Jessie: On the coast of Maine, enjoying warmer temperatures and walks along the shore.
In our continuing discussion of madness this month, I was wondering what is something that unfailingly drives you mad. Swarms of mosquitoes? Cold coffee? Barking dogs?
Julie: I have a few things that drive me mad. When people slow down to a crawl to turn right. I know that’s safer, but I live in Boston. When people walk slowly and take up the entire sidewalk. People who lay on the horn when it doesn’t do any good. People who stand in the door on the subway. There’s a theme here, and a good reason to stay home.
Barb: Almost all the things that drive me mad are aural. I seem to lack some important human ability to block out noise. Your white noise in the background is my constant distraction. I can’t listen to music when I write or with any task that requires concentration–because I can’t not hear the music. City sounds are fine. And this isn’t an issue when I’m asleep. Here in Key West I routinely sleep through the roosters and the sirens and the emptying of the dumpster across the street at five every morning. But last year due to flight schedules we had to spend a lot of time in JFK going to and coming from Europe. The United lounge had this computer-generated bing-bing-bong type music that almost did drive me mad.
Edith/Maddie : Barb, I am SO with you on the background noise thing, and Julie, with the people who just don’t get on with it. I mean, really? I posted recently about a sign in my doctor’s office with a spurious apostrophe, which also drove me bonkers. Unfortunately I had neither Wite-out nor a sharpie in my purse to fix it – and believe me, I would have. But since Jessie brought it up, that neighborhood barking dog over the back fence absolutely drove me mad. So I put him in a short story, killed off his owner (fictionally…), and “Bye-bye, Jojo” appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (March-April, 2022). It will be reprinted in the weekly ezine Black Cat Mystery Magazine next month!
Sherry: Along Julie’s theme of people turning right are those who swing out to the left as they turn right. But the thing that really annoys me are shopping carts (or carriages for those of you in Massachusetts) that are left in the middle of the parking lot!
Jessie: What an interesting range you have all shared! One thing that drives me nuts is the wrong sort of drinking vessel. I want whatever I drink to be in the correct thing. I don’t want wine in a tumbler or hot coffee in a clear mug. And I don’t ever want to drink anything out of something made of plastic. It just ruins it for me! I also am irritated when I am watching a movie or a show and for some reason, it needs to be paused. I would rather not watch at all than to have the experience chopped up in that way.
Readers, what drives you mad?
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