its christmas...

and what a Christmas... now, the Beard has never been one for christmas, as most of you may or may not know... and as for the rest of you... well.... but in the end, I suppose it all comes down to one thing... which is unfortunately the thing that escapes me.... but I digress...

now, last week the Beard was waxing lyrical about instruction books, and the reasons why those given them should at least read them.... I'm a great believer in the parable of the football team... for those of you who have never heard it, it goes something like this....

three men wanted to play football for a famous premiership team.. which one possibly is unimportant, but if not, then feel free to make it your favourite one.... anyway, to cut a long story short, the manager gives them all a copy of the rules of footie, tells them to familiarise themselves with it, then come back next day for the trials...

player one, lets call him "player one" for the sake of clarity, decides not to bother.

player two ("Steve") reads the book, decides that some of the rules are stupid, and thinks that he can do better...

player three (who we will call on the telephone) reads the book, and decideds to keep to the rules....

on the day of the trials player one does so many fouls that he is sent away quickly... Steve goes on the pitch equipped with a hockey stick and catches the ball, only to be sent home... and player three plays according to the rules and gets on the team...

the moral of the story is, I hope, obvious, but to be honest I very much doubt it... but substitute yourr favourite religion for football and you may get the point... which I am determined not to make myself...

now read the rules for yourself.... you may be very surprised....

but it is allegedly the season of goodwill, so the point will be mercifully unlaboured....

other than that, another month has gone by, with the death regrettably of Brittany Murphy, another quite attractive and fairly talented actress who had totally unneccesary plastic surgery and suffered as a result.... but will her death halt the alarming rise in cosmetic surgery.... ??? now, I understand some people's need for such procedures... a cousin of mine, for example, who suffered serious burns, or women who have had mastectomies... but I fail to see why anyone would risk death and serious injury to change the shape of their nose... especially when, without exception, most of them look worse afterwards.... but then, I have always been very happywith the Beard's body, unshapely as it is... but we all live in a world of dissatisfaction, forced on us from above by those who can profit from us... but the sooner we can all just accept that we are who we are, then we'll probably all be a lot happier... or possibly not....

anyway, the only other thing to say on the subject, is that the Bhujon Tandoori in Coalville does a lovely curry, and that my goose will tomorrow be well and truly cooked... so, until we can all be as goosed as the next man, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11