echoing Adrian Plass

am i the only one
who gets stressed when having to 'type the words that appear below',
like google is about to accuse me of being a robot,
and i'll never be allowed to tell my friend i love her post?

am i the only one
who gets excited as winter approaches
instead of spring and summer,
who finds a strange thrill in sitting in a backyard, chatting over a cuppa,
with shadows crazy lengthening at only 4 in the afternoon?

am i the only one
who cries when driving alone,
but suddenly feels self-conscious as a truck passes,
as if the driver is going to peer through my windscreen
and judge me as a traffic hazard, and possibly call the police?

am i the only one
who never knows whether to hug the person hello or not,
not because of the unwritten gender rules regarding handshakes and kissing,
but because i never quite believe that this person is happy to see me at all,
and hugging them would be a insult
to their emotional reality,
and make me out to be some sort of ignorant, 'special' person,
who doesn't realise that actually, everyone hates them.

am i the only one
who is never sure if you're actually happy to hear all this stuff,
or if you're sitting somewhere, polite smile frozen on your face,
not really listening,
but working on the crises in the Middle East and other Proper Important Things instead...?

Of course not!!!