Ba ba, black sheep

Is it only me...but it seems to me that there are times when we behave more like sheep than the product of countless millennia of human evolution and development.

Queues have been a lot in the news over recent days but I am not going to share with you my thoughts on the sheer irrationality and madness of people lining up to queue for petrol even though we had plenty of petrol and there was never any likelihood of petrol being in short supply for at least week if we all behaved like me. In other words if we all kept calm and carried on, to paraphrase The Stereophonics....or was it Coldplay?

No instead I want to replay with you a recent experience while boarding a plane.

As usual when boarding a plane there are various stages we have to pass through, nearly all of which involve us standing in line. First there is the check in phase; then the awful so called security check which is really about seen-to-be-doing-something assurance than real security; then the wander through the strategically placed duty free shopping mall; followed by the coffee and eats experience; before being herded to the gate for a final sit down; and then at last we are called to board the plane.
At this point we all jump up and rush to queue up to have our tickets and boarding passes checked yet again before being allowed to proceed to board the plane.

Now it might only be me but it baffles me why we all do this.

Your seat has been allocated to you already so why jump up and queue. It is not as if you are going to get the best seat or even get served by the better looking trolley dolly by being first on. So why rush to queue? Why not linger a wee while longer with your paper and coffee and watch with bemused detached interest your fellow passengers jostle and push for pole position in the queue? It is a pointless and needless activity. The plane is not going to go and leave you behind, especially if you have luggage in the hold. That is deemed a security risk.

It does seem we must have ovine characteristics in the human DNA genome that evolution has failed to dislodge. In other words we behave like sheep and feel obliged to join a queue when we see one. Maybe we fear missing out on something.

I wonder if this is a Brit thing. A northern European Anglo Saxon trait? I can’t imagine the Latinos behaving like this. How did they manage to shift the sheep DNA from their genome? I would like to know.

So my advice if you flying over the holidays-stay seated in your seat when you are invited to board. Wait until the sheep have gone. And then stroll leisurely onto the plane and to your seat which will be sitting there waiting for you and still unoccupied.

Have a great week. And a fabulous Easter.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.