Dance for your life.....

[Mick Mac]

Confronted with his father, furious to find his son dancing rather than boxing, Billy Elliott paused in the face of his father's stare, thought on his feet and danced for his life.....showing his father his ability.

Can you recall a life changing moment when you remember that if you had not thought quickly, things may have turned out very differently?

[Narnia]

This probably saved my life when I was a skinny 15 year old. Had Sunday dinner when the doorbell rang. It was the captain of the town's 1st and only XV. They were one short. I agreed to play. Left wing as I was left footed and fast but not much else. Arrive at the nearby pitch(cow dung and all) to find that all of my team-mates were still in varying degrees of drunkenness having been at a party the night before. We were playing Edenderry whose reputation for fair play was only a rumour.

Anyway my sights were set on getting through the 80 minutes uninjured.This was going well for a while as a winger rarely saw the ball at that level even with sober team-mates. However my defining moment was soon to occur for which my family have never allowed me forget in the many intervening years.

A high ball was heading in my direction. I weighed up the situation in a flash. Catch it and I would be engulfed by the Edenderry pack. Fractured ribs and worse crossed my mind. The ball appeared to slowly descend out of the sky. I ran to meet it. Like I said what happened in the next few seconds has never been forgotten. Some have described my actions as sheer cowardice but I prefer the version where I acted in a manner that was way before my time.

I accelerate towards the descending ball, my mind was made up, instead of doing the orthodox thing and catch it, I volley it with my sturdy left foot back from whence it came. Of course I chase it but such was the distance it went I didn't even get the chance to tackle the recipient!

The game ended. We lost 44-0, but I had survived.

Footnote:

After many years of taunting my tactic achieved the status of vindication in my eyes when a couple of years ago I saw a French international winger do the same thing in a HC match. That was worth waiting for....nearly.

[The Eye]

My first experience behind the wheel.

Through out my childhood I looked at driving a car as no big deal, I mean what could be so difficult about putting your foot on the gas and directing it with a steering wheel.

Fast forward to my teens...

The day after passing his test my friend bought a Ford Escort 1.2 lt for ?400. Fairly good condition apart from a dodgy electric window but apart from that it was sound as a pound. There were 4 of us, me, him and our respective younger brothers and we shared a few beers and sat around chatting.

Then the question of if any unlicenced drivers would like to take it round the local carpark came up. On arrival everyone had a go without incident. My turn came and to my surprise there was alot more to driving than Batman had demonstrated. I was hopeless and grated the clutch to its owners distress. After a while I sort of got the hang of it and started to get braver with the gear stick. I slipped it into second and we started going a bit faster but I still had control. My 'instructor' then encouraged me to go up to third gear.

By mistake a put it into 4th and the vehicle lurched forward but in my panic I stamped on the accelerator instead of the brake and I kid you not, about a nano second after my mistake a child skipped into my disaster path. I don't know how but I steered around her at about 70 mph and narrowly missed a reversing van. After I came to stop I got out of the car and threw up.

If it were not for my quick thinking I'd be in prison on a death by drink driving charge. I've never drink driven since.

[Mick Mac]

I remember doing a number of unsuccessful interviews about 10 years ago. Even failing to get one that was supposed to be a formality.

The next interview I went to, I was determined to get. But the line of questioning did not give me much opportunity to talk about my areas of strength and the interviwer thanked me for my time after about 30 mins. Sometime you just know that you have not done enough and I thought I needed to do more. I said - "I don't think this interview has given me the opportunity to talk about my areas of strength and I hope you don't mind if I take a couple of minutes to talk about some areas that you may be interested in" - from there the interview went well and I got the job, which I am still in 10 years on.

I'm pretty sure if I had not restarted the interview I would not have been successful. My existing job was not going particularly well and the role I got in the new job does not come up often so I often wonder what my life would be like now if I had not made the effort to make the most of that interview opportunity. I think of it as a few minutes that changed my life for the better.

[????]

Most of my obvious life changing decisions have been quite considered...

...I've had to make a few very quick decisions for my own personal safety in the past

[The Eye]

"I've had to make a few very quick decisions for my own personal safety in the past."

I think we've all had a look at 'those sites' in the past sir. You're only a click away from marital breakdown when you least expect it these days.

[????]

Very good