Most people who've only seen the Lord of the Rings films don't realise there's a whole chapter at the end that got cut, “The Scouring of the Shire”.

After the ring goes into the fire but before Frodo sails away with the elves, the hobbits come home to find the Shire occupied.

Trees felled. Mills smoking. Notice boards thick with new rules. A "Chief" nobody elected, and ruffians enforcing his orders.

I've been thinking about that missing chapter a lot lately, here in the Cowichan Valley.

New piece: Tolkien's Blueprint for a Peaceful Revolution.