When I was a bairn I was always falling over myself staring at people. Literally got told off all the time for watching people everywhere; in the supermarket, swimming baths, at the park, everywhere.
I sometimes wonder if the fact people stare at me so much now is karma.
Day to day it’s not that bad, more so in Scotland people just have a look then look away – I am just talking about when I’m walking here. I shit you not though, I have been in a situation in Budapest walking along the street, linking arms with my mates people in cars were twisting full 180 degrees and driving up and down to stare. I’ve been walking up stairs and people will literally stand staring next to the bannister, and I’ll have to ask them to move – while still staring at me.
I’m a pro now, and over the last few years, at defusing the situation in my mind. I like to pretend I’m a celebrity by saying things like ‘no pictures please’, ‘no paparazzi’, ‘I have arrived’ or when I finish doing whatever it is I will just raise my arms like the finishing pose in gymnastics.
Just the other week when I was in London at the Coppa Club, I was clambering into the igloo after going to the toilet and the other two sets of people were all staring at me maneuvering so to break the tension in my head I had to say ‘TAA DAA’.
Staring is obv part of human nature and I’m guilty of it too at times. I get stared at so much that I usually walk looking at the ground because I don’t want to know if people are looking at me, and also to assess the ground. It sends me around the bend.
Like everything else, I’m getting better at not focusing too much on it and not letting it bother me as much. As part of this, my mate has drawn stickers for me to put on the back of my splints. The idea came from me but I have zero art skills, but now wondering if it’s a tad passive aggressive? What you think?
SPLINT UP, LOOK SHARP 