overlap

To briefly go back to something I was talking about earlier this week, I was out at lunchtime buying myself some lingerie, possibly my first in person purchase of same, and musing on the sparkly shopping subject. I'm well rehearsed in affecting the somewhat typical manner of the average bored husband who'd rather be watching the football or washing the car - anything to reduce how closely I feel I'm observably looking at sparkly items. Not that it should really matter, but if that's how I feel, then it makes sense to cope with the feeling rather than attempting to deny it or fight against it. And I was struck by the contrast between my conscious dissembling and the way more than a few people can't read me anyway; whether I'm walking around the shops or just not doing something that requires active concentration, then I'm almost certainly thinking about something, and like any other kind of muscle, the brain shows signs of activity, perhaps via facial expression. The number of people who are unable to accept anything less than a beaming smile as a situation of non-distress is staggering. I couldn't count how often folk betray their ignorance in this way, whether it's strangers with the old 'Cheer up!' routine, or people who really should know better than to attempt to attribute a state of mind or heart to something with no more basis in diagnostic fact than tossing a coin. Sure, I dissemble as a coping mechanism to enable me to do stuff I'd otherwise feel less comfortable about. But given how often people fail to take in the face value of the unvarnished truth, maybe I shouldn't bother. * It's been pointed out that it's not a hugely uncommon thing to feel a little concern about not being slim enough/tall enough/pretty enough/young enough/anything enough for what clothes may be on sale in a particular shop, which is something I have to say I'd missed entirely. Even if it's based on different reasons and different issues, I'm happy to find myself perhaps a little closer to the sparkly sisterhood than I imagined!