Being Alert to the World Around You

‘You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.’
‘A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA’
Holmes’s powers of observation were unmatched. He could scan a scene and alight on a telling detail that countless others had missed. He stated
as much in ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery’: ‘You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.’



Some of us are born more observant than others but it is nonetheless an ability that can be developed by hard work and dedication. Seeing –
that is, perceiving with the eyes – is easy; observation – absorbing into your brain the data provided by your eyes – is much more taxing. Could you
say what your nearest-and-dearest was wearing the last time you saw them, or what the colour of the last car that passed you was? What is the
registration number of your next-door neighbour’s car? As Holmes remarked in The Hound of the Baskervilles, ‘The world is full of obvious things
which nobody by any chance ever observes.’
If it is not a skill that comes easily to you, try consciously ‘observing’ in your daily life. If you’re on a bus or sitting in a café, look at those around
you (while trying not to appear like a crazed, staring stalker!). The more you practise the skill, the more natural it will become. Holmes was the
undisputed master of this particular talent. Consider ‘The Adventure of the Second Stain’, in which our intrepid hero spots the lack of correlation
between a bloodstain on a carpet and the floorboards beneath. It was this spot, missed by a troop of investigating policemen, that paved the way to
the case’s ultimate conclusion. Similarly, in ‘The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax’, Holmes makes a crucial observation about the depth of
a coffin, though in the process rues the fact that he had not made his observation earlier: ‘It had all been so clear, if only my own sight had not been
dimmed.’