WE’VE all thought about it. That moment when we have realised that our job is just not worth the hassle.
Getting close to that point has caused many of us to at least think about chucking it all in and storming out.
Then again, not many of us have been working on board a plane just when we were ready to tell them to take their job and shove it. Which is why we are all a bit tickled by Steven Slater, the American flight attendant, who flipped when, according to himself anyway, some passengers were a tad rude to him. Aw, diddums.
Slater threw a wobbly, grabbed a few bevvies, released the emergency chute and – wheeee – slid right out on to the dole.
Yes, I know it was the wrong thing to do and he was very unprofessional and needs to keep his emotions in check. But, seriously, who has not secretly wanted a go on that inflatable slide thingy? It looks like so much fun. And the last thing you want to do is be in a real emergency where you have to use it as intended. So, if Slater was getting his jotters anyway, why not?
We all try and do the right thing but, usually, that is the boring option. So, sometimes, we just do what we really, really want to do and hang the consequences.
Like all this stuff about global warming. That’s got me all worried. I just don’t know what to do. I did try doing the right thing and following the advice about cutting down on heat and light but I’m afraid that didn’t go according to plan.
To cap it all, there was an accident on the road just ahead of me the other day.
Sadly, a cyclist was hurt and the poor chap is still sore but recovering. Not a happy chappy, I can tell you. It was actually me that found him but is he grateful? Nope.
I’m just too upset to talk about it right now. I’ll tell you some other time. Maybe.
Princess Anne was 60 yesterday. Now there’s someone who always does the right thing whenever she can. With her head usually swathed in a “beannag” — that’s a headsquare to any monoglots who chance upon this column — she is the reliable royal who will always tell it like it is.
When she is not telling pushy photographers to “naff off” or refusing to comply with crazed gunmen who order her to get out of her car, she turns up unannounced in the most unlikely of places – even here on Lewis.
She still regularly pops in for a cuppa to see friends who live in Lochs and was recently spotted by the tins of beans and peas in the Timsgarry shop in Uig.
All this fuss is going on now because of her big birthday. She, however, would rather not mention it as she says she has a lot of proper things to do. She had to be “advised” to dress up for the photos and interviews. Just like any other busy mother in a beannag, keen to get on lifting the peats, shearing the sheep or going for the messages. Well, almost.
Sometimes, though, we could be excused for throwing our hands up and going off on one. Not that we all would do that.
Take my mate, Iain Turnbull. Diagnosed with prostate cancer and not knowing how long he has to live, he could certainly have been excused for throwing a complete wobbly. Not our Iain, though.
Instead, he is fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support. He’s had his beard shaved off in the Macleod Motel at Tarbert and, on Wednesday, Iain, whose father and sister died from cancer, will be over in Inverness where he will again be facing the glint of cold steel.
Yep, he is getting his entire head shaved this time. Those long flowing silver locks, the lovingly cultured ponytail — the lot is coming off to raise a few bob to help the charity which may be supporting him when the time comes.
An former brewer, Iain has had a big batch of a special beer made. It is called Swansong.
It is not for Iain himself, though. Swansong is for the party after he has gone. He wants to do the right thing for the ones he leaves behind. Now that’s what I call planning. Yep, that’s the right thing.
If you would like to help Iain’s fantastic fundraising bid, just call David Cameron. No, not the one now living at a posh address in Westminster but the one based at the Macmillan charity headquarters in Bridge of Don. They’re in the phone book and David has all the details.
And another Iain was in the news this week. Iain Thornber, a historian, says there is no reason why people cannot go back to living on St Kilda.
He has a point. It is so much easier to get there now. How would you market it though? A place to go for people to find themselves?
Maybe it would be ideal for those silly people who go in the huff for ages and just don’t want to speak to anyone?
Or maybe it would be just the place to live if you were interested in studying astronomy, the sea or our climate? Where better to look for the signs of global warming, for example?
Because, yes, I am very worried about this global warming. The warnings are everywhere and the message is that we can all do our little bit to help.
There was a guy on the radio the other evening and he was persuasive. He said that the polar ice caps would melt that bit slower if we all just switch off all our lights for a few minutes.
I could do that, I thought. I’ll just switch off all my lights right now. It’s the right thing to do.
And that’s how I ran over that poor cyclist.
