Off The Cuff: And... it was all just around the corner

It's a beautiful place. You should see it." said the driver.

"Where is it?"

"It's very close by, just around the corner from where you stay, actually."

"Not possible, how could I have missed it?"

"Don't know… I go there all the time. It gives me peace."

My driver for two weeks seemed to have picked up on my manic fascination for places of natural beauty and ... why.

We wasted no time, bundled into the noisy, diesel guzzling car and headed for paradise lost. Past a busy intersection, I insisted on stopping for supplies. Always be prepared for long journeys. "Just around the corner..." could be a very long time away, sometimes.

This time, I was very wrong. In just five minutes, we pulled over to the side of the road on a very ordinary looking stretch. Must be something wrong with the car. The driver stepped out, gazed wistfully to the side and just nodded. We clambered out sceptically, climbed a slight incline, pushed away a few tall bushes and gasped.

Beneath us, the ground fell away a couple of hundred metres, a huge basin of cut rock.

It was a granite quarry, deep in the earth, shaped like the number eight and half-filled with a vast, serene lake of blue-green rainwater. The sheer cliffs were crowned with a gamut of tropical flora, each showing off aggressively. A light, cool breeze made tiny ripples on the still water and the backs of our neck.

Movement - a tiny dumptruck clung to the side of the quarry far below us, as it laboured cautiously on the ribbon of dirt road with its precious cargo. Its rumble too distant and unable to puncture our bubble of contentment.

Incredulously, we took it all in. Silent, vast and picture-perfect… a cosmic waltz of God and man, perfectly synchronised to produce a thing of beauty. And… it was all just around the corner.

How many times had I passed this treasure, unaware and busy with where I had to be? I could have kicked myself.

Silly thoughts started to trickle into my numbed mind… the scrawny kitten that followed me home and slumped docilely outside the front door for two days, just because I gave it some food and milk and spoke softly to it.

Those large, luminous eyes peering longingly inside my home every time we had to use the door. I chased it away. No time to look after a pet. No time for a cute, black-and-white furry creature all alone in a big bad world.

And there was the little girl, with a half-naked baby sibling hitched to her side, irritating and whining, clawing me for loose change, which I refused partly because everyone says you shouldn't encourage begging and partly because she was annoying. I didn't have any time for her either.

No time for a poor kid born on the wrong side of the tracks, at the wrong time and to the wrong people. No time to notice that she had a strong voice, a lot of guts and perseverance. I was busy, I had things to do, I had a life.

A life where I didn't even know about small wonders... just around the corner.