The bells of London

This was my Sunday outfit- I admired this River Island dress on Alex Odd socks and Pink-haired Princess Gemma for a long time before I found some kind soul selling their size 6 on EBay for the princely sum of £3 a little while back- it's the perfect size and it now just needs a petticoat and these sunny days to wear it! Enough about it- I do like the London landmarks print. Shame the lighting was terrible for photos!

I overheard part of a really interesting, kind and profound conversation between a busker and a station staff member today as I went to catch my train.  I'm not sure as to the living/financial status of this busker but he appeared at our local stations around about a year ago and every so often, I put some money in his guitar case- he plays Bob Marley a lot of the time and he sings his heart out.  He's got quite a nice voice and he's always got a lovely cheerful face/smile and always says thank you when you put money in.

Anyway, as I approached the ticket machines, he was singing was singing this well known song that 'she goes..' (can't remember any more of it!).  Inwardly, I smiled as I heard him and in my mind, wondered how many girls hear him sing that and feel like he's talking to them or singing about them or something like that (weird thought, but that's what came into my head).  I felt a warm bead of sunshine in my heart as I heard his music. Which was weird as at that moment, he stopped singing and said to the ticket man, like he was continuing a conversation they had been having,

"I just do one little thing.  BUT, I might just change one person's life in a small way and they might then change someone else's life and that person might change someone else's life or day and you never know, they might end up changing my life.  Then it's worth doing, that little thing I do."

and I thought how true, beautiful and profound that is.  We may feel insignificant and feel that the small things we can do for someone don't mean much or couldn't possibly affect someone. But they do. They can impact someone in some amazing way we may never know about.  It's like those random acts of kindness- they could mean something to someone-change their outlook, change a decision they might have taken. It's not always the great big acts that are life-changing: all the small ones can too. Don't ever fail to do something because you think it won't achieve anything- there are many things in heaven and on Earth and we cannot possibly fathom them and know their impact.  "Many drops make an ocean," is one of the many things that Jesus said that I always think about- the small things add up. The small things can have an impact.  Do that one small good thing, try to make that tiny difference.  I did have a random thought of sending a text message to someone totally random- telling them that or something like that.. I haven't yet, but maybe I will.

It was something to think about on the train and it was something lovely.

x

Celebrating Shiny T Tuesday with Jane at Flight Platform living with my happy London dress!

Chocolate cake phobia



Get thee hence fungus!

 Hello dear bloggers!  I have a question for you:  What phobias do you have?

Phobias are often strange or irrational things.  http://www.dictionary.com/ cites it as such:

pho·bi·a   /ˈfoʊbiə/ Show Spelled[foh-bee-uh]
noun
a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.

I've had some issues with certain things in the past, that I cited as phobias, though I've never been sure if they are just deep-rooted aversions or indeed phobias?

This stemmed from a late-night conversation with a jolly bunch of revelling strangers on the Secretary express (aka, late train with rowdy drunk city of London workers). All very nice and friendly.



You're outta here my wooly friend!

One of them has a phobia of cotton wool:  her face and her voice as she  described it showed she had a real issue with it.  The others all laughed at her and called her a weirdo.  I laughed at the idea but listened.  I understood, I'm not keen on the creaky noise it makes when you pull it apart.


Evil foe, I shun ye! Get your shiny brown malevolence away from my presence


Another guy had chocolate cake phobia, and he cited a childhood experience with it, having been very very ill with it that lead to that.  Again, he was mocked, but I listened in, laughing at the appropriate places, but not mocking or joining in with the banter.  He laughed at himself as well, but he was obviously not fond of it!



No balloons at the party (don't tell the girls that ribbon from the SWAG bag holds a menacing adversary on the end of it)

 Once, I worked with 2 people who had a balloon phobia.  The sound, the touch, the smell, the
I found it bizarre but didn't ever mock!   I understood: I dislike the smell of balloons after my hand touches them!  Likewise, rubber bands!

That's the thing- phobias are bizarre!   That's part of what they are!  It's funny to hear about them and have banter but I'd never knowingly mock someone!
What have I cited as mine:



AHRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!


Mushrooms:  Well, for years, I really had a deep-seated fear of mushrooms.  To this day, I utterly LOATHE them!  I even wrote an empassioned diatribe on this blog in reference to them here. Read it- you'll think I'm crazy, but I am earnest to the point of evangelistic in my hate of them!    Missy and Nicole and recipients of comments left on their blogs when their food posts include mushrooms!  Somehow, I can't keep my mouth shut!

Plasters:  I have a really awful thing about plasters and have done since primary school!  I would rather bleed all over the place than put an awful sticky beige square over an injury!  They honestly make me shudder- the feel, the colour, the especially wrinkled effect on a non flat surface, especially those big awful ones they used to use on little boys' and girls' knees in the 80's.  Urgh!  It may have stemmed from an incident where a scab was accidently ripped off when wearing one as a child but I'm not sure of the exact incident.  I couldn't bear scabby children when I was a little girl, those who always had plasters on them, it just worried me!  Now, as a teacher, of course, I have to put this all aside, but I always regard them with a great inner feeling of distaste.

Sick:  I cannot bear it and I know one or two other bloggers who feel the same.  I learned how to control it so I would never be sick as a child and I have managed to sustain this mostly.  I think it's a control thing- it's such an out of control thing to be doing. Maybe that's one of the reasons that I went off alcohol and never really bothered with it. It's just horrid horid horrid seeing it, and all the senses that go with it!  I don't even want to go into more detail!

Maybe they are not really 'phobias', in the clinical sense, but they are certainly things that I try to avoid and have a strong aversion to and that's acceptable I think to think of them as such. What do you think?

Now it's your turn!  Share your phobias or deep aversions.  Come on, there's got to be some interesting phobias out there!!!  What are your phobias or hates?