aback

Nelson Dean from London was also taken aback by the high cost of formula.

“I didn’t start drinking, but I was scared and completely taken aback by people’s reactions. I was dismayed by the fact that for as long as I resemble whoever, whatever I resemble, people are gonna look at me like I’m a zoo animal. And lots of people are going to be nice to me, even if they’re not nice people, and I will never know. And that hits you hard, especially if you’re really young and still searching for what is normal.”

So when he learned that City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado had said “F— the police, that’s how I see ‘em” at a college meet-and-greet, he was taken aback.

But when one man from Cardiff combined his love for Lego with his interests in architecture and even sport, he was taken aback to be met with widespread interest in his hobby.

“Growing up, when I watched my grandma teaching ice skating and teaching humans how to perform, I was always so taken aback by how she looked at the body and balance and the little technical things that allowed people to perform better that a normal person would maybe not see,” he said, sitting under an umbrella on the concourse at Dignity Health Sports Park last week after a morning training session.