Minor Strangeness (IHTM)
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The strange case of the missing glove
Today I had a doctor's appointment. When I put my coat on to go out, I realised one of my gloves (which I often keep in the coat pockets) was missing.
I decided I must have accidentally pulled it out with my thermal hat when I left the pub last night - after my appointment I'd go there and ask.
My bus paused briefly at a bus stop on part of the route I normally only see when going to the doctor (which is as infrequently as I can make it!) and there, lying on the ground, I spied a black woollen glove similar to my missing one! But I didn't have time to check it out as the bus moved on. And anyway, how would my glove have got from where I lost it to a bus stop two miles away?
In the doc's waiting room, I felt a sniffle coming on so I reached into my pocket for my hankie - and found the missing glove - in my trouser pocket!!
So the bus stop glove was nothing to do with me, and it was just coincidence that I saw it when I thought I'd lost my own...
Today I had a doctor's appointment. When I put my coat on to go out, I realised one of my gloves (which I often keep in the coat pockets) was missing.
I decided I must have accidentally pulled it out with my thermal hat when I left the pub last night - after my appointment I'd go there and ask.
My bus paused briefly at a bus stop on part of the route I normally only see when going to the doctor (which is as infrequently as I can make it!) and there, lying on the ground, I spied a black woollen glove similar to my missing one! But I didn't have time to check it out as the bus moved on. And anyway, how would my glove have got from where I lost it to a bus stop two miles away?
In the doc's waiting room, I felt a sniffle coming on so I reached into my pocket for my hankie - and found the missing glove - in my trouser pocket!!
So the bus stop glove was nothing to do with me, and it was just coincidence that I saw it when I thought I'd lost my own...
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In future, tie a lengh of elastic to the gloves and pass one through the left sleeve and one theough the right of your coat, you know it makes sense.
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I might do something similar with my thermal hat too - I lost one last week, and then the next day I almost lost its replacement the same way!!Ronson8 said:In future, tie a lengh of elastic to the gloves and pass one through the left sleeve and one theough the right of your coat, you know it makes sense.
Spookdaddy
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This happened to me quite a while back, but I was just reminded of it this morning. It's not that strange - probably just a convergence of minor coincidences - but I've found myself thinking about it quite often since it happened.
One grey February morning a couple of years back I was travelling to Chester on one of those miserable trains that looks like an Eastern European tram (circa 1970). We were held up for some reason at Nantwich station and I was absent-mindedly scanning the people on the opposite platform when my gaze snagged on the figure of a young woman - late teens, or possibly early twenties - and I had one of those bizarre thoughts that appears to come fully formed, uninvited and absolutely out of nowhere: 'If I had a daughter, that's exactly what she'd look like'. Anyway, although this apparently independent thought had taken me a bit by surprise, I didn't really dwell on it; I looked again at the girl, shrugged mentally at the random nature of imagination, went back to my book, probably muttered something under my breath about the weather and public transport, looked at my watch, looked back again at the girl and did what you generally do in order to stay sane on trains that aren't going anywhere. (I should point out that at no time did I catch her eye, and I wasn't staring at her - I would swear that she didn't notice me noticing her.)
Anyway, there's a jolt, which I assume means the train is either just setting off or in the early process of falling apart, and I pull myself away from the book for one last glimpse of the riches Nantwich station has to offer only to see the girl on the platform looking straight at me with a big smile on her face and waving shyly. For a moment I'm completely taken aback. I look around me, but the carriage is virtually empty; there are a couple of people at either end, but I'm the only passenger in the entire middle section of the carriage - there's no-one else to wave to. I looked back at the girl - she still had her hand raised, so I pointed to my chest and pulled one of those 'who, me?' frowns, and she nodded.
So I waved back.
So, there you go. Nothing much really, but the whole episode still intrigues me.
