Memory musings

“At 87, I never cease to be amazed at what I can recall when I decide to concentrate on a problem,” muses a Craigie regular.

“Watching the latest episode of ‘Call the Midwife’, I recognised the face and voice of the actress playing Miss Millgrove, an elderly recluse. Where had I seen her before? Ah yes, in ‘One Foot in the Grave’ with Richard Wilson.

“’Don’t start,’ I said to myself as I began puzzling over her name, but, as usual, my brain would not let it go and I thought it over idly as I watched the programme.

“’Churchill’, I thought, then my mind gave up on that surname when I could not find a first name to fit.

“Suddenly, out of the blue came Crosbie and, shortly thereafter Annette. The titles at the end of the programme proved me right.

“I am useless at quizzes as I do not have instant recall, but my memory can usually produce the goods in its own good time, especially if I am relaxed about it. It makes me wonder just how many billions of facts the human brain can store.

“And do all these memories stored in people’s brains all over the world, together with their accumulated expertise in every subject under the sun, disappear into oblivion when they die? It seems a terrible waste.

“Watching my children and my grandchildren in their turn studying hard at school and university, then acquiring and improving skills in their working lives, I wonder why all this endeavour during our short lives on Earth should amount to nothing and be lost to the world after our allotted span is over. Strange!

“Immortality for the geniuses among us comes with their recorded scientific achievements, their machines, paintings, sculptures, architecture, music, poetry and drama, but what a pity the human beings who created such wonders have to die before being able to pass on the totality of their experiences to future generations!”