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Simple task scares you?

(118 Posts)
shysal Tue 18-Oct-16 12:14:37

There are several of these for me. It took me months before I plucked up the courage to serve myself and pay by card at the local unmanned petrol station. It couldn't be simpler!
Things I have not yet achieved include:
Inflating tyres at the petrol station.
Selling on Ebay (I buy all the time).
Going through a car wash.
Negotiating some junctions where I have seen accidents or near misses. I use longer routes to avoid the area.

What situations do you avoid?

TerriBull Tue 18-Oct-16 16:54:57

Motorway driving for me too and like you Twice as Nice I went up a similar tower in Calgary with my Canadian cousin and she couldn't get me to walk over the glass floor for love or money, heights freak me out, even pictures of people doing dare devil things such as hanging over a precipice somewhere like the Grand Canyon make me go hot and cold

Katek Tue 18-Oct-16 17:29:31

Parallel parking and heights! I was never taught to park like this but manage to avoid having to do it even if I've to drive round the block a couple of times. The heights thing is odd....mountains aren't a problem but anything man made is. It's not just looking down that's an issue but looking up at a tall building also makes me dizzy. I believe it's a form of vertigo. My idea of hell would be Manhattan!! Flying is pretty problematic due to the height thing as well. I wouldn't fly for 40 years but have made some trips in the last few years. Not as bad as I'd feared but I only have a 2-3 hour tolerance before I really need to get off.

Christinefrance Tue 18-Oct-16 17:36:02

Cooking especially in someone else's kitchen.

Nelliemoser Tue 18-Oct-16 17:56:21

Some roundabouts are less frightening than others. Those on the ring road in Sheffield terrify me. I have hated them ever since DD went to uni.

I used to be very good at parallel parking in the side roads where I worked. Since I retired six years ago I really struggle.
I am not worried about flying by myself It's the worry of getting to the airport and finding the right carpark. I use meet and greet now after one traumatic journey where I got shunted out of the terminal onto a road heading in the wrong direction. Just Terminal 1 meet and greet in Manchester to locate next year.

Greyduster Tue 18-Oct-16 18:18:44

Nellimoser, They are two of the ones I was talking about!!!

grandmags Tue 18-Oct-16 18:29:17

I have to say that I am fairly laid back about most situations but, after an incident involving someone close to the family, I am really wary of farm vehicles, tractors, combines and the like, and will travel for miles behind them and not attempt to overtake unless they go onto the verge. And having them come towards me is even worse, makes my hair stand on end.

ninathenana Tue 18-Oct-16 18:29:27

There's a glass floor near the top of Blackpool tower too people, just to warn you smile and at Bluewater shopping centre. The shopping centre floor is obscure glass but D won't cross either floors.

Wobblybits Tue 18-Oct-16 18:48:59

Many years ago I was responsible for installing a water cooling system for our factory. The company we were considering suggested I look at the system that Ilford Films had. I didn't give a thought as to what the access to their roof would be. It was on the roof of a very high building only accessible by a ladder up the side of the building, it did have safety hoops, so you couldn't fall of, but I nearly s... myself when it came to stepping off the roof back onto the ladder.

Indinana Tue 18-Oct-16 18:58:41

I felt quite green round the gills just reading your post wb shock

I can do parallel parking - we live on a main road where parking is limited, so I've had to learn! I don't mind automatic car washes, but we have one near us where you have to align your wheels with a conveyer system, which then pulls you through the wash. No way will I attempt that! I couldn't bear the thought of misaligning the wheels and feeling like a complete idiot!

Tegan Tue 18-Oct-16 19:13:22

Slip roads on motorways.Have to drive fast but my brain says 'this is dangerous, slow down'. And I don't trust mirrors so I have to look backwards. The S.O. does all the driving now, thankfully. I'm not sure that I'll ever have the courage to drive on motorways again.

DanniRae Tue 18-Oct-16 23:50:31

Even as a passenger I am terrified of motorways. The whole time we are one I am thinking "I am going to die". If I'm not thinking that then I am praying to keep us safe. shock

Grandma2213 Wed 19-Oct-16 01:52:08

I will try most things but so far haven't dared to use those clicker, scanner things on items you buy in supermarkets! I have gone as far as getting a leaflet but lost it on the way home. I am determined that I will use them one day, as I will also do a sky dive, when I have saved enough money. (Bucket list hot air balloon done this year!) I have forced myself to use the self service checkouts but nearly always have to call for assistance when they the machine orders me to do so. No I haven't felt old and past it, as all the assistants have been very respectful and helpful, so far anyway.
I have to say I am still paranoid about walking behind parked cars since I got knocked over by one reversing down a one way street last year.

kittylester Wed 19-Oct-16 07:02:24

I can't parallel park for toffee but nothing else driving wise worries me. I have a friend who wouldn't attempt to use our lovely new, bright, widebay, John Lewis car park until her husband had driven her there to prove that she'd manage.

I will try most things but hate water and heights. I have had to walk round the ramparts of a castle with my eyes half shut when the self administered stiff talking to didn't work.

