Daft things to be frightened of

Yesterday I got home from work to hear a tale of my young son having been spooked while playing in the back garden. He was still clearly a bit shaken up by the time I got in, and when I asked him what was up, all I got out of him was 'boom boom'. Piecing together the clues supplied by my wife, and the repeated claims of 'boom boom' from my son, it was easy to work out that he'd been spooked by something banging. When I tried to get him to confront his fear (the old trick of 'you know you're safe when you're with daddy' and 'daddy'll sort it out if you show me what it was'), he was terrified, although I did manage to get him to stand at the back door and point at the source of this 'boom boom'. He pointed to the far end of the garden and I couldn't see anything that it could have been, so I assured him it would have been one of the neighbours working in their garden.

I should point out (you'll see in a minute why its relevant) that a new wind farm is being built just offshore here at the moment.

Today we were all out in the garden. My dad had popped round, and my son had long forgotten his scare and was playing happily, when suddenly he was stuck down with very visible terror, and ran to the house, mumbling 'boom boom' as he ran. None of us heard anything at first, until the wind changed a bit, and there it was, boom... boom... boom... The penny dropped. There'd been an article in the local paper a week or so ago about the banging noise from sea bed work being heard right across town. That's what the 'boom boom' was, more drilling/hammering on the sea bed echoing right across town.

Then comes the lie that is carefully designed to be understandable to a very young child. Some engineers are knocking giant metal spikes into the sea bed in preparation to secure the turbines, that's not going to work is it. So, it was this: "You know Bob (Bob the Builder - kids TV character)? He's building some windmills in the sea isn't he, that's why keep see all those excellent ships and diggers". [son is listening with interest and is clearly impressed that The Bob the Builder is working near us]. "He has to knock some massive nails in with his hammer, you know like you do with your hammer bench? That's what the boom boom is so we shouldn't be scared should we?".

As we went down town today to do some shopping, we could hear the 'boom boom', but instead of instilling terror in my son, every time it started up again there was a look of pride and satisfaction on his face and he happily proclaims "Bob, boom boom".

This little episode got me to thinking, what stupid things do/did you fear?

When I was little I was terrified of trees.

 

Can relate to that, even as a grown up I didn't like the boom boom as they piled the sea bed at West Bay, you felt the boom from the ground before you heard the sound.

I got scared as a kid when playing underneath a Rookery.

 

I know a woman who is scared of buttons.

 

Funnily enough, my dad said the lad might be feeling it through the ground, as kids are more sensitive than grownups. My dad comes out with some crackers, and I just thought this was one of them, but you've kind of corroborated his theory, so I guess he could have been right.

I knew a horse called buttons once. It was the most vindictive, ill tempered beast I've ever met (except another horse I once had the joy of riding that was aptly named 'satan'). I was slightly scared of buttons.

 

I went on a horse once, when evil wife was evil girlfriend. Being the tallest (been 5'11" since I was 11 years) They gave me the biggest 'Orse.

After doing its best to get me off its back by galloping thru trees, it decided to jump across a ditch rather than take the bridge.

Not been back on one since.

 

When I rode the oss called satan, I was 16 and on an outward bounds course. Some of the riding school osses were out of action for some reason so there wasn't enough for our group. We were asked if any of us had experience. I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to be treat any differently to my mates (there is a stigma attached to having been raised in equestrian sorts of families). One of my close mates who I'd confided in spoke up, and so I got the last available horse. It didn't move like a horse. I think it was a camel in horse's skin. It wasn't like a rodeo or anything like that, just slooow malice. It tried to literally scrape me off, deliberately going out of its way to brush against trees or go under low branches. I was so knackered by the end. I literally had a slow motion workout. Lift one leg right up, then the other, then duck and swing to the side, duck and swing to the other side, both legs up... etc etc.. It was kind of funny for the first half hour or so.

 

When i was a kid on a night when i went to bed i could hear this tap tap tapping....i used to imagine it was an evil elf sat on the top of my bedroom door tapping on a saucer with a spoon used to scare the living daylights out of me....turned out it was the 'wire' on a flag pole across the road from us:DOH:...ofcourse being a kid my imagination used to run riot.....having said that things haven't changed that much now i'm a big kid

 

You wanna try living with severe anxiety ! ! ! It's nothing to laugh at. (but it's better than the clinical depression of a few years ago). Cheers, Tony.

 

Reading Treasure Island under the bed covers with a torch when I was about seven or eight.

I can still vividly remember the tap, tap of the stick coming down the street.........................

 

Belated reply
Blind pew with his tapping stick , and the black spot torn out of the holy book.........that chapter where the pirates were attacking the Admiral Benbow was frightening .............

 

Cows!

Well no, I'm not actually frightened of cows, that would just be plain silly.

However, back in my youth, I do recall walking home from the pub (in the next village) with a few mates late one night when we heard a sudden loud cough which came from a few feet away behind the roadside hedge.

"What the f*** was that?", was the general sentiment as we all desperately tried to act cool and keep our bladders under control.

After nervously peering behind the hedge, we were relieved and somewhat embarrassed to discover nothing more than a field full of contented bovines, one of whom kindly repeated the cough to reassure us.

 

I had Horrendous Nightmares as a kid @4-5 years old.
The Nightmares were so vivid and real. To bring me round, my mother would take me from the bed,and bathe my hands and wrists in cold water,to wake me,bring me round, calm me down.
On The Funny Side- I had a very very vivid/real dream,that I had pockets full of money:happydance:.
After my mother brought me round with cold water,I accused her of stealing all my money,it took her ages to convince me ,it was only a dream..
Now My Wife Takes My Money ----- When I'm Awake .

 

Things that hop or jump, and yes that includes fluffy little rabbits.

Hey man they always jump in my direction , Why???

Don't they know that when a human screams, starts running away in no particular direction whilst flapping like a chicken, that means I'm scared and they've won. Geeeezzzzz them little f*****s give me nightmares they do