Had a reminder this evening of the limitations characters can be placed under which affect their perspective and perception of the world around them.
I’m often seen (and recognised!) by the baseball cap I habitually wear when out of the house. It’s a John Deere one, and at 7 years old it’s starting to show its age. I got in the habit of wearing it due to the sun visors in my old car not covering enough of the window to protect a short-arse like myself from the sun’s glare, and I tend to wear it pretty much whenever I leave the house. Unless, that is, I’m just going out in the garden. I very rarely wear my cap to wander round the garden.
This evening, I arrived home from work (wearing my cap!) and after just a quick change of footwear (because our garden really is one you wear wellies in) I went down to let the little chickens out. Walking back up, I thought the garden looked different from usual. Took me a few feet to realise, but the difference was caused by the way the peak of the cap cut off my view upwards. I couldn’t see the trees above me out of the corner of my eye like I normally do when walking up the path, and that small difference was enough to throw me (albeit when I was feeling rather tired).
So it goes to show: you don’t need to change a lot to change a person’s (and hence a character’s) view and perception of the world…