I often notice some little details about people and they are surprised because, they say, nobody else has ever noticed those details. But I don't know if it's true: maybe other people have noticed them but, since they were well-mannered,  they didn't ask. I just can't tame my curiosity, others can.

A dozen of years ago I noticed something strange in the wristwatch of a man who was talking to me: he was wearing it upside down, with the number three at the left of the clock face and the number nine at the right. I noticed it simply because something in my brain told me it was unusual for a watch to be reading 5:30 (as the position of the clock hands would suggest) at 11:00 A.M. I wasn't really going to read the time on that watch, it was only an automatic thought, I don't know how to explain it.  But, when I realized that, I thought that wearing the watch that way was an odd thing to do, so I asked him the reason why.

He told me he was wearing it that way because, many years before, he had a major car accident and he almost died. He lost consciousness and when he revived he looked at the wristwatch to see what time it was and he saw he was wearing it bottom up. He then decided to always wear it that way for the rest of his life, as a lucky charm. He also said it had taken a lot of time to learn to read it upside down!

Over time, I forgot about this story, because I see and talk with a lot of people every day and so in my head there is a big mess about who said me what.

But, yesterday, a man was talking to me about his dead aunt, and he recalled her saving his life when he was young, because she died the day he survived a serious car accident and she somehow "protected" him. Actually, he pointed out she died exactly while he was unconscious,  just after the crash, and that he was sure about that because he looked at his watch just after being revived. That reminded me of something, but I couldn't immediately grasp that something. Then, the light. Ta-dah! He was that man from many years ago!

I asked him if maybe he could happen to wear a wristwatch upside down (his shirt was long-sleeved thus I couldn't see), and he was astonished because, he said, he couldn't ever remember having told anyone about that peculiar habit, since a lot of time ago. He complimented me a lot on my good memory and attention for details, but I said it is easy to notice things and to remember them if you are genuinely interested at the stories people are telling you, and this generally happens to me when these things are unusual. He then offered me a fruit juice.

I know this story isn't interesting at all, but I've been told to practise indirect speech and this is the only thing I've managed to think of.

:)