The first day in the "job of my life", that didn't exist
Things in this country were a bit strange in the past three or four weeks. My thermometer of the political situation in Portugal suddenly started going up and down, without warning.
I knew that Portugal was a bit ill. I knew that it was chronic and I felt that it would never be healthy even with a major operation; even though I didn’t had the slightest idea of the type of sickness.
Fotos: Luis Correira (privat)
It was a beautiful spring morning. The sun was shining; air was clear and cleans as a crystal cup. The trees were all green with the new baby leaves and you could see the flowers coming up here and there.
I could see all this, from the window of my room on the top floor of a building in Gomes Freire.The view was gorgeous. You could see almost whole Lisbon. We had a 180º view, from Praça de Londres to the Tagus River, passing Penha de França, Santa Luzia, Graça and the mighty S. Jorge Castle.
Everything seemed calm and quiet, with the beauty of that sun shining morning.
Only the gates of Academia Militar were closed, when they should be wide open, at that time, and there was a small agitation inside with four or five soldiers, but nothing special.
It probably was a bit before 8 a.m., and I thought to myself: "Here we are again, the thermometer is high, but who cares, just one more little fever. Things will be healed soon."
Down on the street, when I was getting into my car, my friend’s Zé Fernando father shouted, from the other end of the street, something that I didn’t understand, so I answered: "Yes, it’s a gorgeous morning!"
There, I was driving down Estefânia going towards the airport, all proud of my brand new orange flame Sunbeam. Traffic was not so bad that morning. The only problem was the radio in the car.
The only music I could get was the Alentejano music that I didn’t like at all. Seemed that all other stations (not many at that time) had no reception.
-"Not good! A brand new car, and the radio is already broken, oh well, better turn it off than have to listen this awful Grandola Vila Morena", I thought.
Rotunda do Relógio, with its big clock on the grass, was the main connection from the City to the Airport.
Getting in the Rotunda was not a problem, even without traffic lights. On my turn off to the airport exit, I was stopped by a soldier. A couple of some other soldiers were around and an army truck, I guess.
-"What happened?" I asked.
-"Road blocked. Can’t go, sorry", he answered.
-"What, are you crazy or what, I can’t go? Do you know what this means to me? My first day on the job at TAP and you’re saying I can’t go?! You’re gonna ruin my future, my whole life is there and you’re stopping me!! You can’t do that!!"
It was my first day for the flight attendants’ course for Transportes Aereos Portugueses.
-"Ok sir, wait a second!" He went to call his superior, the corporal.
-"You can’t pass, sir, the area is blocked", said the corporal.
-"Not possible, I have to go, because…. Bla bla bla…" Told him the same thing.
-"Ok sir, wait just a second." Then came the Sergeant. The exactly same story happens again.
-"Ok sir, wait a second." The lieutenant approached the window of my car and said:
-"Look sir, turn around your car and go home."
-"But…, you don’t understand, they gonna fire me on my first day…" I shouted.
It was then the lieutenant turned to me and very calmly said:
-"Nothing is gonna happen. No one will notice, because we evacuated TAP, no one is there to miss you. Please, trust me; I’ll give you my Word of Honour. You will keep your job. So, turn your car around and go home."
When I got home I received a call from Foca Maria, my girl friend.
-"Hey, stay in the house. Don’t go out, there was a revolution!!!"
-"Revolution?" I asked. "What is revolution?"
Now, after 36 years of flying around the world I know what a revolution is.
A Revolution is what we see around us in Portugal, today.
I would love to meet that lieutenant again, to congratulate him for his attitude and embrace him for his Word of Honour that I will never forget.
