A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.

- Robert Baden-Powell -

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I took a walk close to home yesterday, a typical winters day, cool but with plenty of sunshine which soaked into my bones as I walked along. I did a two hour stint, not super-brisk but wasn't dawdling either, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I use walking to order and reorder things in my head and yesterday's walk was particularly rewarding from that perspective...although I came across the unexpected which, uncharacteristically, took me a little unawares.

I wasn't a Boy Scout when I was a kid and in my early teens, I was in the Air Training Corps though and they had a similar ethos around preparing young people for adulthood, building skills, developing positive personality traits, outdoor skills and various other things that could be carried forward; one of which was preparedness and expecting the unexpected and I've honed those all my life.

Those skills didn't help me yesterday though.

🅶🆄🅴🆂🆂 🆆🅷🅾

I was sitting at a café after my walk, macchiato coffee, ear-pods in and watching the world go by on the marina as I listened to music when two hands clamped over my eyes from behind and a voice said, guess who?

That's one of my pet hates, people sneaking up on me, which is why I generally sit with my back to the wall where possible, unfortunately not a possibility in this case though. I refrained from pulling a little move I know then scissor-kicking the person in the head and put my hands to the hands still covering my eyes...they were lovely and soft, ok, Female, or a really effeminate man, I thought, but had no clue so said, I don't know, who is it?

It turned out to be a blast from the past, let's call her Miss Soft Hands, and we spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the old days and life in general; our respective stories unfolded, (as much as I'm willing to divulge), and it was a really really nice four hours.

Phone numbers were exchanged and we parted after promising not to leave it twenty five years before we caught up again. It was a pleasant and unexpected event and I walked away thinking about that: Surprises, unforeseen events, being taken unawares and happenstance.

🆃🅷🅴 🆄🅽🅴🆇🅿🅴🅲🆃🅴🅳

I'll admit to being the sort of man who likes to know what's going on around me; I don't have to control everything, just be aware of it; old habits die hard they say.

Unexpected things can be good or bad and affect us positively or negatively...or not at all I guess too.

I recall times in which I've worked very hard to avoid the unexpected, to control things so surprises didn't happen, that I wasn't taken unawares - it was appropriate in those situations - but is it really a bad thing though? Could being surprised sometimes be a little exciting? Certainly, my afternoon spent with Miss Soft Hands was not at all bad despite the way it began, so clearly being taken unawares has its place.

🅻🅸🅵🅴 🆄🅽🅵🅾🅻🅳🆂

I came to the decision that life just happens. I mean that what happens happens and whilst it's ok to shape, create and design life, it's also ok to let it unfold in whatever ways it will and to accept, or roll with, it when that happens. Sure, that may come with some bad or negative aspects, but it'll come with some pleasing ones too and the bad makes the good so much better right?

Life will do what it will and we can only hope to influence it to move a little closer to our ideal version.

I certainly don't condone floating through it, that's not what I mean at all...but embracing it, all of it, and making the best of the moments we have seems to be a good way to go...and there's no harm in a little free-form life, happenstance and the unexpected.

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My guess who moment turned out for the best yesterday, no one was scissor-kicked and despite my annoyance at having been crept up upon it all worked out in the end. It was, a really great afternoon in fact and I'm glad it played out in the way it did. I wonder though, have you ever been taken unawares, had an unexpected event or situation arise and if so would you share it with me? Feel free to drop something down in the comments below if you'd like, a comment or your own thoughts or stories on unexpected happenings and how they can affect our lives for good or bad and how best to deal with them.