phobia fun

[burntcopper]

Gah. nothing like having an original phobia (original as in you could count on the fingers of one hand the people in the British Isles who have this and have a substantiated reason). Went Wagamamas after work with parentals, for the first time ever post-dinner, manage to catch the bus rather than having to get a taxi. Downstairs is all one-person spaces, so parents go upstairs and I follow. Sit, bus pulls out into main streets, immediately gulp slightly and shift over to the other side. I think I'm okay, then we get to suburbia and the trees start banging the windows. See me bolt. parents asking if I'm okay as I run down the stairs. Sit down at the back, shaking slightly, scrolling through mp3 player to find the most wordy and fast-paced stuff I could find (turned out to be The Fix) and thanked fuck that the engine at the back downstairs is loud. Get to our stop, parents and me get off bus, parents immediately asked if I was okay. (had mostly calmed down by this point) They'd apparently been rather confused for about a minute until it clicked - I'd looked like I was going to throw up. Fortunately, not a usual reaction. Dad said I shouldn't have gone up (they also started apologising and said they just hadn't thought) though I pointed out that I never get the bus here as have train pass, and when I do it's the single-deckers on a different route. London, I didn't think too much about it as none of the routes I took had trees on.

But yeah. god I love having a really, really specific substantiated phobia. megolas is probably the only person I still see who's witnessed me with it.

Comments

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

What is your phobia? If you don't mind specifying, of course...

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

tree branches banging against bus windows -> tree branches smashing through bus windows (and tearing part of the roof off), catching me across the top of my head, soaking clothing in blood (think Carrie, headwounds bleed like fuck) and it's only because my head was bent down reading a book that it wasn't far more serious. I know plenty of people who don't like/get jumpy at the sound of banging branches, but like I said, fingers of one hand when it comes to actual reaction. Had plenty of injuries/scars that're far worse, that's the only one I can't shake off.

[aderyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. Sounds to me like a perfectly reasonable phobia to have developed.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

my only bug about it is it's probably the only time it's ever going to happen (they never did figure out how the hell it happened originally) I know rationally it's a miracle it ever happened in the first place, but still, reaction.

[tirinar.livejournal.com]

You're so not the only one - see me freak out every time I had to take the Brighton/London Rail Replacement bus...

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

That actually HAPPENS?

I always used to wonder about that. My school bus route was very foliage heavy. There were times it sounded like the branches were going to take us all out, but I used to sit and tell myself 'Don't be stupid, you can't break a bus with a tree!'

Now I know it wasn't just my imagination, I'm going to be constantly flinching.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

it's only happened once that I know of (y'know, that reverse of a miracle thing), they've no idea how. I used to find the banging comforting.