"I'll pray for you."

[Cyberman]

Epilepsy is scary enough at the best of times Stimbo. So sorry for your loss.

That's awful

Many thanks to you both. Yes, much of the distress in these situations was down to gawking passers-by, some of whom clearly meant well but who we wished would have just let us alone. The idiot I mentioned only served to draw more unwanted attention, not to mention increasing the drama unnecessarily. The really peculiar thing is that whatever was causing her condition, epilepsy was definitely ruled out as a factor and the term 'pseudo-epileptic seizure' employed instead. Of course, to Sam this meant that the doctors and specialists thought she was making it all up, which I always had to assure her is not what it means at all. It did mean however that we never got an answer to the mystery.

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Almost as bad as "I'll pray for you" is when you sneeze and some Christian says "Bless you," and then sits there expecting you to thank them. OK, I just had a normal bodily function and you want me to thank you for invoking superstition because of it.

I've mentioned this before but one of my favourite YouTubers, the artist known as Desertphile (I urge you to check him out; please tell him KeplersDream sent you), once uploaded a video in which he was dissecting some random creationist or something. At the end, said creationist ejaculated the standard "Bless you", at which point Desertphile responded with "I did not sneeze". It was one of those wonderful fall-out-of-my-chair-with-laughter moments; a rare animal indeed for me nowadays.