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The Revenge of Winston Smith

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Bad blogger, strange phobia

Posted by Tim on Saturday, February 11, 2006 | Permalink

Another month has gone by without me writing anything . . . I'll admit it: I'm a bad blogger. And there's been plenty of interesting stuff happening lately that I could have written about too. I do sometimes wonder what the point is though - I mean, just about everyone has their own blog these days, so it's not as if I'm likely to be writing anything new. And anyone who's been here before should have a pretty good idea of my views on things anyway.

So instead of writing about current events I'm going to ask a question concerning a bizarre phobia I have. It's not something that affects my quality of life or anything, I just happened to be thinking about it whilst sat here at my computer with nothing else to do.

It's to do with water, but I have no problem with water itself. I like swimming, being in boats and stuff - what bothers me is the way that things are magnified or distorted through water.

Examples:
I wont look too closely at a round fish bowl, particularly if it's in front of something. Even bottles of clear liquids bother me.
I'll happily jump into a swimming pool full of people, but not if it's empty and I can see the bottom of the pool "rippling". I'll also steer well clear of the plug (I've read about "drainphobia" but that's only part of it).
What affects me the most though is the water tank in the loft or a toilet cistern with the lid off. The rippley, magnified stuff inside ... well, it's not just a case of not liking it, I find myself backing away, pulse racing, sweating and all that.

I can't think of a rational explanation for any of this. Anyone got any ideas, or know how common this is or if it has a name?

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