Feeling unsettled 3: Socks, bananas and revolving doors

Having spent a great weekend in Manchester I feel prompted to share a conversation I had with some new found friends. Encouraged to research more widely my current theme, I asked what things unsettled them. And from a young guy (we'll call him Bill), came a stream of stuff that on one level was amusing, on another, presumably quite debilitating.

Bill first said that, of doors, it was the revolving kind that made him feel anxious and a little distressed. He didn't like approaching them, the fact that they were in constant motion – automatic ones in particular because they sprang into motion seemingly at will. But these revolving doors were far surpassed on the unsettled-ometer with both bananas and socks!

Even the sound of the word SOCKS made him visibly cringe and though he realised that they were an unfortunate part of everyday life, of getting dressed every day, was a chore beyond the pale. It was to do with their fluffyness, the way they stretched, the way they looked when discarded or as pairs in the drawer. These are things Bill cannot bring himself to even look at, he has to close his eyes when putting them on.

But next came bananas – squidgy, plump fruit in their own 'unnatural' yellow skins. It wasn't just the taste of the banana that he didn't like, it was the contrast of the stiffer waxy outer skin and the soft pale creamy white inside. On fruit stands, in supermarkets or in fruit bowls, bananas also made Bill feel on edge and very unsettled.

Feeling unsettled 2: Doors

I'll begin by pointing out that I don't have a phobia concerning doors. But I think as an image, and the fact that we are surrounded and use doors all the time, that if we were to concentrate and really look at single doors, that we can be unsettled by them.

In thrillers, horror stories etc the devise of the door is common. It acts as a divide from one reality to another – 'What's on the other side of the door?' If something unseen begins to open the door from the other side, the door is all that stands between you and certain terror.

Sometimes late in an evening watching the tv on your own, the door slightly ajar, the lighting/atmosphere in the room beyond, darker and different from the room you're in. How often do you look over your shoulder to reassure yourself again that you're safe?

Then there are certain doors – doors that are necessarily unsettling due to purpose. Institutional doors, prison doors, dentists doors – these doors are all there is between safety and our fears.

Have a look at the three images and ask yourself which of the three is most unsettling.

The beginning of a list

Things that unsettle us – alter our emotional state, seem connected to environments and the atmosphere they evoke.

For instance, I particularly feel ill at ease when close to (never mind being in) black water. By black I mean water that is so deep that the bottom doesn't reflect up to the surface and therefore seems bottomless. Scottish lochs in particular, because the sides of the mountains that slip into them often mean there is no beach or gradual sloping into the water, getting slowly deeper. The water is very deep, and very black from its edge. Scary.

The flip side of feeling unsettled in these environments is that on the surface everything is strangely calm and beautiful – everything is fine so long as you are not in the water.