I used to think that Elves knew everything, Men could do anything, Bilbo would always take care of me.  I thought my life in the Shire would go on forever – days of sunshine to wander the land I loved, cold, dark nights gathered around the fireside drinking beer, roasting apples and sharing stories, and a world so safe and secure nothing could upset it.  Even when Gandalf explained the golden snare I held, and the shadowed fate of Middle-Earth suddenly came, dark and real, into my cosy Hobbit-hole I still thought another would take the burden.

Now I’ve grown up.