Memory and unreality is everywhere at the moment. The school chum's old dear is going potty, and the poor soul has had to leave her lochside cottage for "observation" in hospital. Apparently she thinks she's at a party in Inverness.
I've just finished reading Julian Barnes' short novel Sense Of An Ending. Hugely enjoyable as well as profoundly appropriate to Albert's age group and above, since it revolves around forgetting and remembering. Indeed since my school chum last week mentioned the school "character" Tubby Stewart, I've had some forgotten school memories come flooding back, and not just about smoking after school with Tubby.
E.g. I've remembered being in Portsmouth with the naval cadets, getting dressed in mackintoshes (and little else), then being herded into a below-decks simulator to experience being sunk in warfare. You're locked in a huge steel chamber which fills slowly with water through a torpedo hole in the side. As the whole thing rocks and rolls and everyone sloshes from one end to the other, explosions outside mimic the arrival of further torpedoes or shells. If that was supposed to be character-building, I'm not sure it worked in my case. Tubby had more than his share of character, and he wasn't even in the navy cadets.
I've just finished reading Julian Barnes' short novel Sense Of An Ending. Hugely enjoyable as well as profoundly appropriate to Albert's age group and above, since it revolves around forgetting and remembering. Indeed since my school chum last week mentioned the school "character" Tubby Stewart, I've had some forgotten school memories come flooding back, and not just about smoking after school with Tubby.
E.g. I've remembered being in Portsmouth with the naval cadets, getting dressed in mackintoshes (and little else), then being herded into a below-decks simulator to experience being sunk in warfare. You're locked in a huge steel chamber which fills slowly with water through a torpedo hole in the side. As the whole thing rocks and rolls and everyone sloshes from one end to the other, explosions outside mimic the arrival of further torpedoes or shells. If that was supposed to be character-building, I'm not sure it worked in my case. Tubby had more than his share of character, and he wasn't even in the navy cadets.
I think sometimes faulty memory isn't such a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI've had some experiences I think I could do without remembering.
Nanners. And some memories sustain one into a happy reflective old age. It all balances up.
ReplyDelete