Life is largely based on assumptions as I know from my point of view from the sofa. Watching what passes the window, I often see a man walk by with his left arm stretched and raised to his hips, while he is walking with a hurried cadence. In this case I have only one hypothesis and it is not a difficult riddle or a wrong assumption. The man is obviously walking his dog.
But most of the time we are not aware that we are assuming, rather than knowing what is really happening.
About half a lifetime ago we were on holiday in the south of the Netherlands. We were enjoying a nice, cold, locally brewed beer on a very warm day, when a couple with a little girl (their daughter, I presume) also took place outside the cafe. The kid was playing, walking around and then shrieked that a lady was drinking beer. That lady was me. All the heads of the people that were seated there turned to me and all saw me drinking beer. I looked at who I supposed was her mother, and saw that she was drinking a raspberry yogurt drink. My biased conclusion: the girl assumed that ladies drink raspberry yogurt drink, not beer.
Within the last few weeks a car with a camera on top was driving through our street at least two times. I know that, because I saw it myself. And I am sure it was here four months ago as well. But perhaps it was here even more frequent. I suppose it is taking pictures for Google Streetview, but our street is already part of that for years, so why bother coming back? What can be the reason for that? Is the Google Streetview team amazed to find someone on the sofa every single time their car passes? I can imagine people debating or making bets to see if I am still on it, the next time the car is making recordings in this neighborhood. Perhaps it is even taking a detour to check up on me. As you can see, I have plenty of time, imagination and ideas to come up with any assumption, while being on the sofa.
Privacy? I am not keeping the curtains closed to keep the prying eye of Google out, there would be nothing for me to watch and assume.
However, if the Google guys do happen to have seen me on this couch and want to brighten my day, I know just the thing. A blue Google Doodle on May 12, M.E. Awareness Day, would be a very nice gesture indeed.
My personal assumption – a silly one, I hope – is that I will probably be still on this sofa by May 12. But if it turns out that if there is a Google Doodle about M.E. on this day, I will offer the driver of the Google Streetview car a drink next time. No glass of raspberry yogurt drink of course. And only as long as the camera stays outside.
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This post is also available in: Dutch