One grey February morning a couple of years back I was travelling to Chester on one of those miserable trains that looks like an Eastern European tram (circa 1970). We were held up for some reason at Nantwich station and I was absent-mindedly scanning the people on the opposite platform when my gaze snagged on the figure of a young woman - late teens, or possibly early twenties - and I had one of those bizarre thoughts that appears to come fully formed, uninvited and absolutely out of nowhere: 'If I had a daughter, that's exactly what she'd look like'. Anyway, although this apparently independent thought had taken me a bit by surprise, I didn't really dwell on it; I looked again at the girl, shrugged mentally at the random nature of imagination, went back to my book, probably muttered something under my breath about the weather and public transport, looked at my watch, looked back again at the girl and did what you generally do in order to stay sane on trains that aren't going anywhere. (I should point out that at no time did I catch her eye, and I wasn't staring at her - I would swear that she didn't notice me noticing her.)
Anyway, there's a jolt, which I assume means the train is either just setting off or in the early process of falling apart, and I pull myself away from the book for one last glimpse of the riches Nantwich station has to offer only to see the girl on the platform looking straight at me with a big smile on her face and waving shyly. For a moment I'm completely taken aback. I look around me, but the carriage is virtually empty; there are a couple of people at either end, but I'm the only passenger in the entire middle section of the carriage - there's no-one else to wave to. I looked back at the girl - she still had her hand raised, so I pointed to my chest and pulled one of those 'who, me?' frowns, and she nodded.
So I waved back.
So, there you go. Nothing much really, but the whole episode still intrigues me.
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I really enjoyed reading your piece SpookDaddy. I bet in retrospect you wished you had got off the train and spoken to her and told her about your random thoughts and asked what her slant was.
Really odd though.
Really odd though.
Near where I live there is a small but posh hotel, hidden away in the middle of a residential area. I've lived here several years and (despite often being out and about) have never been asked for directions to it, and yet strangely, over the past week, I have been asked where it is 3 times.
I'm not looking for an explanation, it's probably just 'one of those things', but a bit odd all the same.
I'm not looking for an explanation, it's probably just 'one of those things', but a bit odd all the same.
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The Glove (Pt 2)
I was walking through town this afternoon when a woman came up behind me and tapped me on the elbow. When I looked round she said "Is this yours?" - and handed me a black woolly glove, which had dropped out of my coat pocket! :shock:
It was the same glove that got me all bothered on Monday. Today I'd used my camera, and put it in that pocket. Later I took my gloves off and put them in my coat pockets - it must have been the presence of the camera that helped the glove escape, as it's never done that before. BTW, I've had these gloves about 15 years, so I'd hate to lose them.
To be continued..?
I was walking through town this afternoon when a woman came up behind me and tapped me on the elbow. When I looked round she said "Is this yours?" - and handed me a black woolly glove, which had dropped out of my coat pocket! :shock:
It was the same glove that got me all bothered on Monday. Today I'd used my camera, and put it in that pocket. Later I took my gloves off and put them in my coat pockets - it must have been the presence of the camera that helped the glove escape, as it's never done that before. BTW, I've had these gloves about 15 years, so I'd hate to lose them.
To be continued..?
A total bit of random strangeness.
Over the past three days, I have had at least 5 people think that I was from the UK. I am not - I was born in the US.
Now, this couldn`t be down to a change in my speech as all these people communicated with me in Japanese. I`ve lived here (Japan) most of my life now, and have no "foreign" accent when speaking Japanese.
It is a bit of a mystery as I have had people ask me where I am originally from, had a few people over the years assume that I was from some place or another... But never a string of unrelated people assume that I am from somewhere. And all the same somewhere.
I haven`t the slightest idea why, but after the third person I started noticing the pattern.
Small, but odd.
Over the past three days, I have had at least 5 people think that I was from the UK. I am not - I was born in the US.
Now, this couldn`t be down to a change in my speech as all these people communicated with me in Japanese. I`ve lived here (Japan) most of my life now, and have no "foreign" accent when speaking Japanese.
It is a bit of a mystery as I have had people ask me where I am originally from, had a few people over the years assume that I was from some place or another... But never a string of unrelated people assume that I am from somewhere. And all the same somewhere.
I haven`t the slightest idea why, but after the third person I started noticing the pattern.
Small, but odd.
uair01
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An unsettling experience.
Sometimes, during a walk you take a picture of the view. Then, some time later, you unexpectedly walk into the picture that you made some time ago. Then there is only one thing that you can do to restore symmetry. You must take a picture of the place from where you took the first picture, the place where you stood a short while ago. Now you've connected past and present and you have linked coordinates in space and time.
