What are your underwhelming skills that you’re privately quite proud of

[Breakfastburrito]

Mine are:

Being exceptionally good at slicing bread (straight, even slices every time, even on squishy, unevenly shaped loaves)

Uncannily accurate at guessing the time when I haven’t looked at a clock for hours - I’m never more than a few minutes out.

Tell me the things you can do that are not that impressive!

I can determine waist, chest, leg length and shoe size of teens with just a glance - skills honed by working a holiday job in a school uniform store. It's very sad not to be able to show this off my shouting out measurements as I pass people in the aisles of Tescos, but I've found that they don't like it.

I’m another one who always wakes up two minutes before my alarm.

I can get into any car/van/tractor/HGV and drive off/parallel park without a hitch.

I have a total bloodhound nose and can smell when someone is about to come down with a cold. I reckon someone could train me up like one of those covid sniffing dogs!

Estimating. I can usually predict how much my shopping will be within a few quid, and can get close to the right amount of butter etc, when weighing stuff out.

Knowing the time without looking at a clock, which I guess is related to the above.

Reading upside down (teacher).

Spelling/proofreading.

Telling the time too
Getting things wrong only once
Never able to just let things go, I always have to get my POV across even though I know I should just STFU

My yorkshire puds rise perfectly every time
Never had one that isn’t huge and hanging out of the tray

I have a talent for hanging pictures at the perfect position on a wall

Oh, and knowing which county a given town is in. This is due to years of reading letters pages in magazines, which for some reason always put this information at the bottom of the letter.

For example,

A.Smith
Hull, East Yorks

I'm always quite well orientated - I always know which ways is North, East, South, West.

I'm also an excellent catcher. I hardly ever drop things. I should have played cricket!

My sense of direction. Take me somewhere and I can find my way back or to. third point easily. It only works in the open though- take me to an underground shopping mall for example then 🤦‍♀️

Wow @Hoppinggreen, that’s amazing! Out of curiosity did you train your brain to do that or were you born with it?

@hansgrueber

I have cross-dominance, people think it means I'm a bit kinky, it actually means that I use a different hand for different tasks, I write with my right but any cutting, peeling is done with my left, something no-one noticed, including me, until I was about 15! When picking something up I tend to use my left, when I used to bother ironing I could use either which was quite handy.

My DH is like this. We didn't know it had a name. He eats 'backwards' with his fork in his right and knife in his left. He maintains that he's correct (he's wrong) and the DC have started doing the same. He also play pool left handed. Everything else is right handed/right footed.

Refusing to give up on the tiny things. Like getting that knot out of extremely tight laces, untangling slinkies, removing the hair from around the wheels of toy cars, fixing broken jewellery. I am my kids hero because of it, no one else that I know has the patience

Oh and my sense if smell. I don’t use a timer or clock for baking. My nose tells me when something is just right. I’d be stuffed on bake off when other people are making the same thing! Or if I got a new oven that seals!

Breakfastburrito and LadyofLittleLeisure I have that same ability of being able to guess the time!

I can train lions:

I trained all the males in my household to put the seat down after having a wee.

I trained every person in my household to separate their laundry into the correct laundry basket.

I used to do the thing of knowing exactly what every direction sign I passed said, and knowing exactly where I was at any moment relative to where I needed to be. But then I had dc and handed over that executive function to dh, while I wrangled babies. And I've never regained it

I’m quite good at a fair few things, without being actually good enough to be impressive - I’m doomed to just-slightly-better-than-mediocrity 🤣
I do make excellent gravy, and always had the knack of calming sleeping babies/getting them to sleep. I really wish I had these ninja fitted sheet skills that others seem to have.

I'm amazing at untying knot...and being stubborn!

Waking up at the right time without an alarm clock.

Oh, and @Rainbowandscarlett, I wish I was you - my Yorkshire puds usually look fab and well risen until I start trying to take them out of the tray, at which point they all magically deflate (and half of them stick) 😥

I am an exceptionally fast reader. I also have a photographic memory for car number plates. Absolutely useless skill really

I'm very punctual. I usually arrive to to things right on time. E. G. If I'm due to a meeting at 7pm I will walk through the door literally as the clock strikes 7pm.
It's a little game I play with myself.

I can recall information and conversations (word for word) from years ago. I'd make a really good police witness
My friends hate me

I’m amazing at parallel parking. I also don’t measure furniture to see if it fits. I just know if something is the right size or not. We have quite a quirky house with lots of alcoves and I just buy furniture knowing it’s a perfect fit. This stresses my husband out a lot. The only thing I get wrong is fitting things in the car after an IKEA trip. We are the couple having the row in the carpark.

I’m also really good at anagrams.

I'm really good at levelling things to spirit-level accuracy without a spirit level. I can see instantly if something is even fractionally out of line.