The Very worst experience I had was the time DS and his fiance took us to a hotel in Japan via the scenic route. The route involved a cable car through the tops of trees emerging over a huge lake. Apparently it was beautiful but I wouldn't know! shock

BillieW Wed 19-Oct-16 07:52:11

Me too, I can't believe how political Facebook has become after the Bexit vote. I thought Facebook was for fun and information, not a political platform! I nearly left!

Stansgran Wed 19-Oct-16 08:57:54

Oh yes I have no idea how to parallel park. I wake up scared every morning, but I'm just scared of life in general.

BlueBelle Wed 19-Oct-16 09:26:15

I was coerce into doing white water rafting when I was in NZ last Christmas I don't like going under water at all and it was the most terrifying thing I ve ever done going down a 27ft fall and landing under the water before coming up again was one part of it after that bit I managed to find a way of tucking my head into the life jacket and most of the photos of me I look like a tortoise with my head tucked in causing plenty of laughter amongst the family I would NEVER do it againWecalso had to walk through a 'squeeze alley' of rocks and as I m a bit claustrophobic too so that was a continuation of the torture
As I ve got older a lot of things I enjoyed even everyday tasks I have become fearful of like in half an hour going to the dentist with a painful abscess dreading it

Humbertbear Wed 19-Oct-16 10:04:57

I am a bit surprised at the things people are scared of but I have to admit I have never been on a roller coaster or any of those rides you see at Alton Towers or elsewhere. When I took a school group there I was the teacher who sat in the cafe all day that children could find if they needed an adult.

starlily106 Wed 19-Oct-16 10:05:48

When I was younger I couldn't go on the Big Wheel at fairgrounds, I used to panic as I went over the top. I once walked along the pier at Lyme Regis, and even though there was a wall on one side of it I had to crawl back, much to the amusement of everyone watching. Then I made the big mistake of taking the lift up the Eiffel Tower. I was facing the glass door and I almost fainted as the lift began moving upwards. A young couple helped keep me on my feet and when I fell out at the top I thought I would have to stay up there for the rest of my life. In the end I got to the middle of the lift, grabbed hold of the pole, shut my eyes and prayed. Now I can't even look at pictures of people in high places who are looking down towards the ground without feeling sick. Yet I don't feel the same in an aeroplane.

Rosina Wed 19-Oct-16 10:25:09

Joining the M25 to visit a friend in London, then having to cross about fifteen lanes (slight exaggeration) at a point near Dartford in order to leave. Have completely lost my nerve, and OH has to drive when we visit friend.

Ladders.

OH says my parallel parking uses most of the petrol we buy; I can park perfectly in one neat swoop...but I'm always a foot from the kerb and then need to thrash about for five minutes to get it right.

Lilyflower Wed 19-Oct-16 10:34:19

Driving in urban areas! If I don't know the road layout then an unexpected one way street or no through road can throw me. I get lost.

My husband despises Satnavs and those who use them as he has a brilliant sense of direction and reads maps like I read books. Therefore, I haven't really got to grips with these devices though I think I'd venture into places unknown if I had a trusty voice to tell me where to go.

The DH is no Rob Titchener but he can be a bit overbearing in a good humoured way. I suppose it is lazy of me to let him drive and I ought to 'do it myself'.

Singlegrannie Wed 19-Oct-16 10:54:02

Fuelling the car since I did once make the very costly mistake of puttoing the wrong fuel in.

Wobblybits Wed 19-Oct-16 11:05:35

If you have a diesel, the RAC sell a simple cheap device that prevents you putting petrol in a diesel car. If any one want s one cheap, PM me, I have just changed from diesel to petrol and don;t need it. Sorry bu I do not know of anything that prevents you putting diesel in a petrol car.

oldgoose Wed 19-Oct-16 11:12:15

Driving
Parking
Having to travel in someone else's car
Changing light bulbs
Using cash machines
Putting petrol in the car
Having my hair cut
ANY fairground ride

I'm such a scaredy-cat!

Rosie21 Wed 19-Oct-16 11:12:58

Swimming out of my depth and underwater. Motorways, its the sliproad, will any of the large trucks or cars let me in. Fainting in public (did it a couple of times as a teenager). Performing in public, used to be in the Theatre don't know when the Stage fright set in. I now try to face my fears head on I may surprise myself and do well. And of course there is the big taboo 'end of life'.

Yorkshiregel Wed 19-Oct-16 11:18:44

I have a fear of filling in tax returns or anything connected with Government. I hate it....it makes me feel very inadequate.

I am not good at anything to do with fixing things. I leave that to OH. He gets to do the paying of bills and the driving too.

I gave my car to DIL when I retired because I used to be scared in case I hit someone. I did write my other car off on black ice and I think that was what started that fear off.
I have lost my independence, but I am happy to be a passenger again.

I am good at most first aid things but ask me to deal with vomit, pus or phlegm and I heave. I can handle blood or chicken pox etc, breaks or cuts no problem. I am a dab hand at changing nappies, but those three things give me the willies.