It only works if the experience is unplanned and genuinely unexpected.
Suppose ... if you were more sensitive and aware ... could you have seen the ghostly shape of your future self from the first set of coordinates? Or a transparent mirage of your past presence from the second set of coordinates? Could the camera catch these images, even though you don't see it yourself?
But maybe it's better to *not* see your double.
Pictures are here:
http://uair01.blogspot.com/2011/02/encountering-yourself.html
Sometimes, during a walk you take a picture of the view. Then, some time later, you unexpectedly walk into the picture that you made some time ago. Then there is only one thing that you can do to restore symmetry. You must take a picture of the place from where you took the first picture, the place where you stood a short while ago. Now you've connected past and present and you have linked coordinates in space and time.
It only works if the experience is unplanned and genuinely unexpected.
Suppose ... if you were more sensitive and aware ... could you have seen the ghostly shape of your future self from the first set of coordinates? Or a transparent mirage of your past presence from the second set of coordinates? Could the camera catch these images, even though you don't see it yourself?
But maybe it's better to *not* see your double.
Pictures are here:
http://uair01.blogspot.com/2011/02/encountering-yourself.html
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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Sorry, I can't see anybody in those pictures.
Spookdaddy
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I don't think uair01 is suggesting that he is actually in these pictures - just that walking into a landscape that you earlier framed in a photograph can, well, make you think - about time and space and your place in it.
How unsettling or strange that experience is is probably up to the individual, and how much - or along what lines - it makes them think.
The musings of a psychogeographer, possibly.
How unsettling or strange that experience is is probably up to the individual, and how much - or along what lines - it makes them think.
The musings of a psychogeographer, possibly.
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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Aha - I see now.
Thanks, Spookdaddy.
Thanks, Spookdaddy.
Yesterday my wife and I were in the house alone, cleaning upstairs. I was cleaning the bathroom and she was in one of the bed rooms. We were expecing her dad to arrive. I heard him come in the back door as he always does, and I called to my wife 'Your dad is here' and she replied 'ok' or something similar. After a moment I called back to her and said that I was going down to put the kettle on and does she want some tea. To which she replied 'yes please'.
Imagine my surprise when I walked in to the kitchen to find her already there talking to her dad waiting for the kettle to boil. :shock:
Did I really hear replies to my questions, or was it some sort of self aimed auto suggestion based on the questions I was asking?
Imagine my surprise when I walked in to the kitchen to find her already there talking to her dad waiting for the kettle to boil. :shock:
Did I really hear replies to my questions, or was it some sort of self aimed auto suggestion based on the questions I was asking?
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jeff544 said:
Interesting stuff. Did you quiz her on this, just to make sure she wasn't actually tip-toeing downstairs as you asked about the tea.
I'm partially deaf in one ear, so if you call out my name into my left ear I often turn a full 270 degree circle before locating the caller! don't suppose you have similar issues?
Yes, And we just laughed it off putting it down to senility on my part -how rude.
My hearing is not great, and I often think I hear my name being called when people in the background are talking - especially if someone says yes or yeah loudly, as it can be mistaken for 'Jeff' By me.
But yesterday I was actually soliciting replies - and 'heard' them.
I was at the top of the stairs anyway when I asked if she wanted a cup of tea, and she could not have heard me from the kitchen.
My hearing is not great, and I often think I hear my name being called when people in the background are talking - especially if someone says yes or yeah loudly, as it can be mistaken for 'Jeff' By me.
But yesterday I was actually soliciting replies - and 'heard' them.
I was at the top of the stairs anyway when I asked if she wanted a cup of tea, and she could not have heard me from the kitchen.
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I went completely deaf in my right ear about three weeks ago. (The docs reckon my hearing will return, but I'm not convinced..)
With just one ear, it is difficult to judge the direction of sounds. One night, after dark, I was waiting to cross the road. I could see a car coming from my right, and hear a car coming from my left, where the road curves. I waited until I could see both cars to judge when it was safe to cross. It was only when the car from my right passed me that I realised that it had been the car I was hearing - there was no second car!
