Why I'm guilty of grumpy thoughts a week before Christmas

OUR SAY: THE week before Christmas and I’m guilty of grumpy thoughts.

OUR SAY: THE week before Christmas and I'm guilty of grumpy thoughts.

Who are these drivers who ignore the long line of cars in the left lane crawling up Mt Kynoch, speed up the right and expect to be let in at the top?

Who arranged the lights near Bunnings so that it now takes two or more sets of changes to get through?

As for tailgaters...it's time car designers added a feature that advises drivers they're too close to the vehicle in front, along with a voice that says, "by the way, you are an idiot".

Of course, as the saying goes, it's all "first-world problems".

Fans of The Murdoch Mysteries, set early last century before any talk of the "first world", might have caught one of the recent Christmas specials.

In it, a Robin Hood-like character called Jumping Jack Flash steals presents from Toronto's mega-rich to provide the poor with boots, coats and food.

When two barefoot children give back their boots so Jumping Jack doesn't go to prison, it at last melts the wealthy "Ice King's" heart.

With echoes of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the Ice King opens up his banquet to the poor and takes a struggling lad on as his apprentice.

It's a heart-warming episode. And like Charles Dickens' famous tale it has a simple message.

In the end it takes very little to be kind.

It's a matter of putting aside "it's all about me" attitudes and recognising what another person needs.

Perhaps it's also about shrugging off grumpy thoughts about rude Mt Kynoch motorists.

Tailgaters though ...

Originally published as Why I'm guilty of grumpy thoughts a week before Christmas