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The Weather?

Mountain Goat

If I get into a conversation, I usually try to steer it towards trains or bicycles or something like that. Maybe cars... And it can be difficult for the other person to get to speak. (My Mum stops me and says "Let the other person talk about what they want to talk about" "But Mum, I don't know anything about horses!" I said without thinking it was impolite! Oops! Haha).

But anyway. Usually here in Wales people talk about the weather. My youngest brother who came out of the "Emergency exit" when I was 18 (Sisarian? Wasn't suee how to spell it so emergency exit will do. I tend to keep to simpler words in English despite having above average intelligence which puzzles me... How I can be above average when I am hopeless at languages and not that good at English?)

Sorry. Before I go off on a tangent, lets get back to the weather. My youngest brother was born when I was 18. When I heard my Mother was pregnant, it came as a shock to me (And my other brother I guess) and I hardly spoke to my parents, and when after about three weeks my Mum wanted to know why, I told her. "You've had sex!!!"  It was the first time I had realized my parents had had sex... My Mum said "Where do you think we came from then?"

Grr! Off topic again! The weather. My youngest brother had a fascination with the weather when he was young as once (We live on top of a hill by the sea) he saw a dark raincloud and it was heading towards land in an easterly direction and my Mum said there was rain in it that was about to fall, and he realized it was going to fall on the people who lived under the direction it was heading and he thought that it was hillarious! Since then from that very early age he started learning about rainclouds and different cloud formations etc. I wasn't really interested myself. I either "Latch onto" a subject where I usually latch on for life, or I am not interested. 

Now here in Wales, if I try to get in a conversation with ahyone, everyone talks about the weather. I got so puzzled and fed up about trying to communicate, that I thought "Right. If I want to communicate, I must learn about the weather. I am not usually bothered. I look outside and "Oh. It is raining. Yay"! Or, "Oh. Ok. It is nice and sunny. :) "

So borrowing some of the books my youngest brother had (Or we had as a family), I forced myself to learn about the weather. I don't usually remember a subject for long of I don't latch onto it, but I can retain it if I learn it a few times. It usually takes two or three times for me to learn something, but anyway. I learnt some of the clouds. Enough so I could talk about the weather so I could communicate.

So armed with knowing what the clouds were called and what they all meant, I decided to give it a go... Ooh. Another human! (A neighbour. We only have a few people living up here!) So the conversation started and almost straight away the weather came up and I started pointing out the clouds and saying what they mean and going into the details, and this person looked at me daft and with their mouth open and the conversation kinda stopped there! 

Why is it that people want to talk about the weather but they don't want to talk about the interesting bits about the weather? I just don't get it? Then why mention it? Are they thick? Why? I just don't get it.

Well, it has been quite a number of years since and I can't remember the weather. I only retain it for a short time if it is not my interest. But I just don't get these wierd ways of communication! Haha! People can be soo wierd! Am I the only normal one on the planet? Actually no. Most of you lot are normal too! And is why I can communicate with you! But PLEASE talk about TRAINS!!! HAHAHAAHAHA! :) :) :)

Parents

  • I've found that what you're doing is similar to me - it's an Aspie search.    You're subconsciously looking for like-minded individuals who can engage your brain with something interesting.

    I'm in my 50s and I suspect most of my friends are undiagnosed Aspies too  (I can't mention it to them - that's not my place)  but they are all very similar to me - they know tons of stuff about tons of stuff - they are interesting and mentally stimulating to chat with.     I can spend all say with them - but NTs wear me out in an hour.       The blank faces you meet are just NTs - they skim across the world and *see* nothing.    Their world is all about social status and materialism so they don't 'deep-dive' into any subjects.

    I like trains too.   Smiley

  • in reply to Plastic

    I just don't understand what socializing actually is. I assumed it was all about pubs and drinking as in my area I am one of the few who does not go in pubs. (Or rarely and the few times I have been in, it has been for a meal at lunchtime if someone insists... Nice food though!). But whatever they do while drinking, it involves socializing. 

