What are you affraid of, I mean really affraid?

[Hoofy]

Monkeylegend said:

The story about the burglar who got stuck and died in a chimney while trying to break in makes me go hot and cold all over. He wasn't found for several weeks.

Yes, the fear over how much it would wreck your house when they have to retrieve the body is almost palpable. Oh, you meant...

[dxg]

Growing old alone.

[rohrl]

Losing my mind. Anyone of us could develop a severe psychotic mental illness at any time and end up living on the street or in a secure hospital. I hope it isn't me.

[T0MMY]

Vladimir said:

This is an odd one for a water lover but for me, it's man made stuff underwater.

Submerged pipes, the underneath of big boats and my worst, locks and weirs. They all PROPERLY s**t me up.

If it's natural (reefs, rocks, etc) I have no issues at all.

Funnily enough although that may seem highly specific I know a few people who have that same fear, me included.

Weirdly, I don't mind when I'm actually under the water. I've scuba dived on wrecks and gone inside dark little engine rooms etc. with no problems but if I'm swimming on the surface it's much freakier for some reason.

The worst one was snorkelling over the wreck of a smallish cargo ship, looking down at the deck maybe 5m below me then suddenly swimming over one of the funnels and looking into blackness with the lip of the funnel only a metre or less below the surface, practically banging my feet against it. That got my heart rate up.

I'm kind of the same with sharks actually. If I'm swimming then I worry about shark attacks but if I'm scuba diving I don't. I guess it's to do with being more aware of your surroundings...when you're on the surface with your head up you wouldn't necessarily know there was a shark there until he took off your leg with a little exploratory nibble.

Edited by T0MMY on Sunday 13th April 11:16

[HTP99]

Simes110 said:

Wasps.

Absolutely petrified of them. Probably stems from last being stung when I was 3 years old and I know my time's long overdue to be stung again.

I seem to attract wasps, I tend to get stung twice a year in the summer.

The things that really st me up is the thought of being tortured; proper relentless, unforgiving pain also being attacked by some kind of wild animal and being eaten alive; living in a Surrey though I think I'll be fine.

Burning alive is another, people that choose to do this to kill themselves or to make a statement; wow their life must be really st to endure the kind of pain and suffering that this would bring on.

On a lighter note my poached egg on toast was rather nice.

Edited by HTP99 on Sunday 13th April 11:20

[Chebble]

Simes110 said:

Wasps.

Absolutely petrified of them. Probably stems from last being stung when I was 3 years old and I know my time's long overdue to be stung again.

Same here. I'm not afraid (or affraid for that matter ) of spiders or snakes, but the moment a wasp enters a room, I develop a vagina and have to leave.

It's the result of being stung twice in as many weeks when I was six. To a six year old child, it is the worst pain in the world.

Never been stung since. I've experienced all manner of broken bones, had Norovirus, toothache etc. However, because I remember how painful it felt to me then, I'm absolutely petrified of the hateful little bds.

I need to get stung to get over it, but until then, I shall live in fear

[The Moose]

MJK 24 said:

The Moose said:

I came incredibly close to drowning back in January in Australia which st me up a little, however I didn't get the chance to go back in the water then and haven't been near the sea since and worry that it'll have st me up so bad in the future I'll struggle!

If you want the full story posted, just let me know...

Tell us more...

This is a direct copy from a FaceBook post I made the evening after it happened.

I'm going to tell a little story. A true story that happened to me today

I like to think of myself as a reasonably strong swimmer. I've been swimming off lots of beaches including surfing hot spots including Bondi Beach a few days ago now.

Today, we decided it was a good idea to go swimming off Bondi Beach again. Because we're good little swimmers, we were between the swimming flags where the lifeguards were. We'd been bobbing around in the waves for about 15 minutes when we heard over the loud speaker that the lifeguards were heading home for the night. So, again like good little campers we headed for the shore. My mate managed to get back no problem. I on the other hand didn't. [Ed: apparently it was trickier than expected!]

No worries I thought, I'll just swim a bit harder. The waves seemed to get a bit bigger and for every yard I moved towards the beach, the rip pulled me further out. Ok - so we'll swim harder still. No progress. And then it happened. I got rolled by a huge wave. Salty sea water forced up my nose, in my mouth and down my throat. I'm rolled up, down, left and right. Not a bloody clue which way is up. I'm hoping my slightly on the fat side body will float to the surface before I swallow too much more water. And then the next wave hit me square in the face. More water up the nose and down my throat. Lovely job.

I thought to myself "oh dear, I'm in a spot of bother here"...ok - that's probably a bit of a lie - there were many more expletives!

The scariest thing was there were swimmers no more than 15 metres to my North who couldn't hear my crys for help. 10 metres South of me were surfers. They couldn't hear my shouting either. I was shouting as loud as I could. Bang. Wave. Sea water down my gob.

So, thinking the surfers were my best bet, I try to swim towards them. The ocean doesn't want me to go that way. It's like a little kid with a magnifying glass over the ant. Just waiting for it to burst into flames. Everything I tried didn't allow any progress...if anything, it made it worse.

