Pages

Monday 10 July 2017

The memory hole




This is the view from our lunch stop during a walk along the river Wye this afternoon. As you can see I’ve included my boots to add a hint of authenticity. Would Patrick Lichfield have imagineered such an artistic touch? I think not.

A little earlier Mrs H and I had been discussing the question of elusive memories and how annoying it is to find you can’t recall the name of a particular celebrity, politician or almost any other name. It can be mildly worrying too, but also cheering if after some intense brain racking you finally manage to make a connection and come up with the right name. Surprising how often it wasn't worth all that effort though.

Yet we could have looked at the problem from another angle. Perhaps we should be pleased when unused names slip away from immediate recall simply because they are no longer encountered regularly. Trying to bring them back is like fishing something out of the bin even though it was discarded for a reason. It might come in useful... No it won’t, it never does. I blame the recycling mania.

On the other hand, perhaps we should be mildly concerned at how easy it is to pack our memories with all this useless information such as the names of celebrities who merely infest the public arena, adding nothing of value to social memories. So forgetting may be good for us as well as... what was it? I’m sure there was something else...

11 comments:

Scrobs. said...

I'm afraid that our usual response to similar questions, is to resort to Ipad clicks and taps...

wiggiatlarge said...

I am a bit worried about that photo, the boots are in the "wicked witch of the north" position pointing skywards, were you wearing them at the time ?

James Higham said...

There's a story in that - The Authenticity of Boots.

A K Haart said...

Scrobs - most of the time we like to dredge it up unassisted, but sometimes that doesn't work.

Wiggia - I was wearing them. Is that an omen?

James - I don't find Boots very authentic these days, especially their special offers.

Graeme said...

For some reason, when I read this post I was reminded of this

https://youtu.be/kWfmDIiax_8

A K Haart said...

Graeme - Fred Titmus?

Graeme said...

Did you bowl some off-spin when you were younger, by any chance?

A K Haart said...

Graeme - crikey no, I never played cricket voluntarily although I once made up the numbers for a works team. An ex-county wicket keeper soon whipped off my bails.

Graeme said...

Perhaps I looked at that pic and saw the stance, slightly pigeon toed, as if you had your toes sliced off off in a marine accident, but, because of the balance and poise, thought you might be an off spinner with over 2000 wickets

Woodsy42 said...

Glancing at the pic without my reading glasses I was quite taken by the design of the two canoes on the bank.

A K Haart said...

Graeme - it was just an awkward angle, the result deliberately trying to include my feet.

Woodsy - designed for stability rather than speed though.