How observant are you.?

Maggiemaybe, I did laugh at the vicar not recognising his wife. I wish I’d heard the discussion on radio 4, perhaps I’ll try to find it. It’s caused me many problems over the years, but it could be worse!

I bumped into a friend in the street and said oh you're growing your hair longer, she said I've just been to the hairdressers in rather an annoyed way! I'm sure she used to wear it shorter though...

Prosopagnosia sounds grim for sufferers. It must be both frightening and embarassing - I hadn't heard of this, only of people who have no 'mind's eye', and wonder if this is a related condition. Dominic Lawson wrote an article in which he said he can tell you that his wife is pretty, that she has red hair, and how tall she is, because this is in his memory bank, but cannot 'see' her in his mind's eye, or see anything else in his life for that matter. He can't imagine anything, because he can't see it - that too must be a strange concept to deal with.

I can find my way by car from my home to village 'A' and from home to village 'B'. But have trouble finding my way from 'A' to 'B'. Need to refer to maps.

My AC had broken a shelf in the refrigerator, so for months things were piled on top of each other on the bottom shelf. I got so fed up with stacking things back up that I ordered a replacement shelf and fitted it, then tidied the fridge. Then I said I bought you a present but you have to guess what it is. It took three days before the penny dropped, despite being in and out of the fridge all day long! Can't complain though because I'm the same, it took me a week once to realise OH had shaved his beard off and I never notice if he's had his hair cut.

Decades ago my husband, who wore a beard for many years, decided one weekend to shave it off. He left the moustache though. The following Monday, he went to work and one of his female colleagues looked at him, confused for a moment, then had an 'Ahah!' moment. "Oh!" she said, "You've grown a moustache!"

their reflection, sorry, predictive text!

Prosopagnosia can affect people who are suffering from dementia too. My husband didn't even recognise himselfin the mirror. This condition can be very frightening for dementia sufferers. Sometimes it's necessary to cover mirrors because on seeing there reflection they think a stranger is in the room. My friend's husband was terrified of entering the en suite attached to his bedroom in the nursing home. The problem was resolved after I suggested covering the mirror which was over the hand basin.

I heard a discussion about prosopagnosia on Radio 4 some time last year, Bazza. One of the interviewees was a vicar, who was chatting away to a guest after a wedding he'd conducted, and asked her whether she'd travelled far. The answer was "about as far as you". It was his own wife. She was wearing a wedding hat, and that had thrown him.

I was very pleased to read an article about face blindness, and for it to have a name, as mentioned on this thread, prosopagnosia. The condition has embarrassed me many times over the years, but the worst thing about this is when people think you’re ignoring them on purpose which I would never do. There are degrees of it, some can’t recognise their own children at the school gate.

Lack of sense of direction is linked to this condition which I also suffer from chronically. Mt husband couldn’t be more opposite and is amazingly observant and would get very cross with me, so I was very pleased to know it is a recognised condition and he is far more understanding that I don’t chose to be like this.

A few years ago I was in a queue in the post office and I thought a friend who I hadn't seen in a while was in front of me .I asked how she was keeping and about her family, was her son happy at university and was he coming home for Christmas. She answered the questions and asked about DH and how was work. Then she turned round to reach for something off a stand and we had never seen each other before.
When I told another friend she just laughed and said the person had moved about 12 months ago I had driven past the house twice a day and never noticed the for Sale sign.The odd thing though was she knew the woman I had been talking to and said she had moved into our friends house.

When DH and I watch TV he'll comment did you notice he got in the car without a jacket and got with one on or that car had a number plate and now it doesn't. No, I didn't notice, I have enough trouble keeping up with the plot these days.

In the late 70s, my parents finally bought a colour TV. I came in from school and plonked myself down to watch Jackanory. I was quite excited because a book I liked called "A Dog So Small" by Phillipa Pearce was being read by Judi Dench. Mum kept saying "what do you notice about the TV? All I could say was "I've read this! I've read this!"
My brother eventually twigged... so am I unobservant? Well, I remembered the show, the book, the author and the reader!! Perhaps this says more about my priorities!

I once met my GP socially,said I was sure we had met before, Do you work in Tesco on the tills ? She was lovely- and reminded me where we had met

I am not particularly visually observant either, but can recognise voices.
My neighbour should have been a policeman or detective. He notices everything. My family treated me to a new television recently, very similar in appearance to my other one. They are both black but the new one has a thinner frame. I wondered if he would notice and he did. I exclaimed in admiration and then he confessed that he'd seen them carrying it in.

Zoejory I am exactly the same as you. I don't notice a thing about anyone or anybody. If you asked me which of my friends wore glasses for example I couldn't tell you. I think I'm in my own world. People like us must frustrate those who go about trying to impress because it's all wasted on us. Ha ha.

Joesoap
Me too. I often want to mention to family about certain habitual nuances with a grandchild but dare not in case a family member gets offended, even though I am concerned the parents have not noticed. Today's generation seem to not notice what exactly is going on with their kids, as they all lead such hectic lives.

My daughter and I saw a traffic collision whilst driving into town, we both gave conflicting accounts to my husband, we never knew who was right!

??

My OH often asks who someone is if they say hello in town - it's usually a neighbour, or the woman from the library, or our window cleaner, but he just doesn't recognise them 'out of place'. I tend to have tunnel vision - and can walk straight past someone or something without noticing. Quite relieved that we still have friends...

This thread makes me think my husband had a touch of face blindness. He would think Elizabeth Taylor was Ava Gardner and so on.
I too hardly notice cars, unless they are very distinctive, like a Ferrari, my DD loves cars and notices everything about them.
It’s true that drawing and painting makes one really look hard at something and shows me how we don’t really look at things in the way people did before photography, when it was commonplace for people to sketch places they visited etc.

Happysexagenarian that could be me. Two houses near me are painted and the colours are not a good mix. I always notice if people have new specs, haven’t pulled the hairs from their chin and always , like you, if things are not straight. Perhaps like you say it is art training. We were taught to observe closely.

I am too observant,its quite annoying at times!

I have very limited sight - can only see out of one eye and need strong glasses for the other one - but I notice a lot more than most people. Maybe because I have to look quite hard to see where I am and I will always stop if I notice something like an unusual plant or even just the sunlight falling on grass. I think it makes life more interesting.

Its not just faces, I can't remember directions to and from places. I can drive somewhere and get lost on the way home, no sat nav in my car. And if my husband has done the driving I would never find my way back again next day.
(I am the cat who walked by himself)