Things you're inexplicably good or bad at!

[JauntyJinty]

I was poaching some eggs the other day, and it always something I've found really easy. I hear people talking about how difficult it is to poach eggs but I dont get it - heat up the water, swirl it, drop the eggs in and a few minutes later hike them out again. First time I asusmed it was beginers luck, but I always seem to nail it. Also folding fitted sheets. Just get your fingers in the corners and fold the bloody thing - I don't see why people say it's hard.

but this isn't purley bragging - because I can't crack an egg properly to save my life! I had 2 eggs most mornings for years, so its not a lack of practice - but I very rarely get a nice clean break and no shell in the egg! I've tried all different techniques, on the side of the pan/bowl, on a flat surface, using a knife - none seem to work for me.

Got me wondering if other people have things that find easy that are supposed to be hard and visa versa

And before you ask, yes it is a slow day at work!

Bad at
making Welsh cakes (I'm Welsh)
Anything with figures
Making fried bread
Housework, I don't have the motivation to get out a duster on a regular basis

Excellent at
Frying eggs
Remembering stuff
Being able to measure out ingredients exactly.

Good at timekeeping, remember birthday dates. Crap at parking 😃 find office binding fiddly never seem to manage the spirally bit. !!

Good at rolling cigarettes (alas, I haven't smoked for years), and intuitively knowing how long to steam vegetables.

Bad at making decisions.

Excellent egg cracker
Terrible frisbee thrower

Good at untangling necklaces, cartwheels (at 50!), speaking to anyone about anything and problem solving.

Bad at remembering names and sums.

I seem to have inherited my mum's party trick of being able to break an apple into two with my hands.

I absolutely cannot visualise sizes based on measurements - if someone says to me 'that's 14 metres by 6 metres', I haven't a clue how big that is - it could be the size of someone's living room or the size of an Olympic stadium. I have to have a comparator.

Excellent at parallel parking; terrible at making pancakes. It's so weird I just can not make them.

Good at changing bedding/duvet covers - not really inexplicable as my mum hated doing it so my brother and I were encouraged to change our own from a young!!

Bad at opening those little lids over sports caps on water bottles.

*young age

Amazing at mental arithmetic- if someone asks a maths question, particularly percentages, I know the answer without thinking most times and have to go over the calculations slowly to check I've got it right.
I worked on a bank for years and still remember people's bank account numbers but not their names when I see them.
I can write left handed, I had an accident to my right thumb when I was a kid so had to learn to write with the other hand and 50 years later I can still do it; in fact my number work is tidier left handed!
I can recognise faces from years ago but can never remember names.
However, I have the most appalling sense of direction of anyone I've ever known. My friend has lived in her place for YEARS, but I can only go to it one way and go home another way. If I went to her house the way I go home it would be much easier and although I've tried to go that way, I got lost!

Can do: whistle in tune really well - I have really good pitch; be charming and fun; and persistence.

I really struggle with certain household activities. The first time I changed a light bulb it took an hour (it was one of the ceiling lights); I managed to suck all the air out of my tires the other day when I was trying to pump them up; and the number of times I've called professionals over for small crap that I could have done myself is ridiculous. My only defence is that every year I get a little bit better - mainly because I've realised I have to.

Im an awesome cook-I can turn my hand to any dish
i can untangle fine necklaces
I can beat any combination lock without knowing what the numbers are
im always on time no matter which way I go to get there
i can pick up a book and just by looking at the cover,I can tell if I’ll read it or not
I’m awesome at buying the perfect present

i cannot whistle
i can’t remember faces-even if I met you two minutes ago
ditto names (My job means I’m meant to remember names and faces-I’m winging it at all times)
i am awful with numbers-I can barely add 2+2

I can recognise most songs from the first couple of notes of the intro.

I on the other hand am appalling at anything relating to popular musical culture. There’s a certain type of ensemble female singing (think Three Degrees, the Supremes) where I can’t actually tell the tunes apart (and I have played piano and am quite keen on classical music, and more ‘red-blooded’ 70s/80s rock. I do however have a hearing loss, so this particular ‘deaf spot’ may coincide with my worst sound frequencies).

I have a weird photographic memory for words. I can see if they’re spelt wrong. But when it comes to word games like Boggle or Scrabble, I’m not much better than average. My vocabulary is very good but I fall down on being able to combine letters into new words. My spelling ability seems to depend on recognising words like faces - rearranging their constituent parts turns them into nonsense rather than new words. I have to physically arrange my Scrabble tiles before making sense of them.

I have a bad case of what I call Post-it Note syndrome. Certain entities like left and right, and names attached to strangers’ faces, have a tendency to lose their ‘labels’ in my head under stress. I know I’ve seen the people before and can place their context. But I can’t remember their names. Left and right are always getting mixed up unless I’m on UK roads. You can imagine what modern dance classes were like for me as a child. 😱

@orangeisthenewpuce I can highly recommend one of these for rice cooking.
www.ocado.com/products/sistema-plastic-microwave-rice-steamer-red-2-6l-86393011

I can crack walnuts with my bare hands.
I’m crap at interviews or getting promoted.

^^ Rice cooker info also for @louderthan @waterlego @TheIsaacs

I’m amazing with all types of sewing. Not just darning, but embroidering patterns. Can sew splits in trousers in seconds, buttons on quickly, hide rips, redesign damaged snags in fabric. I don’t enjoy doing it, bloody hate it. Couldn’t do it full time. I’ll look at it after I’ve done it, it’d be perfect and I’d still not be happy doing it or at the end result.

I’m just the worst liar. I get found out all the time with even small untruths. I try not to both now. Not that I ever lie. I might bend the truth to get peace say.

I make perfect rice every time, genuinely it has never gone wrong.

i have a great eye for colour, I can picture colours and room layouts in my mind and it always comes out exactly as I saw it in my mind. I have Terrible spatial awareness but a perfect understanding of whether something will fit in a room or a space. It’s

Spell checking and consistency checking.

So give me a 40 page website, I will find the SPAG errors,and all the inconsistency. So if you used.... "Sign in" 15 times and then used "sign-in" or "sign up" even once. I'll spot it.

I have extremely strong intuition. I can tell immediately when something is afoot and can’t understand how other people don’t spot the signs that to me are obvious. I think it’s mainly having a very strong eye for detail and being incredibly nosy.

I am utterly crap at recognising people. I could pass a family member in the street and if I wasn’t expecting to see them there I couldn’t be sure it was actually them. It’s so embarrassing.

@Waitwhat23
I’m going to learn the apple splitting trick to add to my walnut cracking. I’ve never seen it done. YouTube is a wonderful thing.

I don't really understand the problem with cooking rice - is it because of the total absorption method? I don't bother with all that - just boil it in loads of water and drain it, like pasta - as per instructions on the packet. Always comes out perfectly.

@motleymop Yes, some of these things do sound like strategic incompetence, or cognitive rigidity or something very odd.
I’m enjoying reading it all though.

Mine comes out either hard or soggy