Yesterday I got about a third of the way to the bus-stop (the further one) when the possibility that maybe the iron was still turned on entered my brain. I know from experience that I almost never forget to turn it off. And the last time I did forget was a really long time ago.
And yet, (ugh) I still have to go through the painful process, whether it's on the way to the bus stop with no time to spare going back, or once I'm actually on the bus, of trying to specifically remember turning it off that morning.
I seem to be getting worse as I get older. I notice it most times I leave the house, when I drive away too, a brief flare of anxiety that has to be consciously calmed. "What have I forgotten? OK, I shut and barred the gate so the dogs are safe, I didn't even use the iron this morning, nor the stove, so everything's off that should be off. Fine, proceed."
I've been trying for a while, with some sucess, to take a deliberate mental snapshot when I unplug the iron after using it. I say to myself, "Ï'm turning the iron off now" and actually look at the empty socket, in the hope that I will confidently remember later instead going through the painful wondering.
Ah well. It's not obsessive-compulsive behaviour until I actually have to go back to check. Several times. But I can see where the slippery slope might begin.
8 comments:
Just went and checked. Yes, iron off. Thanks for the warning. :)
I always know my iron is off because when I've finished using it I carry it to the kitchen sink, empty the water out of it and leave it on the bench to cool down. Easy peasy!
I have, however, been known to leave the heater on all night by accident :-/
'Slippery slide, oily slopes' - that's what a colleague greets me with every morning, mocking the fact that I've been put on a "Special Project"....career suicide, apparently!
I know exactly that thing of trying to be conscious, mindful of doing a particular task so as to actually register it.
Bloody fantastic photo!!!!!
oh I do those mental snapshots too!! I'm not weird after all. Or if I am, then so are you. :-)
oh yeah, I meant to say, amazing photo. It's beautiful!
Oh dear it's the hair straightener with me. I know I turned off the iron but the hair straightener I get worried about. Now I'm at work and wondering..oh dear.
What is that beautiful picture? I love it. I am pretty good about turning things off but just in case, I got an iron that turns itself off after an hour of sitting still. Now if only all the appliances had that feature....
Donna I've often wondered why more appliances don't do that, especially the iron.
The picture is a suspended sculpture outside the National Gallery of Australia - Diamonds by New Zealand artist Neil Dawson. It replaced his earlier sculpture of a globe which was hit by lightning in 1998.
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