So, wave. Wave. Wave. They seemed to come faster, harder and bigger. Over and over.

So, that was that. I'm done. My time is up. These thoughts were going through my mind. The most bizarre thing occurred to me - "how the hell was my mate going to get back into the lockers with all our clothes, money and car keys in? I had the key!!".

As I was feeling rather sorry for the chap, I saw the blue board of a lifeguard no more than 10 metres away the other side of a wave. But he was looking in the other direction. I could see him scanning the water in the other way. What was this fella doing? I don't think I've ever shouted so loud in my life. And on the third attempt, his head snapped round and he saw me and my waving. And then he disappeared. As I got pummelled by another wave.

Next thing I know, he's right on top of me. Yep - I've watched the tv show Bondi Rescue so I knew that I had to haul myself onto his board. Damn that was hard work. He had to drag me up onto it.

So, tomorrow I was considering having a surfing lesson. The ride in on mateys board is enough for me!

I recon I wasn't more than a couple of minutes from drowning. Goodness knows how I, a confident swimmer, got myself into this predicament. What a bell end. What a cretin.

By the time we got back to the beach, the lifeguard offered me a hand to pull me up off the floor. I couldn't even pull myself up. What a plonker. How embarrassing.

After practically running away from the woman trying to interview me for the tv show (embarrassment) I got changed. On the way back to the car, I popped back to the lifeguard station. They wouldn't take donations or anything like that. Just wanted a letter written to their employers (the local council) saying that they do a good job.

So, thank you Bondi Lifeguards. I genuinely believe I wouldn't be around any more if it weren't for you brave lads and lasses.

Also, stay safe people. I thought I was well within my comfort zone - I'd been there before, only a few days back. I was in the 'safe' zone. I wasn't the only person out. I wasn't the furthest person out. Little did I know, but I was closer to being rolled through the pearly gates on top of a big ass wave than I expected (I always thought it would be in a spectacular fashion - but not this!).

Don't take the chance. The sea is a cruel beast. Don't cock up.

[chilistrucker]

Simes110 said:

Wasps.

Absolutely petrified of them. Probably stems from last being stung when I was 3 years old and I know my time's long overdue to be stung again.

+1
The one thing that truly scares the life out of me, stupid I know, but can't control the fear if 1 appears near me.
if 1 gets in the lorry when I'm driving, I have to stop immediately and get out.

[Mr Roper]

Chuck Norris.

[theshrew]

In Magaluf we rented a few pedalo's went out to the island. Few of us decided to swim back to the beach, it was great until I couldn't see the bottom not knowing what was under me kinda freaked me out. Sharks were in my thoughts a lot

I'm not a fan of Spiders either.

[750turbo]

The Moose said:

...Some really scary stuff...

Very sobering!

[boxst]

TheJimi said:

Losing my parents.

Nothing terrifies me more.

That made me sad, just because all the others here are improbably where-as this is a certainty. If this is really your worst fear, you need to come to terms with it now rather than wait. Go and see someone, figure out why this is a problem: abandonment? Being alone? Do you have siblings?

[Xtriple129]

I hate heights with a passion and really freak. But, the strangest phobia is: cotton wool balls!

There's an ad on the telly for some 'pedicure' type thing and when they run a cotton wool pad over the newly 'pedicured' foot to show how the wool sticks on untreated and glides on treated, I shudder inside. It's so bad I have to look away/turn over!

[L555BAT]

Being sucked into a pool water circulation system. Seem to remember it happened in Spain a few years back, a grille over the intake was missing and a kid got sucked in.

[evo4a]

On economy long haul flights, you get seated, settle in and then the big fat smelly geezer gets on and starts heading in your direction ..... please, please for the love of god not the seat next to me.

[Looket]

Heights. I st a brick when on great heights out in the open air. Went up the Glastonbury Tor once, going up was not a problem but dear God did I soil the old pantaloons after I'd made it to the top and got to soak in the fall. Stood very still in one spot near the tower after that, nagging the GF to stop taking pictures so we could start the descent.

Deep, dark waters. They just scare me.

Animal-wise, I can't even stand watching crocodiles/alligators, sharks or snakes on the TV. Vicious bds, only out to kill you in the most horrific ways imaginable. Never, ever want to meet one.

So really, my worst nightmare is going out onto the deck of a big cruise liner in tropical waters.

[MajorProblem]

Losing limbs, being blind or being confined to a wheelchair. I'd be on the next flight to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland if that ever happens.

[BoRED S2upid]

Rats

[Barryboyni]

Anything that can kill me. Bad drivers, big animals, angry women etc. I also hate situations where I'm not in control, fairground rides, being on the back of a bike. To be fair I've had crashes on the back of bikes and as passenger in a car so that's validated.

Spiders and wasps? MTFU. Surely any man can grab two twigs, rub them together and kill them with fire.

[rich85uk]

being blind, awful as it sounds i think i would rather die