The fear factor

Everybody who is anybody seems to have a phobia these days. I'm no psychologist but I'm pretty sure that actual phobias are fairly few and far between. What most people really have is an intense fear or dislike. I'm going to cast science aside and call these fears "phobias", just as everyone who claims to have one does.

I have a phobia too. I cannot stand trainer socks. They make me feel queasy and the thought of wearing them makes me shudder. I would rather swim in shark-infested waters than slip my foot into one of those crimes against footwear. It's not their lack of style that upsets me, it's the fact that they are so disagreeable in every way.

Most people I know have something ridiculous that scares them. I think I have already written in a previous column about my friend who backs away from brownies. With no exaggeration, they make her a stuttering, gibbering wreck. I also have a friend who confesses to having a fear of buttons. She doesn't own a single item of clothing with the offending items.

Food phobias are more common though. I know of a girl who can't eat eggs if they resemble eggs (in cakes they are fine but boiled, scrambled or fried eggs are a no-no). I've heard of friends who can't eat food if the food items on their plate "touch" each other and I know of another who can't eat courgettes because "they look like they're made of frog skin".

I'm starting to develop another phobia — shopping. In Dubai this is a particularly difficult one to deal with. I don't know why but the thought of stepping into a mall fills me with dread. I go to ridiculous lengths to avoid them.

It's amusing to find what people's Achilles' heel is when it comes to fear. My good friend is one of the most engaging, well-read, mild-mannered and intelligent people I have ever met. She has mentioned a wasp fear to me before but as Dubai has little in the way of flowers, I have never witnessed it for myself. That is until we spent the weekend at Bab Al Shams when a wasp became enamoured with our umbrella. She screamed, leapt to her feet, almost pushed a waiter in the rain shower and fled — with her arms flailing in the air — for the pool. This is the same girl who went skydiving around this time last year. Jumping 5,000 feet? No problem. Sharing breathing space with an inch-long wasp? You must be joking.

It's funny how fear (however unreasonable) brings out the very primal instincts in you. I have a very similar reaction when somebody suggests a visit to Deira City Centre.