'One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire Cat in a tree. 'Which road do I take? she asked.
'Where do you want to go?' was his response.
'I don't know,' Alice answered.
'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.'
(From Alice in Wonderland. Picture courtesy of Disney)
This, dear readers, is my current dilemma, solved beautifully by a stripy, ever smiling cat. Cats, I have discovered, are good like that, though. Putting the world to rights. Unless they are Bambino Bobble Wilson, however, who recently took a bit of chomp at Flora Bijou Mybug during a particularly robust game of 'Grappling Cats' rendering her infected and swollen of face and needing a dose of anti-inflammatories and antibiotics at the vets yesterday so her ear didn't fall off. Okay, maybe that is a bit melodramatic, but it did look nasty and Bambino should be ashamed of himself. I suspect he is not...
Back to forks in roads. (I wonder if that is where my kitchen forks are forever disappearing to? Oi now - let's not lose track, please. Back to road-associated forks, if you will...)
I have reached a point where decisions need to be made. Or rather, decisions are waiting to be made but aren't actually queuing up with any urgency, shaking their pitchforks and yelling, 'Get a move on with your decisions, will you? Stop procrastinating! We don't have time for all this malarkey!' And there is the good old Cheshire Cat with his wise words, because actually as yet I don't know where I am going so it matters not which direction I wander along. The road less travelled appears to calling.
Who knows what I might find? The opposite route, aka the road MOST travelled, always appeals because it is lined with hedges and trees of familiarity(I am choosing a country road to travel, of course!). Even its pot holes are manageable because you know where they are and can swerve to avoid them, or if there is a maniac in an Audi heading towards you on the other side of the road, you can slow down and negotiate them gently and without fear of popping a tyre or losing a hubcap. The road most travelled has familiar landmarks. You know the speed limit, that hidden dip in the road (garlic mayonnaise or salsa? I've always wondered on seeing the road signs...). You know how long it will take to reach your destination, temporary traffic lights/ tractor/cows in the road permitting. In short, you can be pretty confident the journey along the road MOST travelled will not throw up many, if any, unmanageable surprises, save the occasional suicidal pheasant making an ill-timed crossing.
But the road LESS travelled? Confidence is required for this journey. A calm acceptance of what might be around that next bend. A go-with-the-flow demeanour. The willingness to embrace the unexpected, the unusual, to turn surprises to advantages. To shout 'PLOT TWIST!' where necessary.
The Cheshire Cat, then, shall be my guide over the next few weeks. The mad voice of simple reason.
I have reached a point where decisions need to be made. Or rather, decisions are waiting to be made but aren't actually queuing up with any urgency, shaking their pitchforks and yelling, 'Get a move on with your decisions, will you? Stop procrastinating! We don't have time for all this malarkey!' And there is the good old Cheshire Cat with his wise words, because actually as yet I don't know where I am going so it matters not which direction I wander along. The road less travelled appears to calling.
Who knows what I might find? The opposite route, aka the road MOST travelled, always appeals because it is lined with hedges and trees of familiarity(I am choosing a country road to travel, of course!). Even its pot holes are manageable because you know where they are and can swerve to avoid them, or if there is a maniac in an Audi heading towards you on the other side of the road, you can slow down and negotiate them gently and without fear of popping a tyre or losing a hubcap. The road most travelled has familiar landmarks. You know the speed limit, that hidden dip in the road (garlic mayonnaise or salsa? I've always wondered on seeing the road signs...). You know how long it will take to reach your destination, temporary traffic lights/ tractor/cows in the road permitting. In short, you can be pretty confident the journey along the road MOST travelled will not throw up many, if any, unmanageable surprises, save the occasional suicidal pheasant making an ill-timed crossing.
But the road LESS travelled? Confidence is required for this journey. A calm acceptance of what might be around that next bend. A go-with-the-flow demeanour. The willingness to embrace the unexpected, the unusual, to turn surprises to advantages. To shout 'PLOT TWIST!' where necessary.
The Cheshire Cat, then, shall be my guide over the next few weeks. The mad voice of simple reason.
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