I like to tell myself that one of the compensations for growing older is that as we move through life we acquire wisdom, which we generously share with our grateful offspring and younger colleagues. The problem is that there is limited room in my brain, and space has obviously had to be made to accommodate all this knowledge and experience. A certain amount of pruning has definitely taken place (without my permission) and I’m hoping that wisdom has taken over the parts where I used to keep my memory. Sometimes my memory fights back and at other times it just admits defeat.
Names in particular can be a challenge. Yesterday I was trying to remember the name of that video game where you move tiles around and slot them in together, but, search as I might, I couldn’t locate it anywhere in my brain. Today my memory has rallied and I have no trouble remembering that it’s called Tetris. Ironically, I think that might be one of those games you’re supposed to play to improve the functioning of your brain, so brain training would definitely have helped in this case.
Then there are the names of famous people. It’s always an experience to watch a programme or film with anyone over the age of 50 as they spend a lot of time noisily wracking their brains in an effort to recall the names of the actors on screen and remember where else they’ve seen them. I think those clever IT people need to develop an app to help us. I already have the Shazam app to identify any piece of music I hear and the PictureThis app to name any plant, tree or shrub that I see. I have found a few apps that supposedly identify actors, but the reviews aren’t very enthusiastic. I guess facial recognition technology still needs a bit of work. Besides, trying to recall actors and films is a form of brain training that I’m happy to embrace.
Oddly, there are certain obscure things I never seem to forget. For some reason I have always remembered how to say Caesarean section in German (Kaiserschnitt, since you asked), flying buttresses in French (I’ve always had a fondness for them) and – I’m not proud of this – I know the word for prostitute in Italian (only because I love puttanesca sauce) and in Spanish as well. I used to know a Chilean with quite a colourful vocabulary. I also remember Pythagorasus’s theorem and the name of the drummer from Mott the Hoople. None of this is useful, but for some reason I’m glad it’s still there. Who cares if I can’t remember where I left my phone?
You need to buy yourself a pensieve.
I believe that several good retailers on Diagon Alley sell them.
Strangely, I have just found them on Etsy. They look a bit like the perfume bottles that I already have, so I’ll see if they work.
Oh I’m so glad that it isn’t just us missing relevant bits of the film/TV programme/whatever while we try sometimes (OK, lots of times) in vain to remember names and where we’ve seen them before. I’m afraid that I very often admit defeat and end up Googling (when did that become an accepted word?) for the cast list so that I can check what the actor is called and what they’ve been in before.
I know – and then you miss a key bit of the plot. At least with streaming services and catch-up TV we can rewind things. When we get back into cinemas it’ll be quite a shock.
Yes, I’ll have to stop myself asking out loud what so-and-so has been in before! I don’t think it would go down well with the audience – oh! for the time again when that would be a problem …