik followed.. my young lady's first ever.... and a very good trip it was.. Kudos to the Cavalier guest house..... although the less said about the sherry the better..... ACYL was impressed by the Jorvik centre, entranced by the Castle Museum, and absolutely gobsacked by the Minster.... so much so that we returned the next day and climbed the tower.... a cruise on the Ouse, a bewildering walk through York Dungeon and an anoraking expedition to the Rail Museum followed, with the Beard becoming a slight celebrity due to his once having ridden on Tornado's footplate.. and if you don't know what I'm talking about, why not???? the food was lovely.. good breakfasts at the Cavalier, and I would recommend to everyone El Piano, a fantastic vegan and gluten free tapas bar.... the only restaurant the beard can recall where he could order anything at all from the amazingly good menu... and they offer a discount to holders of a York pass.. of which more later... but I digress.... I was going to make some wise or otherwise statements about limiting the popoulation in order to help the environment, but instead I've waffled about my holiday.... suffice it to say, York was a big hit, and so was the Beard..... on a sadder note, a friend of mine, Simon Grant, fellow scout leader and giver of sun glasses, unfortunately died aged 44 last week... he'll be sorely missed by all.... especially Jim Muller if he throws up in his tent porch again.... "Gone Home," as we in Scouting would say....but with reference to the old adage, our Cherie has brought new life into the world as we always knew she would... and if my judgement is good (and it often is...) she'll be a fantastic mum.... but I digress again.... i'm sure Simon would have wanted the Beard to stay upbeat, so until all our gobs are smacked, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

has it been this long????

the beard's life has been getting so busy of late that it seems the old blog, and its associated spelling and gramattical errors have been rather neglected.. which is a shame... or possibly not.... as you may know (I didn't...) this whole thing began as a way to get the old writing muscles working again, in order to restart the short and not so short story writing that has long been a beardly passion.... and it seems to have worked almost too well, with my hopefully forthcoming novel finally reaching 50,000 ish words, and several other bits and bobs happening.. on top of this Scouting, family concerns, and a certain young lady have been taking up my time.... in fact, (and thsi will surprise any familiar with the world of beardliness...) I spent time at a party the other night... held at a bar in good old Birmingham (still my favourite large conurbation) in honour of the birthday of a man I didn't even know existed.... but thankfully he turned out to be a work colleague of the beauty on my arm.... now, I say this will surprise many, for the beard is not really a party person.... in fact, the last time i went to a similar event i was about twenty years younger.... now, why i'm not really a party person will probably remain a mystery.... I have no objection to them in principle, but I believe the fact that i (through various means) avoided my own 18th speaks volumes..... being very fond of the sound of my own voice, the loudness of music tends to put me off.... as does the fact that alcohol is not my favourite tipple, and i have a remarkable tendency not to dance.. i even avoided doing that at my long ago wedding... which may explain a lot.... but I've always felt lonely, and parties just seem to reinforce that feeling of isolation, while promising to actually do the opposite..... all of which makes me sound a right miserable, not to mention ungrateful, bugger..... but there were a few triumphs during the night... it seems that my young lady's friends quite liked me, i got a kiss from the birthday boy, and best of all, i got to see my partner enjoying herself.... and this i think is what separates the bearded one from your average miserable party pooper... that i do in fact enjoy parties, but not in the same way as others... i like seeing people enjoy themselves, especially people i care about.... and i have to admit that my antipathy towards festivity (although to be honest, antipathy is too strong a word... even dislike is not mild enough.. perhaps antipasto would describe it better... or perhaps not....) is mainly down to the shyness that no one believes i possess.... for as some of my closer aquaintances will telll you, sometimes, i enter into the spirit, possibly too much occasionally..... and as any cod psychologist will tell you, the best way to overcome shyness is not to behave shyly..... which is what i usually attempt to do..... last saturday, i admit that i didn't screw my courage to the sticking place readily enough..... i admit i should have approached more people, put on my extrovert act and at least attempted to dance..... and next time i promise that i shall... and i never break promises..... but i don't digress, which is not a good sign.. easter week beckons, and with it travels to exotic and ancient cities... well, York and Holyhead anyway..... so bed calls me, and i must answer.. so until we alll become as shyless as we would wish to be, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!