So, nearly two months without the Beard.... how have any of us coped... least of all myself.... but already I digress...

Two months is a long time to go without blogging, but not a long time when one is attempting to organise a wedding, cope with building work, soort out a Scout Group, and move out of a house... seriously...

But the Beard is finally uprooting and heading for pastures new... on December the fifth, his tenancy officially ends (depending on the vagaries of the council, of course...)and he begins his new life as resident at the house of the Future Mrs Beard... and not before time, I hear some (if not most) of you cry... But worry not!!!! For the presence of the Beard within cyberspace will unfortunately be continued, as will his current employ... so the tramp like existence(part time) of the beard will be beginning soon... phew!

And of course, in true Beardlife fashion, delays and confusions have occurred, placing a large white obstacle in the way of his plans... that's right, for those of you who live in slightly less inhspitable climes, the snow has fallen on England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, causing the annual bread shortage to happen several weeks earlier than usual.. and in that forgotten County which is Leicestershire, especially in the North West thereof, boy has it fallen... it makes the Beard glad that he is flying south, even if only as far as sunny Solihull.... now, the Beard has always been amazed by the public's propensity for buying bread and milk at the first sniff of a snowflake... personally, I buy flour, yeast and sausages... after all, bread and milk go off so quickly, and sausage sandwiches with hot home made bread is a far superior survive-the-snow foodstuff... but I digress.. or do I....??

Moving house, allegedly, is the second most stressful thing a person can do, trailing on the heels of a death in the family... styrangely enough, apparently the next two things are, in order, getting married and going on holiday... so the gods help anyone moving house to get married, then tying in the honeymoon with the funeral of uncle jack in australia.... But the Beard is actually finding it cathartic and soul pleasing... the very act of clearing out all the rubbish is something everyone should experience, both literally, figuratively and spiritually.... and the Beard has always believed in catharsis.. but then the Beard also believes in human nature and the power of vinegar, so what sort of judge is he...?? But, getting back off the subject, the Beard is really looking forward to finally moving in with the Future Mrs Beard...

Which basically brings everything as up to date as t eBeard ever is... hopefully, there will now be more time to update, and get back to the humourless randomness that is Wisebeard!!!!!it remains only to say that until all our tics are cathared, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Panic buying.... possibly...

Well, I spent a great deal of today avoiding people panic buying fuel.. not sure why...why they do it, that is, not why i was avoiding them!! I mean, ok, the tanker drivers from one company are striking... but the others aren't.... and there should be plenty of fuel in ther tanks to last till tuesday, unless of course some panicky individuals rush out to the petrol stations and unnecessarily fill up their cars... oh dear..... I remember in my youth it was bread... the slightest sproinkling of snow, and all the bread was off the shelves.. the Beard would queue behind trlloey loads of bread... and strangely enough, five days later when the snow was gone (for we had real snow back then.....it really did block roads... nowadays it's the drivers who don't know what they're doing that block the roads by smoothing it into ice driving too slowly.. but I digress( and in parentheses too...)) the bread would end up in dustbins... fewer of us had the luxury of a freezer back then.... so why did wew do it.. I know it dates back to the food hoarding prehistory of our race, when the only supermarkets ran very fast and had big claws, but why bread?? why not target tinned goods, or dried.. corned beef, beans, rice.. at least they almost never go off.. where is the sense in hoarding perishables..... ?? But there we are.... on thesubject of food (again) I'm thinking of embracing Freganism, and going on a food liberation spree.... lets be honest, the idea of picking up wasted (but perfectly good) foods frommthe supermarket bins is nothing new for me.... I used some perfectly good but past sell by date carrots and potatoes to good effect a few years back...lets be honest, if I'd bought them on the last day, they'd have been alright a week after.... I'm even guilty of eating one day out of date pork chops... I figure that for their own safety supermarkets must program in some degree of latitude in order to avoid lawsuits.... and I do like them well done... cooking destroys germs, and I have it good authority that week old roadkill is perfectly edible if boiled long enough... although it lacks appeal to an aesthetic gourmand like myself... but I digress.... personally i didn't go hunting for fuel. .. my MOT runs out tomorrow midnight, and I'm shopping for a new vehile all being well.... so no point putting in more fuel than i need.. at most I'm going into Coalville, and then Hinckley later on.. although I may be borrowing the Purple Bunny (a Ford Fiesta owned by my dad....) for the latter... unless of course I actually get a van in the morning.. which would be nice....so, with my son safely ensconsed in a b+b in Blackpool with his mother, and some pallets to move tomorrow, I leave you with this thought.. what happens if so much fuel is panic bought that the tankers are unable to refuel, leaving them unable to reach their depots to bring the fuel out to replenish what was panic bought.. now that would be a story.... so, with bed beckoning, and a day to look forward to tomorrow (and not just because of the van!!) Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off Work... Again....

Well, here I am at home in the snow... my driver's mate didn't turn up today ("ill") and with no-one to help carry, and the roads supposedly bad, I was sent home.... so here I am, thinking about how much more snow we used to get.... I think the main problem on the roads nowadays in this sort of weather isn't the snow, but the fact that most drivers either can't remember how to drive in it, or have never driven in it anyway.... the amount of people I see revving too hard, using too low a gear, and turning the snow to ice is amazing... I usually get nasty looks as I effortlessly cruise by the poor unfortunates slipping ontheir own mess.... remember, start of in 2nd gear, using as few revs as possible, and you'll be ok... and if people didn't drive too slowly, spinning their wheels, the roads wouldn't be treacherous... keep up a fair speed, and the friction of tyre on snow actually clears the roads.... strange but true.... but I digress,.... so, how to spend my day....years ago, with the snow deeper we would have driven(!) to Bradgate Park and gone sledging, but we don't relly get enough snow for that nowadays.... and for some reason the roads get blocked.... but i won't start on that again... so today, the plan is, washing up, help my son build a snowman, try to do some more on a model railway I've been trying to finish, and see whether or not i can get to Beavers tonight... but there we are... anyway, until the snow turns to slush, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!