Irrational fear that your house/flat has burned down

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Every once in a while I worry about this for no good reason. How common is that?

― Alan (Alan), Monday, 16 June 2003 10:53 (twenty-three years ago)

It's decidedly non-U.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 16 June 2003 10:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Every time I turn the corner which brings my flat into view after I've been out, I get a little heart leap of relief that it's still there. I blame Matt. Whenever he leaves the house he usually goes back to check doors are locked, ovens and taps are off etc. And his anxiety has transmitted itself to me, although left to my own devices I automatically turn off taps and hobs and would never give it a thought.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 16 June 2003 10:58 (twenty-three years ago)

When I was younger & I used to see an ambulance or a fire engine, i always used to worry that it was going to my house. I still sometimes think like that, but not so much.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 16 June 2003 11:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have this fear -- usually caused my convincing myself I have left the stove/iron on.

I also have an irrational fear that the police might mistakenly arrest me.....now as irrational as that sounds, I once had a big lebowski style situation where creditors turned up at my door and a lawyer kept calling thinking I was another person who shared my name

― rkl (rkl), Monday, 16 June 2003 11:58 (twenty-three years ago)

this is one of my longest-standing neuroses.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 16 June 2003 12:30 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, i get it as well.

for some reason, the day my mother died (before I knew) i got it so so bad on the train going into toronto that i had to leave work early ...

after vomitting in the toilets from the complete STRENGTH. sometimes, yeah, when i'm nervous, it pops up, unintended and irrational ...

after rushing home, i always think - why am i rushing home - just to find my flat on fire and destroyed? eh?

― doom-e, Monday, 16 June 2003 12:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I get this once in a while but more often I think my house has been robbed, because that actually happened to me once (although it wasn't a big deal). Pretty much every time I walk through the door I first peek into the living room to make sure the stereo's still there.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 14:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I do, but it is probably justified because I once accidentally set a small fire in my apartment because I forgot to turn the stove off before I left.

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 16 June 2003 14:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm so glad I'm not the only one.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 16 June 2003 14:43 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a story in my local paper (the Ham & High) this week about a fire being started by a houseplant exploding. So: worry.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:29 (twenty-three years ago)

The Ham & High = slightly untrustworthy name for a paper.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:35 (twenty-three years ago)

It's 'cool slang' for the Hammersmith & Highgate Gazette or something like Gazette.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Hammersmith & Highgate is even worse. Does it read itself to you in a posh accent or what?

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I bet it burns pretty good, though.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

surely Hampstead (seeing as Hampstead is actually, like, near Highgate, unlike Hammersmith)?

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Perhaps Hammersmith is twinned with Highgate, perhaps due to some clerical error?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:48 (twenty-three years ago)

in that case the mag wd be the ham and ham!!

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:48 (twenty-three years ago)

cz er "twinned with" = "interchangeable with" but != "shares a paper with"

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:49 (twenty-three years ago)

ahahaha

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 16 June 2003 19:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I have this neurosis as well, except add "broken into" as well.

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Update: I'm home. So is the stereo. Nothing is on fire. All is well.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Ham & High = Hamspead & Highgate Express, which might be 'cool slang' but is also the name on the front of the paper. "Neighbour saves flat after plant causes explosion" on page 3.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 16 June 2003 22:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I am now curious as to how exactly a pot plant explodes.

And yes, I often worry about house fires too, mainly cos I am not insured, and unlike in Fight Club, I am my 3 piece Ikea lounge suite etc.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 16 June 2003 23:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Never really had this worry. Then again there's not much around here that could cause a fire from what I can tell.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 June 2003 23:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Somehow, lately, I seem to be more worried than *I* might burn this frigging house down if we don't move out of here soon...

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 01:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I also sometimes worry about my place catching fire, which I always think of in terms of my small collection of rare and/or personally significant LPs. I think this somehow connects with a band mailing list where someone mentioned that he used to have the band's rare first album, but lost it in a fire from which he had been lucky to escape with his life.

Maybe this is why minimalism is so popular -- fewer things to worry about losing?

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 02:30 (twenty-three years ago)

and fewer things to worry about moving, as well

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 02:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm always convinced I left my keys sticking out of my door, cos I've done this several times. Burning down is a different story, that doesn't enter my mind, strangely since the boiler blew in my building once and caught the place half on fire.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 03:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and fewer things to worry about moving, as well

No need to remind me of that one...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 03:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I am now curious as to how exactly a pot plant explodes.

"My assessment is that natural bacterial action in the compost and root ball allowed heat to build up, and unltimately created incandescent embers similar to some haystack fires."

― London Fire Brigade Investigator Dave Townsend (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 08:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Ohhh noooo houseplants must go!

*freaking out*

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 08:33 (twenty-three years ago)

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