Tuesday, October 16, 2007

What's my (your) worst fear?

Dentists don't scare me. I've been through plenty of bent needles stabbed into the bone of my palate, I've had my gums ripped by an Air Force dentist (without anaesthetic). I've experienced part of my gum being surgically burnt away, or sliced away as part of the sideshow of a Nut Job that had me wearing external braces for half a decade. Am I scared of dentists? No, I just hate them. I single handedly probably provided the income for at least 3 skiing trips to Courcheval.

I'm not particularly scared of spiders or injections. I was once really icky about injections, but since the need for Easy Money in the university days proved a paramount priority, I subjected myself to the whole gamut of medical trials, including those that stab your arm on an hourly basis. A nurse once clumsily dropped a needle already in my arm, quickly re-stabbed, giving me an arm ache that lasted the rest of the day. And in the air force a medic bent a needle while in my arm - I was partly at fault, I didn't feel it go in, and being in a queue, stepped forward. Lucky it didn't break inside the tissue. And in Edinburgh I had a tarantula walk over my hand. It's feet feel like cotton buds, quite heavy too. Hey - especially regarding injections - I don't LIKE it, I'm just saying: been there done that.

Meanwhile, what really scares me is - get this - airports. Almost every time I visit the airport it is an extremely stressful or otherwise (sometimes retrospectively) unpleasant experience. Part of the pain associated with airports is the nightmares I have afterwards. It's not so much bad stuff that happens, but the THREAT of shit happening.

1) Arriving for an international flight at Incheon airport with 30 minutes to spare. I left my apartment with plenty of time but got stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam.
2) Giving away all my pesos at Manila airport only to find out I needed 200 for stamp duty. A Korean stepped forward at the last moment (my name had been called about 5 times at this point on the PA system).
3) Arriving at an airport with no one to meet you, or the person who does meet you calls you to break up with you the minute you arrive home (from a trip that starts in Edinburgh and ends in Bloemfontein).

The reason why airports are so stressful, is they do sometimes represent that essential point from which a new life begins or ends. If you miss especially a long haul overseas flight it can mean plenty of Moolah down the drain. Even on my very last flight (earlier this month) I left with plenty of time to spare, got stuck in the innards of the airports parking mechanism, and then an endless queue, and finally made it to the check-in desk 2 minutes late (28 minutes to take-off, check in closes 30 minutes from takeoff).

At check in the woman told me my seat had been de-allocated, but they would try to re-allocate it. Yes, I got on board, but the stress involved was, well, gargantuan.

So what's YOUR worst fear?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Have listed your blog at the internet shop for the customers to read - move over mushy peas!!!!