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Do you know what really really irritates me?

6 replies

Adulto · 09/07/2020 18:55

Well, no of course you don't and I'm sorry for the annoying title (I expect that sort of tithe irks loads of people in itself!)

Anyway - I hate it in a novel where a character sees or hears or experiences something, and everyone he/she knows (and the character him/herself sometimes) tries to explain it away as being stressed or tired or overworked, so that their mind or eyes are playing tricks on them.

I've spent the last 20 odd years being tired and stressed, and I haven't yet imagined that I saw Mary (for example) in the Co-op, only for my dh to say "you can't have, she died ten years ago. You're tired, you must've conjured her up because you're overwrought and you used to buy those pizzas there for her", and for me to respond with "oh yes love, of course you're right, I imagined the whole thing". I'm more likely to look at him and say "don't be daft, I saw her"

I'm willing to accept there are certain conditions (perhaps involving gin) in which I might think I've seen something or someone I didn't. But I can't imagine resurrecting Mary in the Co-op because I'm stressed. It seems such a lazy device to use in books to explain (or attempt to explain) something away.

Am I being very stupid and this sort of thing does happen frequently? Willing to be corrected!

OP posts:
Deathraystare · 10/07/2020 07:32

And it only seems to be women it happens to!

I really did see mary but in the bakery. Mind you she only lives a few minutes away! She is very much alive!

Houseworkavoider · 10/07/2020 07:41

Ive actually had this happen in rl!
I said to ‘mary’, “Hi Mary, i saw you earlier (in specific place). I waved but you didn’t see me.”
Mary “No. it wasn’t me. I wasn’t there today”

She was lying but honestly thought that I’d convince myself that my mind was playing tricks! Grin

It was about 12yrs ago but i still remember!

Adulto · 10/07/2020 19:11

Deathray you actually really did see her, you didn't conjure her up as a product of your overtired mind like all these people in novels do!

Houseworkavoider (me too by the way!) - so you did see your Mary, but she pretended to you that you didn't?

OP posts:
Aquamarine1029 · 10/07/2020 19:19

@Houseworkavoider

Mary may not have been lying. This happened to me several years ago, and I was the Mary. I got to work on a Monday, and a colleague approached me asking why I had ignored him when he said hello and waved at a shopping centre. I was never there, told him so, and he was adamant that it was me. Refused to believe otherwise until I showed him pics on my phone showing I was 100 miles away. He said this woman was my clone. I really wish I could have seen her!

Adulto · 10/07/2020 23:39

Aqua I find the concept of doppelgängers fascinating. I used to visit my grandma most days on my way home from school when I was about 11. One afternoon she asked me why I'd been sitting on her front wall that lunch time, and why I'd run off when she called me. She point blank refused to beliefs it hadn't been me! She apparently saw this girl about 4 more times, each time sitting on her wall, and each time she ran off! Bizarre.

OP posts:
Cherrysoup · 10/07/2020 23:46

Kids I used to teach were always telling me they saw me near their house, every Monday morning! I had not been near, had no need to be in the area. They even described a particular pink top I had, which totally freaked me out!

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