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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

back again.. sorry....

So, herevwe are again, and first the beard offers apologies, both sincere and otherwise, for all those (and I know you are few...) who have been missing the regular missives from the world of beardiness..... but the beard which is wise and inebriates rarely has been having a busy time of it lately.... for those of you who have visited Beardsheim in the past, a surprise will be in store next time you cross the two tone bridge (still saving up for the full Rainbow model...) ... the Beard, with the incredibly useful help of Beard Junior, has actually been having a real sort out.. and I mean, a real one.... avoiding the piles of old rubbish, hoarded mathoms and offcuts of facial hair just got too much, and eing a great fan of arts and crafts, the wise one decided that if it aint beautiful and useful, it aint stopping..... so all i have left is a photo of Jenny Agutter, and a can opener..... seriously though, a lot of the accumulated stuff has gone.... although true to form, some of the more bizarre stuff has remained..... so much so that i have managed to rid the heim of five sets of shelves.... and my kitchen now appears to be the nine feet by eighteen that it actually is.... the lounge is basically tidy (apart from the boot-sale-bound boxes..) and the bedroom is unrecognisable..... all this partly due to the influence of a certain young lady.... on top of this, despite the amount of time invested, the beard has visited the cinema, gone to a concert, and has been regulary working on model railway projects and the upcoming novel...... all of which has been fantastic..... catharsis and relaxation, hard work that has actually been refreshing..... a strange ting... and the relatonship with that aforementioned young lady is growing stronger and stronger..... so things are on the up..... and up.... and up..... its very reminiscent of the scene in V for Vendetta (the comic.. not the film, which i still haven't quite seen.... but I digress...) where Evey says to V something along the lines of "don't you find that sometimes you want to get rid of the stuff from the past, and et on with the future.... " I'll try to find the exact quote if i can be bothered..... which brings me to the subject of Watchmen.... and my fervent hope that the americans haven't ruined the finest comic book ever written.... but as the second act of Siegfried begins to play, the Beard realises the time, and must fly... so until we can all have a jolly good clear out, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!

Nearly a Month

since last I posted.... and what a month... its seen the deaths of Tony Hart and patrick McGoohan (which means Portmeirion is definitely on the list this October...) and almost certainly several others.... I've been to Chesterfield several times, the West Mids regularly, and to Twycross, which i'll admit still feels a bit empty without Joe.... but its still a great place to visit.... and there have been plenty of wows.. so many indeed that they have become WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!s......... but there will be more from the beard at some point.. bed beckons though.... so until we can all use multiple exclamation marks to good effect, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!

its happened again....

the dreaded double post.. and i know its probably......
until we all get two of it all.... wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've probbaly said this already....

but I've always preferred funerals to weddings.... now, I have my reasons, mainly down to selfishness.... but mainly it boils down to the experience.... lets take it point by point.... firstly, at your typical wedding, in an attempt to make herself look better, the bride usually dresses her attendants in pastel dresses deigned to make them look fat and with bad skin... so it follows that the best looker at the whole event is off limits.. well, most of the time.... you're expected to look happy, despite having to give up at least two hours of valuable saturdayness, and you have to spend money on a present that they either don't want, can't use, or have named for themselves... thus destroying any possible element of surprise... on that subject, I was once invited to a wedding, and informed that i was down to buy the washing machine.. some others were down for four nights in Sydney, flights to said city, and such like.. few of us attended.... and those who did were treated to the sight of the bride crying because her stingy mates hadn't paid for her honeymoon... but I digress.. the worst thing about weddings is that three months after, you get invited to a christening, which is, if anything, even worse.... lets be honest, if i invited you to watch me pour water over a baby and make it cry, you'd phone the police.... but if i put on a dress and a dog collar.... and lets face it, you're stuck with eighteen years of buying an extra christmas and birthday present..... funerals on the other hand, are a god send.. the food is usually good, most women look good in black, some wear gloves, and if you look mserable nobody minds.... plus if any of the ladies are especially upset, well, you can always offer them some comfort.... you never know your luck.... on top of all this, the hymns are usually more suited to my deep voice, and its a great saving on presents for the rest of your life.... however, i'm sligtly revising my view of weddings.. yesterday one of my oldest friends (that is, one of my longest standing... although she has been known to sit occasionally) got herself married and treated me to some roast beef... and although i admit to having gone to only four weddings (and a funeral... good title.. must use it somewhere...) two of which involved the same bride, this was the best yet.... partly down to the company of a certain young lady, of whom all that can be said is Wow!! but i digress.. all I wish to say is good fortune to Heidi and Andrew, and i hope it all goes well..... so until we al get wardrobes, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've probbaly said this already....