Snakes in the grass

Some time ago, oh, I don\’t know, 30 years perhaps, I was moving a small flock of sheep from one area to another. They were well-behaved sheep and easy to work, so they were just moving in a clump before me as I absentmindedly walked behind them. Suddenly I became aware that the flock had divided into two streams, left and right, and were diverging away from me, and as the last two sheep parted ways I realised I was heading straight for a lethal, and large, Brown Snake. The sheep had seen the danger and quietly and discreetly avoided it, while I, oblivious, was now headed for a fatal encounter.

Seemed, somehow, a metaphor for how my next 30 years would work out.