Tuesday 4 February 2014

A Wee Story

I happened to do something today which was vaguely absent-minded.  I was told a story of a friend's history professor at university.

I was so taken with this wee story that I just have to share it.

The Professor was a creature of habit.  Whenever he walked to the University from home, halfway there he would light his pipe and smoke it until he entered the University.  One day the pipe wouldn't light because of the wind blowing onto his face.  So the Professor turned round and put his back to the wind.  When the pipe was lit he continued walking............in the direction he was facing........until he arrived back home.

I didn't feel so bad after that.

16 comments:

  1. That's a funny story. Forgetfulness. It happens to all of us.

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    1. Mersad, that's encouraging coming from someone in your profession and still in the flush of youth.

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  2. I've done things like that - like automatically walking the usual way home (from work - this was some time ago...), even when on a special occasion I should have been going somewhere else! And it was not that I had "forgotten", I remembered very well when I set out, where I was supposed to be going - but on my way I got lost in thoughts and then my legs (temporarily disconnected from my brain) just took the usual way instead of turning into a different street when I should have.

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    1. This is one case, Monica, where it is very encouraging not to be alone.

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  3. A "senior" professor, obviously! :)

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  4. Aren't we all creatures of habit? Some maybe a bit more than others, but I suppose we've all done the absent-minded thing...
    Once when I was very newly in love with the man who later became my second husband, I wanted to take a bag of rubbish out and then do some groceries shopping. You guessed it - I carried the rubbish all the way to the supermarket and realized what I'd been doing only when I arrived there.

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    1. Ah, Meike, the things that love does to us.

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  5. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face with that wee story....loved it.

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    1. I'm always happy when I make someone smile Virginia.

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  6. GB ~ you tell that story but don't tell us what the absent-mindedness on your part was. How intriguing? Our minds could run wild. We all do silly things at times ~ cereal in the fridge, no detergent in the washing machine, no clothes in the washing machine, forgetting to pick our child up, getting to work and finding I have left my laptop at home ~ need I go on? But I have never forgotten where I was going after I lit my pipe.

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    1. Oh dear Carol. Which one was it? I actually did the 'autopilot' thing and drove where I usually go instead of where I was supposed to be going although I did realised my mistake before I arrived at the wrong place (partly due to my passenger asking me where I was going!). However I'm afraid that I suffer from trying to do too many things at the same time too frequently; often with an 'absent minded' result. Your comment gives me hope. It's good not to be alone.

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