Memories

My Brother's Blog 'Rambles from my Chair' mentioned earliest memories today. Oddly enough Wendy and I had been talking of earliest memories and came to the conclusion that we often remembered very early things because we had photographs of them to 'help' us. That seems to me to be the case because I remember being at Auntie Maude's house and holding my Giraffe that Uncle Eric had given me. I can remember the winter of 1947 when I was 3 years old. Again I'm sure that is helped by photographs. I can remember standing outside Up-the-Steps (the bakery at the Rocket) when I was tiny and Mum was trying to put my mitts on my hands (the mitts were held together by string which went up the arms and joined them - I wonder if parents do that today). I also remember (much later) getting thrown out of the said Up-the-Steps for calling Eccles Cakes 'Fly Cemeteries'.

I cannot tell you exactly where I was when Kennedy was shot (although I can recall a lot of the aftermath) but I can tell you that when Roger Bannister ran his 4 minute mile I was sitting in the front room of Harry Grainger's house at 6 The Lynxway.

I wish that I could remember what I had on the shopping list I wrote this morning and left on the table. I wish that I could not remember the last two games of Croquet that I (allegedly) played in the match against Te Mata this morning. For me playing is a very personal thing. I never worry if my partner plays badly. Therefore it is no consolation whatsoever that I was not the only one who didn't do well and we lost the match to Te Mata yet again.