TABLE TALK #128
There’s a certain kind of magic that happens when you step off the pavement and onto a patch of grass, dirt, or gravel — where neatly planned cobbles give way to the meandering, unspoken trails that have formed under the feet of countless wanderers.
These are the desire paths, and if you’ve ever stumbled upon one, you’ve likely found yourself wondering how this path came to be?
The answer, it turns out, is simple: people like you made it.
The answer, it turns out, is simple: people like you made it.
🍝 MAIN COURSE 🍝
A desire path is a shortcut — an unplanned route created by people taking the most natural or convenient course from one point to another. It’s the road less traveled, not because it’s hidden, but because it’s improvised.
These paths form when walkers, cyclists, or even animals decide that the official, constructed routes don’t quite fit their needs or desires. So, they carve out their own way, and in doing so, create something wonderfully organic and unpredictable. A pure expression of what people want, not what they’re told they should do.
You’ve probably seen one before: that worn-down patch of grass cutting diagonally across a park, where the intended walking path swerves left and right, but a single line of footsteps makes a beeline for the far corner. Or that crooked lane cutting through a campus quad, where no one quite understands why the straight path is so… straight. It’s a bit like watching a city try to organise itself into a series of neat squares, only to realise that human nature is a bit more… squiggly.
They’re somehow inexplicably intuitive.
In a way, desire paths are also a little rebellion against the idea that everything should be meticulously mapped out. They remind us that sometimes, the best way forward is the one that’s forged by the people who walk it, not the architects or designers.
We love their quiet but defiant beauty and the fact that it’s our feet, more so than our conscious thoughts, that typically leads us down them.
If you think about it, desire paths are a metaphor for life. We’re all given a map of sorts, but often life doesn’t follow that map. We step off the well-trodden route, guided by instinct, curiosity, or the simple fact that we want to do things a little differently. And in doing so, we discover new ways of thinking, unexpected moments of joy, and paths we might never have imagined.
So, the next time you spot a desire path, pause for a moment. Maybe take a step onto it. After all, some of the most interesting journeys in life are the ones that aren’t planned at all.
Photo Credit: Morten Just, Medium
🍮 SWEET ENDINGS 🍮
Quite possibly our favourite find on the internet is this reddit thread, dedicated to desire paths.
It’s hard to put into words why the thread is so satisfying, perhaps something to do with feeling oddly proud of fellow humans simply doing their own thing.
🍷 WHAT'S NEW
FROM
WEDNESDAY'S DOMAINE? 🍷
Over the last few weeks, as many of you have discovered, we've been painfully low in stock, with a number of our still wines completely depleted.
We're very excited therefore to have entered November, knowing that our next production run is scheduled this month, and we can be topping up your reserves soon.
In other news, we've recently started asking those who make a purchase on our website where they heard about us and discovered that the word of mouth contingent is even bigger than we thought.
If you find yourself recommending us often, then please do make it count and earn yourself a buck (or ten) while you do it.
Luke x
