I see it as a purely physical, sensory thing. The Doctor has more senses than humans do, and I've gotten the impression that the time sense, however it works, is a primary one for him. A fixed point is something which comes across very strongly and unpleasantly on that sense.
I imagine it as if someone was constantly emitting a very loud, high pitched screech, or if they smelled very strongly noxious and rotten. Being around them isn't much fun, because it gives you a headache, makes you feel sick, it's distracting, and it makes it extremely difficult to actually use that sense for something else. However, it's something possible to adjust to if absolutely necessary. Still, that person isn't going to be invited around for any parties ay time soon.
Actually, I bet the closest real world equivalent is how some people are very sensitive to perfume. For the Doctor, it's extremely noticeable, and extremely unpleasant and physically uncomfortable, but no one else can even tell.
At the very end of Parting of the Ways, when he first had to decide what to do about Jack, the Doctor was physically in pretty bad shape, and I would assume so was the TARDIS. Given what happened in the Christmas Invasion, it was a very rough regeneration for him, so he was probably entirely incapable of dealing with Jack right then. In Utopia and the Sound of Drums, however, the Doctor is perfectly healthy, and so much more equipped to handle it. It does, however, explain how he couldn't actually sense the Time Lord pocket watch before Martha told him about it- there was so much interference going on from Jack that his time senses were pretty much useless.
I imagine it as if someone was constantly emitting a very loud, high pitched screech, or if they smelled very strongly noxious and rotten. Being around them isn't much fun, because it gives you a headache, makes you feel sick, it's distracting, and it makes it extremely difficult to actually use that sense for something else. However, it's something possible to adjust to if absolutely necessary. Still, that person isn't going to be invited around for any parties ay time soon.
Actually, I bet the closest real world equivalent is how some people are very sensitive to perfume. For the Doctor, it's extremely noticeable, and extremely unpleasant and physically uncomfortable, but no one else can even tell.
At the very end of Parting of the Ways, when he first had to decide what to do about Jack, the Doctor was physically in pretty bad shape, and I would assume so was the TARDIS. Given what happened in the Christmas Invasion, it was a very rough regeneration for him, so he was probably entirely incapable of dealing with Jack right then. In Utopia and the Sound of Drums, however, the Doctor is perfectly healthy, and so much more equipped to handle it. It does, however, explain how he couldn't actually sense the Time Lord pocket watch before Martha told him about it- there was so much interference going on from Jack that his time senses were pretty much useless.
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