Killybegs Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 How often have you mislaid a small part or tool? This morning, I sat down at my workbench and looked for my scalpel. It was no where to be found. I spent a lot of time looking for it and trying to remember exactly when I had used it in the last couple of days. I even got my wife to come in and look for it as I sometimes can't see something staring me in the face. She had no luck either. I have a spare one so I used that to perform the short task required. As I was finishing off, I remembered that I had used the missing scalpel to free a jammed dust cover on my little camera. At that point, I looked down at my work bench and there were both my scalpels right before my eyes. Spooky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 This happens to everybody........things are usually in the place where you left them, but forgot, or did not look at correctly when searching.....however there are exceptions. like Biros, that according to Douglas Adams, take vacations in parallel universes whilst you look for them. Objects like to surprise you, so expect to find what your looking for directly in front of you, just before terminal frustration sets in, or alcoholic oblivion takes over during the searches...after a certain level of alcoholic refreshment, a "who cares" point is arrived at, at which point the missing item will give up and become visible to you... Just as ghosts etc., are seen with peripheral vision, out of the corner of one eye, the theory exists that the eyes suppress the peripheral vision during the search to try to concentrate on the central view, but as you cannot see the item in front of your nose, this theory is usually described as a load of buncombe's. The best way to find anything is to go and quickly seek a nice bottle of single malt, to relax with before the search, which can be put off till you sober up, at which point you will find the missing object, or a small daughter of about 4 will have it in her hand...... One domestic worry are small spaniel dogs, they just smile slightly, look very silly, and burp deeply after eating the missing item, which will involve at least a 24 hour wait to get it back, or a large vets bill....in the meantime time resort to the bottle, as with the usual searches....... If you find that things really move on their own, or disappear and comes back, then you are not alone, just a member of the great mass of people who believe in flat earth, ghosts, perpetual motion, free energy, or the NASA lunar conspiracies, i.e. the loony brigade, however do not worry, just resort to the drink before things go missing, then you simply will not care a jot about it. Your property will understand you are not in a caring mood and stay still and be found easily. The problem with this method is being classed by everybody as an inebriate moron, when all you want is your missing hammer back. Stephen. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamperman36 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Many years ago when I worked in a sawmill, we used to put tools down at hometime each day then on return the next day the tools would have been moved. This went on for quite a time so one day when I was working at setting up the six cutter moulder I decided to draw around the tools I needed with a marker pen. Next morning when I came in to restart where I had left off the tools were all hung up on the wall where they were kept when not in use. I had been the last one out of the sawmill the night before so something strange was occuring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulwell Hall Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 How often have you mislaid a small part or tool? This morning, I sat down at my workbench and looked for my scalpel. It was no where to be found. I spent a lot of time looking for it and trying to remember exactly when I had used it in the last couple of days. I even got my wife to come in and look for it as I sometimes can't see something staring me in the face. She had no luck either. I have a spare one so I used that to perform the short task required. As I was finishing off, I remembered that I had used the missing scalpel to free a jammed dust cover on my little camera. At that point, I looked down at my work bench and there were both my scalpels right before my eyes. Spooky! John It happens to me all the time! I am repeatedly reminded by my other/better half that it is either a man thing or an age thing or in my case both! I am also reminded that when looking for something I should use my hands and not just my eyes! Gerry 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killybegs Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 I should say that. in this instance, I put everything away and completely cleared my workbench as part of the initial search, so it wasn't hiding under or behind anything. The scalpel really did appear out of no where and I hadn't had a drop of the hard stuff either! If I was a religious person, I suppose I could thank St. Anthony! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28, 2017 John It happens to me all the time! I am repeatedly reminded by my other/better half that it is either a man thing or an age thing or in my case both! I am also reminded that when looking for something I should use my hands and not just my eyes! Gerry Perhaps not a good idea when searching for a scalpel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28, 2017 One domestic worry are small spaniel dogs, they just smile slightly, look very silly, and burp deeply after eating the missing item, which will involve at least a 24 hour wait to get it back, or a large vets bill....in the meantime time resort to the bottle, as with the usual searches....... What is it about spaniels? Only a couple of weeks ago, SWMBO took a friend's dog to the vet. While she was there, an emergency case arrived. Spaniel puppy that had swallowed a cotton reel with needle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 What is it about spaniels? Only a couple of weeks ago, SWMBO took a friend's dog to the vet. While she was there, an emergency case arrived. Spaniel puppy that had swallowed a cotton reel with needle. Spaniels?...lovely dogs, friendly, humorous, loopy, and quite incapable of distinguishing between food and other objects ....if it fits the mouth test, then swallow......... When a cleared bench has an object re-appear on it, suspect the wife or children, dogs do not return to where they eat things......It can be that the small object got caught up on clothing, and fell off at the same bench you where working at. This is not likely to happen with a missing 4lb hammer.......... I remember an overheard conversation about Andrew being the patron Saint for lost items, the confused child was mixing up St Andrew and Prince Andrew, and wondered if the Queen allowed him time for such duties of finding lost things for other people. On the cleared bench and a scalpel blade, may I suggest it got caught up on the bottom of a box, moved with it, and fell off when the box returned to the bench......or Prince Andrew turned up and put it right....... Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 John It happens to me all the time! I am repeatedly reminded by my other/better half that it is either a man thing or an age thing or in my case both! I am also reminded that when looking for something I should use my hands and not just my eyes! Gerry You might gently suggest to your other half that looking for a scalpel with your hands may not be be an entirely good idea given that you might find it!! . Human perception is totally different from how it seems..We think we're seeing everything in front of us but in reality we build a model in our brain that gets filled in with whatever we glance at and we tend to see what we expect to see not what's really there. That's also why if you cover one eye you don't see your blind spot though you can hide a surprisingly large object in it. . We're also cued for movement so something that doesn't move tends to not get noticed which is why humans are rather bad at monitoring tasks. I assume it's also how signalman have managed to overlook an entire train standing in front of their box sometimes with disastrous results or drivers not noticed a red signal after a series of double yellows. This is actually a real problem in visual flying because an aircraft on a collision course doesn't move within your field of view until it suddenly gets very much bigger very fast and often too late. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffP Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Unfortunately I have now a reputation in my family for not being able to find things I have misplaced. It mostly comes about because I become convinced, in my own mind, that said item is in, for example, a blue case, or has a green cover. I can then look right AT the item in question, which is, of course, in a red case or black cover etc...and just not see it at all. On the other hand, I have also had stuff disappear from where I know very well I put it...and reappear days later...but then, I also have an elder son living at home who likes to use my tools. Edited March 28, 2017 by JeffP Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Popplewell Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Many years ago when I worked in a sawmill, we used to put tools down at hometime each day then on return the next day the tools would have been moved. This went on for quite a time so one day when I was working at setting up the six cutter moulder I decided to draw around the tools I needed with a marker pen. Next morning when I came in to restart where I had left off the tools were all hung up on the wall where they were kept when not in use. I had been the last one out of the sawmill the night before so something strange was occuring. You didn't have a night shift did you. Years ago when I used to work as a painter in a structural steel company any newly cleaned and then hidden brushes would be found the next morning covered in paint somewhere in the paint shop. Unless your brush was a particularly good brush in which case it would have disappeared from its hiding place and disappeared for good. Something strange was going on but probably not poltergeists. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted March 28, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 28, 2017 I can't find my bottle of malt. What should I do? Regards Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted March 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28, 2017 I have discovered that if a tool has gone missing, it will re-appear the moment you return home with a new one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Alder Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Fairies.....happens to me all the time, not just with the hobby. A bit of patience and they usually return them once they've lost interest in them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted March 29, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2017 The easiest way to find anything is to look for something else, I thought everybody knew that?! Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 The easiest way to find anything is to look for something else, I thought everybody knew that?! Mike. I thought it was to have purchased a replacement? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Popplewell Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) I can't find my bottle of malt. What should I do? Regards Ian Ian the situation is serious, but on no account should you panic, everything will be alright in the end. Take deep breaths, calm your nerves and head straight for the nearest supermarket or off licence where you will be able to purchase another bottle. Perhaps it's as well to purchase several just to guard against any bottles going missing in future. If you should subsequently find the lost bottle, well that's just a bonus. Edited March 29, 2017 by iainp 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loconuts Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) John It happens to me all the time! I am repeatedly reminded by my other/better half that it is either a man thing or an age thing or in my case both! I am also reminded that when looking for something I should use my hands and not just my eyes! Gerry It is not just a man thing, women do it as well but bigger and better. My wife has lost the car and she once lost our eldest son, forgot she had him with her and returned back home without him. Luckily he was safe and well parked in his pram at the local supermarket. Loconuts Edited March 29, 2017 by Loconuts 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 I am convinced that certain things do literally disappear for a time, and then come back. It even happened to me with a book. I looked all around the house for it. Eventually it turned up not two feet from where I sit at my desk to work, in a place my eyes had scanned too many times to mention. As for small stuff like screwdrivers, drill bits, files - why, the 'spirits' or whatever they are positively delight in moving these and placing them in the most unlikely of locations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KalKat Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 I have come to believe that either the cat (or the dog for that matter) is building something in the secret den out in the garden somewhere............. or my meds are too strong Emma Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodmin16 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodmin16 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 John It happens to me all the time! I am repeatedly reminded by my other/better half that it is either a man thing or an age thing or in my case both! I am also reminded that when looking for something I should use my hands and not just my eyes! Gerry Aka "bloke looking" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted April 4, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 4, 2017 I;m just doing some tracklaying. I decided that a piece of Code 100 was in the wrong place and needed renewing. Out came the old piece of track, off came the fishplates, one metal, the other one plastic, picked up the metal fishplate and put it on the left hand rail....................... where is the plastic fishplate? This was yesterday and I still haven't found the cursed thing. I know I can cut a new one of the Peco sprue, but I also know that as soon as I do the lost will turn up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2750Papyrus Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Paul Jennings (author of the "Oddly Enough" column) postulated the theory of Resistentialism to describe "seemingly spiteful behavior manifested by inanimate objects", where objects that cause problems (like lost keys or a runaway bouncy ball) are said to exhibit a high degree of malice toward humans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I have come to believe that either the cat (or the dog for that matter) is building something in the secret den out in the garden somewhere............. or my meds are too strong Emma "Me tools! You thieving little b*%%#rs". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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