    Somehow socializing is different from a conversation? I just don't really get it myself. Maybe I do it? Maybe I don't? 

    Where I last worked I took a temp part time job before Christmas the year before this Christmas (Couldn't do it this Christmas as I hit burnout with a summer part time job there). I was asked if I wanted to come to a Christmas party. I said I prefer not to. Nothing personal. I aant the other guys to have fun, but it is not for me. Not my idea of what I like. 

    He then asked me what sort of things I liked as they had a certain amount of money to spend on us. (Staff bonuses went into fund which was spent on a Christmas party). I said "I don't like partys. But if we all met on a beach or went to visit a castle it sounds fun! E said "It could be arranged for a party on the beach in the summer..." Uhmm. Ok. Is far nicer then in a building. I would MUCH rather just walk along the tideline or something... Even if it was raining and cold... I could always wear something warm. But the noise and crowded in feeling of parties... Nope. Not doing it! I have done it to be polite... But...

    Well. Put it this way. On my birthday I like the food but don't like the fuss.

    Last year I had the best most fantastic birthday present I have ever had in my life. My youngest brother and his wife wanted to take me and my Mum to the local steam railway for a birthday present, and I love railways! But I don't like crowds even though I used to work on a railway... (Luckily if things got too much I had the back cab to get a quiet time to recover). 

    The railway was not open so we went to a local beach instead... And it was tantastic! The nearby touristy shops were open but hardly anyone there as it was an overcast and windy day. And I was in my element. Went in the shops. Went and had chips in a little restauraunt. (Cant do it in that one if it is crowded as it is too crampt). And we went for a cliffside walk. I was actually able to unmask and be my real self! Something I can rarely do. And I absolutely loved it! It HAS to be one of the best days of my whole life! 

  • in reply to Mountain Goat

    I'd have to agree with you - most 'parties' seem to be like a 3D version of Facebook or Twitter made real.      It's a living hell.      Most of the people are trying to out-do each other one way or another.    Way too noisy & chaotic.

    When I was working, I'd have to endure the social side of it too - but I can fake being NT for long enough to hide in plain sight.   

    My wife is NT - but we've been together so long that she feels she has a foot in both camps - she can see how frustrating it is to deal with NTs all the time.

    For our birthdays, we have experiences - things that are memorable.     My daughter's birthday this year is meeting a pack of wild wolves and we'll go for a meal afterwards.       We've fed red pandas, swum with Dolphins, done predator experiences, driven traction engines, attended stunt driving school and had aerobatic flying lessons etc.   

  • in reply to Plastic

    Where I live is on a hill near the sea so we get salty sea mists. My current car is kept in the barn to shelter it. I have to avoid Fords, Vauxhalls and Rovers (Especially Fords and Rovers) as they just rust to quickly. Is why I used to try to get German or Sweedish cars as the bodywork would last. My Dad had a nearly new Ford Sierra. It was immaculate. Not a spot of rust. I had a Volvo 360 GLT at the time. Two years later after replacing all 4 doors on the Sierra, the Sierra was a complete MOT failure with the top front suspension mounts completely rusted through. It was basically scrap. The Volvo? Well. It did have two rust holes which just got a little larger, but that was it. They were there when I bought the car. 

    In my area, I noticed that the majority of Rovers were rusting after about two to three years and not many lasted over 10 years old. Most of the older Rovers (Along with MG's) were bought in secondhand from other areas of the country. Vauxhalls tended to last longer then Rovers and Fords, but they still did not last long. Actually, of all the older Vauxhalls I have seen around here, it is the Astra and Carltons that seemed to last, though most Astras didn't make it past 15 years old. 

    Volvos kept on going. Most Volvos were scrapped with good bodies but as their prices had dropped so low, even minor repairs were not worth doing as it was cheaper to get another secondhand car. If well serviced a proper Volvo manufactured Volvo engine would last around 250,000 milss before new sleeves were fitted, and they could easily exceed 400,000 miles or more. It was more that most were simply scrapped because the labour costs of changing parts was more then the car was worth. One Volvo in the USA was just short of 3 million miles and it looked immaculate! (A Volvo built P1800). The 360's and the 740's had engines that if the cam belts broke, they would have no damage, and it took 75,000 miles to run them in. I would buy them at 100,000 to 120,000 miles if I could as the car really came alive at those milages. A young Volvo engine wasn't as quick.

