Halloween

An owl hoots aloud on a dark and cold misty night
Hard to see around you, where are all the lights?

Tree branches tapping on the windowpane
Your footsteps the only sound as you walk alone down a deserted lane

Looking back behind you through the car window, down a country road
A figure walking along the grass verge, but then where do they go?

That feeling of being watched, when you are all alone
The floorboards creaking in the night, odd sounds seem like a whisper, or maybe even a groan

Your belongings in the dark, creating odd shapes and shadows
When things mysteriously keep disappearing, where do they go?

You get a call in the evening, but there's nobody on the other end
Is it somebody sinister, or, trying to scare you, just a friend?

Spooky films watched through the gaps in your fingers
Images of scary faces and scenes in the film, for too long they linger

You wake at midnight trying to make out those shapes in the room
Your heartbeat won't stop racing, imagining all sorts of creatures and doom

Remember not to relax as your horror flick gets all quiet and calm
That's when they'll come out, creep up behind you, or suddenly grab your arm

Spiders, ghosts, zombies and killers
Getting frightened senseless, dressing up and dancing to Thriller

Carving pumpkins, trick or treating and telling ghost stories
Competing with one another for who can be the most gory

It's time to face your fears and find yourself in a dark, spooky, scene
Be prepared to get frightened, for tonight is Halloween!....

Potential pincushion

In less than a month I will be sunning myself in Morocco, I can't wait and was so excited when we got it booked! However, what's not so great is the news my parents dropped on me this week...I need injections before I go... I absolutely hate injections, like horror films my fear of them has got worse as I've got older for some reason. I've never been a fan of them, at school I would get nervous, but I'd get on with it, unlike one drama queen who will remain unnamed, who used to 'faint' when we had injections at school to get out of lessons... Last year when I had my flu jab (something I really need to have what with being in a 'risk' group with mild asthma), my boyfriend came along for support, I'm that bad. He ended up having to try distraction techniques by acting the fool to take my mind off it all. I must admit it did work, kind of... A classic example is when I was young and had to have quite a few injections for a family holiday, my Uncle (who was in the army when young) advised me to roll my arm round/roll my shoulder as it would help the injections travel round my body and stop my arm aching and getting heavy. So I did. And then proceeded to slide down the fridge door in the nurse's office at our doctor's surgery and passed out. Just slightly embarrassing! So the thought of having not one but two injections fills me with dread. You know what the injection for the holiday is for? Typhoid. And you know what else? I actually have seriously considered not having the injection and enquired how bad a risk is there? Oh dear typing that out actually makes it sound so much worse. The other thing I'm worried about is that I am so busy at work the next few weeks before I go so I don't want to have a dead arm from having jabs, or getting cold symptoms from the flu innoculation. But I guess either is a better alternative to contracting typhoid... For now I'm waiting for our 'amazing' doctors to get back in touch and let me know if they can actually fit me in before I go. Apparently you can only have injections on a Tuesday or Friday and then if you have a job you're a bit stuck too because they don't stay open late either... Oh well if I don't blog for a while you know I'll be nursing my pincushion of an arm...

Can someone hear a buzzing sound?...

What is it that makes some of us fearless and others a quivering mess when faced with a tin of beans??

I have quite a few phobias, I’ll admit, although none so out of the ordinary as those oddballs on shows such as Freaky Eaters! I can quite comfortably eat beans on toast thank you very much.

But yesterday I found myself a prisoner in my own flat after I discovered a wasp in my lounge. There I was comfortably relaxing on my sofa and then I heard that insistent buzzing – urgh I hate that sound! As soon as the wasp got partly through the gap in the open window I was up, rushing out the room and quickly slamming the door shut. I then sat for over 10 minutes in my bedroom before I would dare set foot back in that room.

I’ve had a fear of wasps (and bees) for absolutely years now, I’ve dropped sandwiches at picnics, leapt up from sunloungers and ‘hid’ behind my hands at the mere sound of those nasty stinging machines.

The weird thing is I’ve never been stung, so what have I got to fear? Well, I think this could partly be it – I’ve built up the thought of being stung to such a ridiculous level now that I am in constant fear of it happening. I’m even quite suspicious that I may have some form of allergy which will see me go into some sort of shock/fit if a wasp or bee were to decide to inflict pain.

Similarly I am petrified of spiders. Now when I was visiting friends in Sydney and we were faced with a spider the size of our open fist I feel this fear was slightly more justified. However I am frightened of arachnids whatever size and shape they come in and even a teeny tiny, incy wincy spider will make my skin crawl. It’s just the way they move. Yuck.

Animals seem to be a running theme actually. I have a real phobia of dogs – something I think I’ve got from my Dad and I get really frightened if I’m out and about and see one, particularly if one comes bounding towards me. And even the video clip of a rat on I’m A Celebrity makes me go cold and covered in goosebumps!

I also find before I go on a meeting with a client I get a bit nervous, I worry I’ll sound like I won’t know what I’m talking about or I’ll get lost and not be able to find their office. However, at least when this happens I find I’m fine when I get in there and face to face with them – I don’t stop talking!!

Although I have quite a few phobias, I guess in a way I’m quite lucky they are relatively ‘normal’. I’ve come across people scared of birds, belly buttons, clowns and squirrels, but I wonder how these fears develop – are we influenced by those around us or is it genetic? Do we come with any phobias that we’re pre-programmed with at birth? I certainly don’t remember seeing anybody crying or nervous with odd phobias when they’re babies or children – it seems to develop as we get older somehow.

According to some sources, 4 out of 5 people have a phobia. The most common apparently include arachnophobia, sociaphobia (fear of being judged negatively in social situations), claustrophobia, fear of flying (aviophobia) and agoraphobia (fear of going out).

Some of these seem pretty understandable in certain circumstances but there are a lot more out-there fears in existence. Looking on this site , it appears people can be frightened of being frightened – photobophobia!  Or perhaps that miserable person in your office actually has geliophobia (a fear of laughing). Clearly some people on the train in the mornings have a fear of washing, judging by the smell of them!

So whilst I’m scared of storms, scary films, heights and mice, I’m at least thankful that I don’t have a phobia which stops me living my life – well that is until I come face to face with Mickey Mouse on the Saw ride at Thorpe Park in the middle of a storm!