Doh!
With just one ear, it is difficult to judge the direction of sounds. One night, after dark, I was waiting to cross the road. I could see a car coming from my right, and hear a car coming from my left, where the road curves. I waited until I could see both cars to judge when it was safe to cross. It was only when the car from my right passed me that I realised that it had been the car I was hearing - there was no second car!
Doh!
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rynner2 said:
I feel for you Rynner! Back in 1997 the doc told me I would get my hearing back after a course of anti-bios. But it never rectified itself, and I hear very little out of it. Furthermore if I sleep "on" my good ear then I rarely wake for the alarm clock
...and I'm a left hander, why me God?!
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Could this be fortean problem? I was told the same thing by my doc two years ago with the same result you describe incuding the non effecive antibiotics.linesmachine said:I feel for you Rynner! Back in 1997 the doc told me I would get my hearing back after a course of anti-bios. But it never rectified itself, and I hear very little out of it. Furthermore if I sleep "on" my good ear then I rarely wake for the alarm clock
...and I'm a left hander, why me God?!
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Ronson8 said:Could this be fortean problem? I was told the same thing by my doc two years ago with the same result you describe incuding the non effecive antibiotics.linesmachine said:I feel for you Rynner! Back in 1997 the doc told me I would get my hearing back after a course of anti-bios. But it never rectified itself, and I hear very little out of it. Furthermore if I sleep "on" my good ear then I rarely wake for the alarm clock
...and I'm a left hander, why me God?!
Quick, move the thread into "Conspiracies". Where's a mod when you need one!?
An old friend of mine's father is a heart surgeon, but for 2 decades he was a GP. Because he lived nearby we just dropped by in the evening if anything was wrong with us medically. Now I'm not saying he was right about everything or that accepted medicine didn't change during his watch BUT when I told him about my ear and what the University doctor had prescribed he laughed. He went on to list all the things GPs do when they simply can't properly diagnose stuff. For example "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" he said was attributed to all manner of unexplained medical phenomena, just so a label could be provided to the patient, and prescribing Anti-bios is a cure-all for some Doctors!
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I've seen two docs. The first said she couldn't give me anything for it. The second, a fortnight later, probably felt he had to do something, and so prescribed a nasal spray to decongest my tubes (or summat). Still no change...
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*turns 720 degrees*
Who said that? :spinning
Who said that? :spinning
staticgirl
Abominable Snowman
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A few months ago i had a dream that I was wandering around the streets of London near my office (which is on Euston Road) and for some reason i couldn't find my way back. One of the sights that stuck with me was I came across an empty space which was surrounded by fences and roads. This seemed strange in the dream as the only areas not built up round there are parkland or building sites. I think in the dream I assumed it was a building site. But something still seemed strange.
The other day I got a bit stressed and decided to explore the area a little more during my munch break. I ended up wandering down Goodge Street towards Mortimer st and discovered the very same empty space as in my dream. It was where the Middlesex Hospital used to be and I assume something will be built on it eventually. It looked exactly the same.
I could have sworn I have never been down Goodge street this far before. Nothing else looked familar.
It made me swear out loud in the street but being London no-one looked at me.
The other day I got a bit stressed and decided to explore the area a little more during my munch break. I ended up wandering down Goodge Street towards Mortimer st and discovered the very same empty space as in my dream. It was where the Middlesex Hospital used to be and I assume something will be built on it eventually. It looked exactly the same.
I could have sworn I have never been down Goodge street this far before. Nothing else looked familar.
It made me swear out loud in the street but being London no-one looked at me.
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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[swears out loud] That's f@&^in' amazing! :shock:
Spookdaddy
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staticgirl said:
Whilst wide awake I once got thoroughly mazed in exactly the same area of London. It was raining and dark and I was trying to get to Euston Station, but I knew the area really well and I'd say that I have an above average sense of direction. Anyway, I just seemed to get stuck - I knew where I was, and where I was going, but always ended up somewhere else, or back where I was five minutes before.
It was bizarre, and very like one of those circular anxiety dreams where you end up unable to perform a simple task, like packing a suitcase or walking to work (or is that just me?).