Well now, call me pragmatic, but I grew a beard to keep my chin warm.

Driving old style, open backed, British buses with no heating in them to the top of Archer Road at 04:30 of a February morning was, how shall we say, a tad chill. When I gave up life on the road I mentioned to my missus that I was thinking of shaving it off. "Don't do that", she said, "I like the way it tickles" ;{)>

Billy Connolly said in one routine that he always thought that underneath his beard was a basically good looking young guy. When he shaved it off one day, underneath was . . . a potato.

Bill's beard is a goatee, dyed purple, these days (just watched him visit the homeland on T.V.). So who's up to following his lead then? Let's see how much more psychedelic we can make Sidmouth look this year.