What quirks do you have?

[MalcolmsBrokenWalrusMoneybox]

I recently came across thinker Alain de Boton, and was very taken with his statement that each of us is "deeply crazy".
With that in mind, what quirks do you have?

A family member once mentioned that he was always up by 6 and since then, I used to set my alarm for 5:58 so I would "win" obviously I never told him that!
Likewise when working from home, if I was still in my pajamas at say 7, and I'd hear a neighbour going off to work I'd get almost a feeling of jealousy - they'd got dressed before me!
I've mellowed a little.

What secret or not so secret quirks do you have?

@IdblowJonSnow 😁 at your name!!!! And I do that with milk too!

If I'm sitting at a table, I have to move anytime no pointed, like pens, away from me. I have a weird phobia linked to the idea that I'm going to be stabbed in the neck.

*anything

As I've got older I have realised I'm a stickler for incorporating routines into my day and I like it once a routine is set. I recently started a new job and wasn't quite set on which cafe to get a coffee from every morning : now I've decided this i feel happier and look forward to going to this cafe every day. I wouldn't want to go anywhere else now.

Another bonus to this particular cafe is that it's self serve - you get your drink and then you go to the counter and pay. If I had to say to someone 'large coffee one milk' every time and then they started knowing my order, 'oh you're the large coffee one milk, right? ' I swear I'd have to find another cafe! I'd hate that assumption / level of intimacy. Yes, I'm mad.

I also always order the same thing in restaurants : if I had a good meal once, I'll always order the same thing. Why risk trying something else and it's crap?

I also dislike immediate social requests : want to go for lunch today? No, I want 5 days to think about it and mentally prepare myself. That's who I am.

Wow, this is fascinating!
I can remember certain events of my life to the day they happened. It's interesting in some ways, but in others it's really not that great.
Agrae we are all quirky.

I pick labels off things - especially drinking bottles. I know and I try not to do it, but the moment my attention slips, there I am with my nails pulling on a paper corner.

Luckily, I'm not otherwise OCD.

I have diagnosed ocd so I do many quirky things but that’s largely to do with my mental health as well.

I have a confession. I always have to lick my mashed potato before I eat it to check the consistency. My DH and FIL think I'm mad!

DH has 'quirks', but they are actually characteristics of his OCD. I've learned to live with them. Even though some of them are hugely irritating.In some cases, like the last one mentioned, they affect our lives to a worrying extent.

Numbers: he actually lives his life by numbers, but this is only obvious to me when its causing a problem because he mostly keeps it in his head. For instance. If the number of the moment is 3, he has to pick the third item off the shelf, or climb steps 3 at a time and so on. He rubs the remote control 3 times before using it. etc.

Contamination: he is obsessive about cleaning the toilets. And bleach. I'm sick of all the bleach. I've asked him to tone it down, because its not good on any level, and he has, a bit, and he's stopped putting loads of those goddawful coloured blocks in the cistern.
Also, he has to start each kettle boil with fresh water. And it has to have 'just' boiled, or he will tip it away and start again. Which does my nut in.

Textures/colours: he can't have 'dark' next to his skin, unless its washed a gazillion times first. He has been late to an interview before, because he forgot to bring long johns with him to the hotel, so had to make a detour to the supermarket first to find some light coloured joggers to wear underneath the suit trousers. This was still really hard for him to do, because the joggers hadn't been washed first. But it was preferable to dark. (He was offered the job, despite being late for the interview)

There are others, lots, but I've forgotten most. I think we've been together so long they've become the norm.

I don't think I have any quirks, but I may well be wrong.

sugar -- that all sounds hard, although I do understand not re-boiling water as a lot of people think that's not good for tea.

I never wear matching socks, they are always odd. So one stripy green the other bright yellow! Takes care of all the odd socks that accumulate and DD & DS are now the same.

I have ocd so have many! I can’t stand ticking clocks when sleeping so have to hide them so I can’t hear. Also can’t stand people brushing teeth, difficult as a nurse, but I also open a window to let the soul out when a patient dies.

I expect Alain is right, I seem to be entirely composed of quirk. That's not a good thing

I always have to go to the furthest cynical from the door in public toilets. I think I've watched to many movies with someone kicking each door in.

I can't eat anything with coloured icing.

I repeat openings to conversations over and over in my head in preparation for having to talk to people.

Cubical not cynical

Usually either quirks of scattiness and superstitions

It's the family joke that I make a cup of tea and leave it untouched until stone cold. Rarely do I remember to take a sip when it's still hot - if at all. They are just ornaments aren't they? Do I like tea even? No, I just drink black decaff coffee

Magpies - I know it's a bad thing if I see one sitting very still. but even if I see one but it's flicking its tail I know good things are coming. Two for joy, 3 for a girl etc. And it all comes true not nuts or anything

Is this my life now?

@Frankie01 - I also open a window to let the soul out when a patient dies. I think that's rather special and strangely comforting.

I can't touch certain fabrics, they make my skin crawl.
Notably "crimplene" (old lady ribbed polyester nylon stuff) and stonewashed silk, thankfully not a common fabric these days but OMG in the 80s!!

My sister has the same reaction to fur and velvet, and another sibling to any type of silk.

Sadly for me, my son now reacts the same way to velvet - sad because I love velvet/velveteen and have quite a few clothes made of it!

I play race the toilet. Once I have flushed, I must wash and dry my hands before the water stops running.

When I’m microwaving something something for a short time, I see if I can hold my breath for that amount of time.

I can’t stand having someone wait to hold the door for me. I will pretend I’m taking a call or rummaging in my bag to avoid an awkward door hold.

I love this thread so much. Many of mine have already been mentioned but I have another that falls into the body symmetry stuff:

I am right handed but go out of my way to use my left hand to do things. I just hate the thought that I'm walking round with an inept half of a body and hope one day it will catch up with the right.

If I think of something bad I have to touch the left side of my head six times so that it doesn't happen.

In childhood, I wore shoes/slippers/boots/trainers/sandals on bare feet as soon as I could dress myself, because I liked being able to feel the insides of my shoes by wiggling my toes, it felt wrong having my feet numbed with socks. I mention sandals there because children often wore socks with them at the time! I looked forward to PE at primary school, because we had to put on shoes without socks to walk from the classroom to the gym. I wanted to try shoes on without socks when buying them, but my mum wouldn't let me.

Old habits die hard, and now I rarely wear socks, even in the winter, and I don't do trainer liners. The only time I wear socks is for playing sport.

I hate seeing bare toes, even my own. I have to wear socks every day so I can't see my own toes! In summer seeing people out and about in flip flops or sandals with bare toes makes me feel panicky, I have no idea why.

I used to have to "race the flush" as a kid - get out of the bathroom before the flush had finished. Nowadays it's "race Alexa". I stand poised by the door and say "Alexa, living room light 32%" and have to have left the room before Alexa says "OK".

I try to eat selection boxes "evenly" sorry there is a "selection" for as long as possible rather than ending up with one or two less popular biscuits or chocolates for aeons.

"so there is a selection" not "sorry there is a selection"

Shamelessly place marking to come back to late reply and make myself feel better about all my oddities!