The Twilight Zone

Just an interlude between the 'busy week' posts. On another web site someone asked the question, what was the weirdest thing that happend to you? and it remided me of this odd moment I had a few year ago.
It happened to me was when I went into Boots the Chemists to look for a particular button cell battery I needed. I was peering at the rack, concentrating hard on trying to match the one I was holding in my hand to the myriads of subtly different ones on the battery rack, when an announcement came over the PA. I tend to ignore these as a matter of course since they are usually promoting a bargain I don’t want, or announcing something to the staff, so I shut it out. I am quite able to shut out the rest of the world when I want to which has been a really useful talent when working in an open plan office and not so useful when sometimes at home TBH has to drag me back from what we now call 'The Zone' when I am concentrating hard on something I am doing.
Back in Boots, failing to find my particular battery, I straightened up and turned around intending to go and look elsewhere, when I found everyone else in the shop standing perfectly still and in total silence, several of them nearby staring ominously at me.

For the several long seconds it took me to realise it was not a mass takeover by aliens, but 11 o’clock on the 11^th of November and everyone else in the shop was observing the two minutes silence, it was a real ‘Twilight Zone’ experience.
The final straw was that, when I glanced back at the rack of batteries, only then I noticed it had a sign above it saying DEAF AID BATTERIES. I imagne everyone was thinking poor old deaf git and maybe wondering how to tell me in sign language, but it gave me a good excuse for not hearing the announcment. After the silence ended, I sidled out of the shop hoping not to meet anyone I knew in the crowd. Luckily I did not.