1. Me and The Friend went on a trip to Cirencester today. Cirencester is a beautiful medieval town around an hour on the bus from Swindon. I’d really recommend it for you to visit. Make sure you’ll have a look at the cathedral when you are there. There are also loads of places to eat and drink and delicatessen with some delicious, while somehow pricy food (John was asking a while ago where to get truffle oil from – well, I found it there, but I didn’t buy it. Tough).

Anyway, on the way back I managed to take this photo from my double decker bus:

I presume this sign appeared on the road during pandemic, but don’t you think it is a polite way of saying that if you are a key worker you can only go straight or turn left?

2. On the way to Cirencester a middle aged couple got on the bus: the man was wearing navy blue trousers and white and navy blue striped polo t-shirt while the woman was wearing navy blue dress with white floral pattern. It did make me think for a bit whether that means those two are a good match?

3. Home Group advertised for a support worker in Swindon. Do you think I should apply and ask for guaranteed interview under disability confident scheme?

Just kidding.

4. There is this autism advocate on Instagram who often says that non autistic people are not very logical and when he points it out to them, they get upset. He never gives any details and I was wondering for a bit whether he possibly gets the situation wrong but I couldn’t come up with a relevant scenario – I finally have one today.

My experience, BTW, is that non autistic people are not any less logical than me, unless possibly they are involved in complex social dynamics. But I know that sometimes non autistic people may appear like if they don’t make any sense only because they don’t want to discuss a certain subject.

Imagine that you have a lady friend, in her 30s, who wants to work in company X. The job there is quite demanding but there’s loads of possibilities to move your career forward if you really commit to it. Unfortunately, when she was in her 20s, she didn’t quite feel like she’s up for such a hard work so she never applied. She changed her mind now as her and her fiancé want to buy a house and company X pays really well. She applies for a job and tells you the interview is really throughout and requires her to pass a knowledge test from subjects she learned at the university that she doesn’t quite remember any more.

You then assume that she’ll spend several evenings refreshing her knowledge but then, suddenly, you meet her outside of a club. You ask her about it and she says she decided, what will be, will be. She works in this field already, doesn’t she? She doesn’t want to stress herself too much, she says.

She doesn’t sound very logical, does she?

And then you tell her she should be working hard to get where she wants to be and you can’t imagine how she can waste a weekend before the interview on clubbing. So you were logical and told her what she was doing wrong to help her see her situation clearly but she got upset. Why? Because she can’t assess the situation logically?

Or maybe because the interview already happened, she didn’t get that job and now doesn’t want to admit that? Especially to somebody who is as judgmental as you (sorry!).

Or possibly her and her fiancé want to try for a baby as soon as they buy the house and in the meantime she realised that the job in company X is even more demanding that she originally thought and she doesn’t want it any more, but again, she doesn’t want to discuss that with you. Who talks about getting pregnant outside of the club? (Or maybe non autistic people do? How do I know if I never go clubbing?) So she says whatever comes to her mind and hopes to change the subject straight after that.

In the above situations your friend didn’t get upset with you because you pointed out that she’s not logical. She got upset because you insisted on discussing a subject she’s trying not to talk about.

I hope the above is clear. Mind you, the weather was very good today!