Trogluddite wrote:
I don't avoid cracks in the pavement, but I do have a couple of maybe related things.
Firstly, any kind of geometric pattern of flooring really sets off my synaesthesia - I can feel the pattern moving over and through my body, and it can distort my sense of my body's shape and size. Those pavements with the house-brick sized stones set in herring-bone patterns are particularly strange to walk over, as I can lose all sense of whether my feet will touch the floor or not (anyone who has worn spectacles with a new prescription of lenses will have some idea what I mean). It can make me feel a bit self-conscious, as I feel like I'm "walking on the moon" with very unsure steps.
Secondly, I often feel compelled to follow lines and curves that I create in my head - rather like a racing car driver trying to find the most efficient "racing line" to get around corners etc. I often get a strong urge to make street-furniture like lamp-posts etc. into "chicanes" to maneouvre around. This may be partly because I always walk so fast and find it very frustrating to have to slow down, and when I'm doing my pacing-around stimming, I often like to do it in a very tight circle that gives me a kind of "centrifugal force" kind of feeling.
There is something you mentioned about floor patterns. I don't often get this but with certain colour and shapes of floor tyle (I seem to remember blues and reds in a diamond pattern) will give me a type of feeling as if the floor is going at a different speed to the one I am walking at. It is as if the floor is an inch or two higher then it is. It feels dissorienting when walking on.
I know it is a strange thing. I can't explain it! I just assumed it was the same for everyone.
22 Mar 2020, 2:21 pm
