There should be a word for it

Back at the start of March it was necessary for me to do something.  I'm not going to tell you what because I think by describing what I did I will detract from the meaning of this post.  The thing that I did was necessary and I made a conscious effort to do it, but in so doing I made a most awful mistake. 

It wasn't the sort of error that can be put down to misunderstanding or accident.  It was the sort of error that cannot be explained.  An error which has no substance for an explanation.  I even looked back in my diary to see if I'd been traumatised by an event, an anniversary - something to explain it.  There was none. 

It's an error which can be put right - not by me, unfortunately, but by a third party.  So I need not worry - though I do.  I worry principally becase there is no explanation for the crass stupidity of my actions.  The only way to explain away the error is to assume I had a moment of insanity. 

So if I had a moment of insanity, what are the consequences?  It's not the consequences of this particular error that really worry me; it's the consequences of some subsequent mistake which could be far more serious.  Am I going to be subject to increasing moments of insanity I wonder? It wasn't something caused by failure to remember, so I think we can count out dementia.

I was recounting the tale - not the substance - but the tale, to another seemingly sane and intelligent individual the other day.  Guess what? They told me they'd recently done something identical and made a mistake for which the reason can only be temporary insanity.  I didn't ask them for chapter and verse; when this happens it's far too embarrassing to admit it to anyone other than those who have to know.  We exchanged notes and it seems I'm not alone.  That of course makes me feel a little better, though now I am concerned about my friend too!

I'm convinced that there should be a word for it - as in The Meaning Of Liff . I've decided on Cublington.

(I should say that Cublington is a delightful place and in many ways does not deserve this distinction.  However perhaps there is some slight synergy here because it was almost the site of one of the most potential and catastrophic disasters for Buckinghamshire: the Third London Airport. )

So I give you -

Cublington: a terrible personal error with potentially serious consequences, only discovered later and having no rational explanation other than a moment of complete insanity on the part of the perpetrator.