    Though I found the 5 cylinder engines they later made to be thirsty and a bit of a let down compared to the previous 4 cylinder engines, (But it was more because they were in a large can and had front wheel drive transmission so they just sat there and span the wheels with no go... Front tyres lasted just 2000 to 4000 miles!) but I did find the 5 cylinder engines hardly gave any exhaust emission readings. The T5 had 200,000 miles on the clock and during its MOT the tester kept asking if I had put a new engine in it. He said the reading of 0.0005 was lower then a brand new city car and he had not seen a car with such a low reading. 

    Believe it or not, the 1965 Volvo Amazon I had which needed leaded petrol... Well. I took it for an MOT, and I noticed that the young man testing it started to put the exhaust emissions testing equipment in the exhaust of the car. I told him that older cars were exempt from passing the emissions test. He didn't seem to know. He said "It has passed anyway!" It had leaded petrol in it!

Reply
  • in reply to Plastic

    Where I live is on a hill near the sea so we get salty sea mists. My current car is kept in the barn to shelter it. I have to avoid Fords, Vauxhalls and Rovers (Especially Fords and Rovers) as they just rust to quickly. Is why I used to try to get German or Sweedish cars as the bodywork would last. My Dad had a nearly new Ford Sierra. It was immaculate. Not a spot of rust. I had a Volvo 360 GLT at the time. Two years later after replacing all 4 doors on the Sierra, the Sierra was a complete MOT failure with the top front suspension mounts completely rusted through. It was basically scrap. The Volvo? Well. It did have two rust holes which just got a little larger, but that was it. They were there when I bought the car. 

    In my area, I noticed that the majority of Rovers were rusting after about two to three years and not many lasted over 10 years old. Most of the older Rovers (Along with MG's) were bought in secondhand from other areas of the country. Vauxhalls tended to last longer then Rovers and Fords, but they still did not last long. Actually, of all the older Vauxhalls I have seen around here, it is the Astra and Carltons that seemed to last, though most Astras didn't make it past 15 years old. 

    Volvos kept on going. Most Volvos were scrapped with good bodies but as their prices had dropped so low, even minor repairs were not worth doing as it was cheaper to get another secondhand car. If well serviced a proper Volvo manufactured Volvo engine would last around 250,000 milss before new sleeves were fitted, and they could easily exceed 400,000 miles or more. It was more that most were simply scrapped because the labour costs of changing parts was more then the car was worth. One Volvo in the USA was just short of 3 million miles and it looked immaculate! (A Volvo built P1800). The 360's and the 740's had engines that if the cam belts broke, they would have no damage, and it took 75,000 miles to run them in. I would buy them at 100,000 to 120,000 miles if I could as the car really came alive at those milages. A young Volvo engine wasn't as quick.

    Though I found the 5 cylinder engines they later made to be thirsty and a bit of a let down compared to the previous 4 cylinder engines, (But it was more because they were in a large can and had front wheel drive transmission so they just sat there and span the wheels with no go... Front tyres lasted just 2000 to 4000 miles!) but I did find the 5 cylinder engines hardly gave any exhaust emission readings. The T5 had 200,000 miles on the clock and during its MOT the tester kept asking if I had put a new engine in it. He said the reading of 0.0005 was lower then a brand new city car and he had not seen a car with such a low reading. 

    Believe it or not, the 1965 Volvo Amazon I had which needed leaded petrol... Well. I took it for an MOT, and I noticed that the young man testing it started to put the exhaust emissions testing equipment in the exhaust of the car. I told him that older cars were exempt from passing the emissions test. He didn't seem to know. He said "It has passed anyway!" It had leaded petrol in it!

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