bookmark_borderDouble check

Obsessive compulsives are a funny lot, aren’t they. I don’t mean funny “ha ha”, I mean funny “intriguing”.

What makes them tick? (ha! no pun intend!)

I’m sure you all have your own little personal… things… I was going to say foibles, but that’s not quite right. From arranging items on your desk perpendicularly to the edge, to the order of items on your kitchen cupboards, we all have a way of doing things that may not be unique is certainly very personal. Even the most untidy people have something that must be done a certain way, or an item that must always be left in the same place, even if that just means that the keys MUST be hanging on the hook.

Which makes me wonder how far the leap from being a tidy and organised person to an obsessive compulsive?

I’m a tidy person. I like it when things are put away in their place, and everything is neat. I’m not overly obsessive about this but I can only go for so long, tolerating a mess, before I have to do something about it. That may mean I just chuck everything into a cupboard —the adage “out of sight out of mind” was made for me— but usually it means a clear out of old junk and a reorganisation of bookshelves.

Bookshelves! Dammit… meant to pick one up from my parents at the weekend. I digress.

So what if I’m tidy? I’m not obsessive about it, I don’t have a compulsion to tidy everything I see.

But then you start to dig a bit deeper and start pairing up common habits, rituals if you will, and begin to wonder. Over the past few months —and I’d guess that this is since Louise’s Mum died and I’m trying to be more “protective”… or something— I’ve not been able to get to sleep unless I’ve checked that the backdoor is locked. Doesn’t matter if Louise has says she has locked it, doesn’t matter if I’ve HEARD that she’s locked it, if I don’t physically check the handle, giving it a good rattle, myself then I’m unable to drop off. Obsessive? Compulsive?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to belittle OCD, or those who sufferer from it. Mental illness is a huge area and, because of the nature of the beast, has differing effects on everyone. That caveat aside though, it’s startling to think how close many of us are to becoming sufferers.

With that cheery thought in mind, what little rituals do YOU have? What silly little things stress you out for no good reason (and you KNOW there is no good reason but they still stress you out!) ?

UPDATE:
Even if you don’t want to comment PLEASE take a moment to read Martin’s comment. Very open honest and illuminating. Thanks for sharing Martin.

bookmark_borderWeekender

Grass cut – check
Weeding done – check
Long walk round Balloch Park in glorious sunshine – check
Lunch and lounging in the sun at my parents – check
Dinner at sister-in-laws with Louise’s Mum & Dad – check
Arsenal vs Chelsea – check
Count of Monte Cristo (the film) – check
Started new book (Lanark) – check
Completely bloody knackered but had great weekend – check!

How was yours?

bookmark_borderPreparation

Passports and tickets – check
Euros (various denominations) – check
iPod full of new (and old) music – check
Camera batteries charging – check
Mobile phone chargers – check
Sunglasses and hat – check
Half the world’s supply of Tetley teabags – check
Books – still deciding
Clothes – still washing
Holiday mood – still intact from Christmas

We’re off to Spain for a week. It’ll be quiet-ish here but the janitor has the keys so you should be ok (literally: we have a house-sitter for the week).

Usually, whilst we are away, something happens. Something serious/big usually. This time the family has broken the rules and Louise’s Mum is currently lying in a Spanish hospital. This is BEFORE we are on holiday. Tut tut.

She’s fine, some chest pains but definitely not a heart attack (the translator told her she had had a minor heart attack but thankfully the Spanish doctor realised what he was saying and quickly put him right!). She’ll probably be back home before we get there but, as I’m sure you can imagine, Louise is even more keen to get there.

bookmark_borderTwuntage

(thanks for that word Lyle)

A quick bit of background: We are with Telewest who also supply my our broadband connection and cable TV package. We’ve been with them since we moved in here, about 2 and a half years ago. I’ve paid every bill by direct debit.

So, Friday afternoon I realise our phone line is dead. I phone customer support and they arrange an engineer for Monday (today) between 11a.m. and 2p.m.
Doorbell goes at 1.02p.m. I’m not surprised by this having had Telewest engineers out 3 times since moving here and they’ve always appeared on time.

Come on in, I say. The engineer says that there isn’t any need as he’s been trying to fix my problem for the last two hours but hasn’t been able to get anywhere.

Confused I ask him what he’s talking about. He explains.

Basically, seemingly (ridiculously) Telewest have ‘lost’ the fact that I have a phone account with them. So they disabled the service. This is despite the fact that on Thursday last week, the monthly bill came through, and I checked it to see how many international calls we’ve made (to Spain to Louise’s Mum and Dad) to see if the International calling package I’d had added to our account the previous month was saving us money (which it is).

GRRRRRR – surely there is some step in their procedure that states: if the person has been paying for a phone line, and has made calls USING the phone line then they are entitled to have the phone line. I mean it’s not like I was trying to cheat them but using a phone service I hadn’t paid for…

So they are going to phone me (!) to clarify the issue. I’m not sure if they will contact me on my mobile (which should be fun as the reception in the house is lousy) or if they will re-enable the phone line to do so, either way the matter of three days of lost service will be discussed!